Compressor Shootout - API 2500 / UA 1176 / FabFilter Pro-C / Fairchild / dbx 160 - Drum Bus

While you may know generally how to use compression on your drums and to avoid over compression, you may not be familiar with how the compressor you choose actually impact the sound by affecting sonic qualities. It may cause certain frequencies to become over emphasized or de-emphasized.

Today we are going to do a deep dive on 5 popular plugins. We are going to compare these plug-ins to see how they impact the sound of the drums so that you can pick the right one for your needs.

Included in this shootout are the:
Waves API 2500
Universal Audio 1176 (i.e. the UAD UA 1176 LN Legacy)
FabFilter Pro-C 2
UAD Fairchild 670 Tube Limiter
Waves dbx 160 Compressor/Limiter

We are running these compressors in a "Parallel Compression" mode i.e. New York style compression. You can get more details on that with this video:    • Parallel Compression In A Drum Mix wi...  

Introduction: 0:00
The Recorded Source & Initial Sound Sample (with API): 0:50
Crash Course in Parallel Compression: 1:50
API 2500: 3:49
UA 1176 & API Comparison: 4:34
dbx 160 and Comparison: 10:49
Fairchild and Comparison: 17:03
FabFilter and Comparison: 23:45

Did you have a favorite in this shoot-out? If so let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to subscribe!

Music used in this video:    • My Santuary My Home  

For more info on me, visit:
http://www.seandaudelin.com
  / seandaudelin  
  / drumdrumdrums  


Other Equipment used:
Sonar X1 Producer

Snare Top: Shure Beta57 (top). Beyerdynamic Opus 88 (bottom)
Bass Drum (in: batter side): AKG D 112, Beyerdynamic Opus 99 (port hole)
Toms: Beyerdynamic Opus 88 (top side). Sennheiser e604 and Sennheiser MD 421 (bottom sides)
Overheads: Earthworks TC30
Hi-Hat and Ride: AKG c 430
MOTU 8Pre audio interface

Video:
Sony FDR-AX100 4K UHD Camcorder
Tascam DR10L Digital Audio Recorder with Lavalier Microphone

#compressors #shootout #drums