I don't understand why you don't have more subscribers. You explain this equipment very clearly as well as provide great production quality. Very helpful.
This is great. Thanks for taking the time. I’m in the market to buy a quantity of compressors and the distressor, although I have an only heard good things about it over the years, wasn’t even on my radar. I’m grateful I came across your video. I’m gonna have to pick me up a pair! The LA3A does something really nice to the voice. Distressor was close but not exactly there however, it was close enough for government work! The lack of brightness is pleasing to my ear and I’ve found using EQ to dampen higher frequencies from compressors doesn’t produce the same result as just running through kit that imparts the sound you’re after. But we all know that, don’t we. Carry on good sir and thanks again.
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
I have to say you do the best gear comparisons hands down...you really know how to show the gear without wasting a lot of time or in bad quality. You should get paid to do these vids if you don't already hehe. I was wishing you had all the compressors in existence so I could hear them all at their full potential. Thanks!
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
Hi. I appreciate the video. I'm questioning your comment at 2:30 about the HP filter. I believe you meant to say that as a high pass filter, engaged this allows "less" of the low frequencies to get through not "more." Engaging the High Pass filter does just that- allows the high frequencies to pass and attenuates low frequencies. Great video and I learned a lot in other sections. Thank you.
Actually it’s a subtle point, but I think it’s stated correctly in the video. Engaging high pass on the detector circuit prevents bass frequencies from triggering gain reduction, which results in bass frequencies not being reduced, which results in more bass getting through during compression. The separate high pass in the audio section does indeed reduce bass frequencies on the audio passing through the unit as you stated. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify!
Gotta say I love all of your videos. I really wish you would continue doing them! How about a video of your Langevin EQ/Pre? This video, and your compressor death match are excellent! You do a good job of showing the items and their features as well as recording what you are doing. As an audio pro for 25 years, I can say THANK YOU for taking the time to do these types of videos the right way!!!
Great comparison video, really enjoyed it. Many thanks! Seemed the 1176 had a bit more depth to the toms, though I could be wrong... listening via a pair of not so great headphones. All in all, the Distressor is obviously a wonderful piece of equipment.
LA-3A nicely presses the top frequencies a little more and it sounds 'smoother' as in less erratic - although that perhaps means it's more audible compression! It definitely makes the audio seem a little closer and more 'up-front' as they say.
Interested in trying a Distressor and 1176 from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor and 1176 in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
Thanks for the video! It really explains everything. Just got a free version of Xtressor NUKE by Kiive Audio and was wondering if I got the "right" distressor plugin. Guess, that little one works pretty well, at least for my untrained ears =) For me, less buttons = easier to get used to it, so I'm fine by using only the NUKE mode alone for now. And your video did help me a lot
Pretty cool, not had a chance to shootout either of these units so thanks for contributing. :-D Would be very keen to hear the raw audio before it's crapified by UA-cam, could you host a 320 or WAV anywhere for us people with decent cans / monitors?
I'm looking for a serious compressor in the $500 - $1500 range for my pro guitar rig...I am new to compression and have never done it before. I know this is probably a dumb question, but why do the high-end compressors not have 1/4 jacks, instead going for XLR?
@@MELOPSMUSIC I have both next to each other and 1176 gets used more. The compression is not nearly as flexible on the 1176 but I like the gritty tone.
@@MELOPSMUSIC I should add that I never track vocals with 1176 by itself. It’s too grabby on a wild vocal for my taste. LA-3A or Vac Rac tame most of the extreme level swings without sounding compressed, and they don’t do anything unexpected even if the vocalist does. Distressor can also do that really well in opto mode. 1176 comes in at mix for the final growl. If I could only have one compressor it would be LA-3A
With the Genelec's cranked up, it sounds like the 1176 sounds smoother, richer, fuller more dimensional than the Distressor. Not to piss on the Distressor, I have two, but there's no denying the "bloom" that the 1176 imparts ... and hey Hey HEY ... I almost forgot ... thanks for the nice comparisons you made in this video.
shits so fucking crazy that your money is actually worth something. in gear shits is so fucking exclusively profound and detailed to the point where ill tell frodo that gollums voice reminds me of miley cyrus on a distressor
Good video, but would have preferred some other sources to reference and compare like guitar or bass versus your "hey heys". The 1176 did have a bit more of a distinct bottom but the distressor still held it's own.
this was dope...the la-3a was slightly warmer by a hair, as well as wth the 1176...on the all buttons in mode...the 1176 was a little bit more tight, but its definitely worth the money...its a swiss army knife of compressors and it replicates the modes very well as far as opto and fet
I suppose you could record the left channel through first, then record the right channel through in a second pass, then marry the two tracks together to get a "stereo 1176" effect. However, I would want to hear the effect of the 1176 on my mix while mixing, so this wouldn't work for me. Part of the magic of having a compressor on your mix bus is not just slapping it on an existing mix, but rather mixing INTO it and hearing the effect of the compressor and adjusting the mix to take advantage of the compression. If I had only the money for one compressor in the 1176-ish price range, I'd get a stereo Manley ELOP or Smart Research C2. Those work for individual instruments as well as the stereo bus.
***** Thanks! Yeah I think I am just gonna get another 1176 so I can track in stereo. I actually use mainly soft synths itb and I wanna run them through the 1176 back into the daw to record them so they get some more punch. Eventually I would love to get a smart research c1/2, api 2500, or other bus compressor for mix bus duties. I thought about the chameleon labs 7720...heard good things about it for the price range. It is actually this video that convinced me to get an 1176 over a distressor lol. I like the distressor but it just seems the 1176 is more full warm and real sounding.
Scott McClure in order to get a good stereo image from compressing the two channels in two consecutive passes, you need to create a mono mix from the two channels and use that to feed the detector circuit in both passes. this will steady the mid image of the mix.
+Daniel White I beg your pardon, my fault, Distressor and 1176 don't have a sidechain input so it is not possible. WIth external sidechain input compressors it is easy, you mix the L+R channels of the stereo material on another channel perfectly time aligned with the original stereo. then you feed the L channel to the mono compressor unit input, select on the compressor external sidechain input and to the sidechain input you feed the mono sum you created. print and repeat with the R channel. this way the compression applied to the both channels L and R is the same so the elements that are in the middle of the mix won't jump from left to right (voice, drums, bass, you name it). Otherwise, if you compress the L and R channels of a stereo mix through two passes and you feed the compressors with separate sidechain signals (as default on any compressor) the differences between the two channels will affect the level of the compression/output and when combined back with the other channel in a stereo mix the resulting stereo image will be ”jumpy”
The comparison between 1176 and distressor. If I'm not wrong, the attack and release on the 1176 is backwards, so attack on 3 is slow! That's why the audio from the distressor loses more attack and sound more compressed while the 1176 sounds more open! But awesome video.
An LA-2A may start at 3:1 ratio, but the ratio increases with level and then seems to level off around 10:1. I think this is what they are trying to emulate. I like the sound of my LA-3A,’s when the gain reduction needle is swinging way over :)
Im confused about the 2:1 ratio. You say because of the 15 db knee that the ratio stays at 1:1 until you start getting up to 15db of GR or more? And with 6:1 you say it's similar? Like I get that its not compressing hard when it's a very low db of GR, But I dont understand how for instance in 2:1 that even at 4-10 db of GR it's still at a 1:1 Ratio. That would mean its not even compressing at all. Can you just clarify this concept?
Mike Sloan Spoken word is not easy to capture! If the tone is even slightly unnatural the human brain notices and is distracted from the story. . Quality gear is worthwhile to have
I know this might make a lot of you out-board gear people mad out there but if you are doing a blind test, today's plug in's are either so close, it's pretty much the same or in some cases with tweaking, exactly the same. I know it's not as sexy as the outboard gear where you can adjust the knobs, lights, etc., but thats just my personal opinion. Anyone else? Hey hey hey hey hey hey by the way.
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
Should have used singing to demonstrate the compression, there's barely any noticeable difference otherwise because UA-cam compresses video sound anyway.
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
I can barely hear any difference between the 1176 and the distressor. The LA-3A however is not even close. The distressor sounds more hi-fi or modern than the 3A. I personally prefer the 3A, but point being... definitely not a substitute.
Thank you for how quick you go through things. No time-wasting fluff. Great job.
I don't understand why you don't have more subscribers. You explain this equipment very clearly as well as provide great production quality. Very helpful.
because youtube is not a meritocracy ;)
Maybe because 'hey hey hey' isn't the best demonstration of a units sound capabilities. Though, I do agree that the demo is pretty decent.
One of the best Demos of anything on UA-cam. Respect.
Hey Hey HEY Hey HEY
Reading this cracked me up
OH MY LOL!!! spit out my coffee reading this
xD hey hey Hey HEy HEYYYYYYYYY!!!
hahahahaha
LMFAO - every dog in the house thought it was being called! LOL ... this has to be the new studio standard for compression ratio sampling
Wow, what a fantastically shot, thought out and concise video. Thanks so much for sharing! :)
you had me at 'hey'.
Incredible video. Great job.
EXCELLENT. Very good job. Totally enjoyed it...and will view a few times. I have one of these on my mic chain in one of my studios and love it.
Fantastic video, loved the sound of the La-3a though! dem consonants, very in your face.
One of the most straight up get through it reviews i've ever seen. no crap, no assuming we are all idiots, and u did it flawlessly. Cheers.
The best review of this unit. Awesome job man.
Didn't know that about the link function increasing distortion 1 and 2. Thanks!
This is great. Thanks for taking the time. I’m in the market to buy a quantity of compressors and the distressor, although I have an only heard good things about it over the years, wasn’t even on my radar. I’m grateful I came across your video. I’m gonna have to pick me up a pair! The LA3A does something really nice to the voice. Distressor was close but not exactly there however, it was close enough for government work! The lack of brightness is pleasing to my ear and I’ve found using EQ to dampen higher frequencies from compressors doesn’t produce the same result as just running through kit that imparts the sound you’re after. But we all know that, don’t we. Carry on good sir and thanks again.
best youtube demo i've seen in a while.
ForestFloorsMusic agreed!
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
I have to say you do the best gear comparisons hands down...you really know how to show the gear without wasting a lot of time or in bad quality. You should get paid to do these vids if you don't already hehe. I was wishing you had all the compressors in existence so I could hear them all at their full potential. Thanks!
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
I've watched this multiple times! Great video. Thank you! (hey HEY HEY hey hey HEY!!!)
Hey hey hey hey chk chk chk chk HEY!! thank you for the demo! HEY!
Thanks for the walkthrough. Appreciate you getting right to the point of the features
Very informative video! Thank you :)
Your videos are excellent, bar none! Best reviews ever! All the recording magazines out there should learn to do reviews like this.
hey hey hey hey!
GREAT tour. Thank you!
Hi. I appreciate the video. I'm questioning your comment at 2:30 about the HP filter. I believe you meant to say that as a high pass filter, engaged this allows "less" of the low frequencies to get through not "more." Engaging the High Pass filter does just that- allows the high frequencies to pass and attenuates low frequencies. Great video and I learned a lot in other sections. Thank you.
Actually it’s a subtle point, but I think it’s stated correctly in the video. Engaging high pass on the detector circuit prevents bass frequencies from triggering gain reduction, which results in bass frequencies not being reduced, which results in more bass getting through during compression.
The separate high pass in the audio section does indeed reduce bass frequencies on the audio passing through the unit as you stated. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify!
Wow this was so awesome and helpful. This unit will be my next purchase for gear.
excellent presentation and very helpful explanation of the features
Gotta say I love all of your videos. I really wish you would continue doing them! How about a video of your Langevin EQ/Pre? This video, and your compressor death match are excellent! You do a good job of showing the items and their features as well as recording what you are doing. As an audio pro for 25 years, I can say THANK YOU for taking the time to do these types of videos the right way!!!
that's a brilliant review - thank you!
I did not know about the link and the distortion! That's awesome.
This video is perfect! Great job!
This thing sounds great
very good and clear demo - excellent!
Top video. Thank you for sharing.
awesome video bro, just what I've been looking for a long time. Thanks for taking the time to do this video.
I love this tutorial! Thank you dude! Really good audio and demo.
Great comparison video, really enjoyed it. Many thanks! Seemed the 1176 had a bit more depth to the toms, though I could be wrong... listening via a pair of not so great headphones. All in all, the Distressor is obviously a wonderful piece of equipment.
LA-3A nicely presses the top frequencies a little more and it sounds 'smoother' as in less erratic - although that perhaps means it's more audible compression! It definitely makes the audio seem a little closer and more 'up-front' as they say.
WOW!!!! Just a great video. Thanks!
WOW cant believe how close the 1176 was would love to test them in my studio to see if that's really the case !! awsome
7 years later I was hearing the same thing
Interested in trying a Distressor and 1176 from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor and 1176 in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
Amazing walkthrough
Thanks for the video! It really explains everything. Just got a free version of Xtressor NUKE by Kiive Audio and was wondering if I got the "right" distressor plugin. Guess, that little one works pretty well, at least for my untrained ears =) For me, less buttons = easier to get used to it, so I'm fine by using only the NUKE mode alone for now. And your video did help me a lot
Still a great video even in 2020
havent seen so great demo video in a years...
What kind of cables should I use ? Trs ? Ts?
Excellent, informative video! Really, thanks.
Great review, looking foward to your next
Nice overview. Excellent demo. Thnx.
quick .....good thank you I have one of these things never used it Ill try it now with my vocals
Excellent video. Thanks.
Pretty cool, not had a chance to shootout either of these units so thanks for contributing. :-D Would be very keen to hear the raw audio before it's crapified by UA-cam, could you host a 320 or WAV anywhere for us people with decent cans / monitors?
GREAT VIDEO!
I'm looking for a serious compressor in the $500 - $1500 range for my pro guitar rig...I am new to compression and have never done it before. I know this is probably a dumb question, but why do the high-end compressors not have 1/4 jacks, instead going for XLR?
Is it my ears or do the La3a and 1176 have more midrange body. They sound sweeter IMO
Mixey I agree
can an updated version with SAIDCHAIN be expected?
Probably not, the window of opportunity has passed.
Nice, is it me or i hear that the distressor cut a bit high frequencies ?
I think of it as a brightener when patching it in. Everyone hears compression differently though
@@jephthastudios I m hesistating between Distressor and a good 1176 clone for tracking vocals....
@@MELOPSMUSIC I have both next to each other and 1176 gets used more. The compression is not nearly as flexible on the 1176 but I like the gritty tone.
@@MELOPSMUSIC I should add that I never track vocals with 1176 by itself. It’s too grabby on a wild vocal for my taste. LA-3A or Vac Rac tame most of the extreme level swings without sounding compressed, and they don’t do anything unexpected even if the vocalist does. Distressor can also do that really well in opto mode. 1176 comes in at mix for the final growl. If I could only have one compressor it would be LA-3A
@@jephthastudios thanks ! I have a vocalist that sings not loud and with proximity effect sometimes, so in this case 1176 maybe nice perhaps....
Wait..... LINK does something with just 1 unit????????? How come I never knew that. (Goes to studio to investigate)
With the Genelec's cranked up, it sounds like the 1176 sounds smoother, richer, fuller more dimensional than the Distressor. Not to piss on the Distressor, I have two, but there's no denying the "bloom" that the 1176 imparts ... and hey Hey HEY ... I almost forgot ... thanks for the nice comparisons you made in this video.
shits so fucking crazy that your money is actually worth something. in gear shits is so fucking exclusively profound and detailed to the point where ill tell frodo that gollums voice reminds me of miley cyrus on a distressor
How would it compare the to the "drawmer 1978"?
Good video, but would have preferred some other sources to reference and compare like guitar or bass versus your "hey heys". The 1176 did have a bit more of a distinct bottom but the distressor still held it's own.
this was dope...the la-3a was slightly warmer by a hair, as well as wth the 1176...on the all buttons in mode...the 1176 was a little bit more tight, but its definitely worth the money...its a swiss army knife of compressors and it replicates the modes very well as far as opto and fet
Excelente, muchas gracias
The distressor is single channel? So if I wanted to use it for drum overheads on the way in, I’d need two of them?
Yes you would need 2. There are jacks on the bak to enable linking two so that they act together on the signal
Thanks.
Sounds close to the 1176 but the LA3 is quite different.
i need this thing in my life omg
Great video! But I'm sorry, i laughed my ass off at 1:25 when you all of a sudden went "HEY HEY HEY!!" :D
I just bought an 1176 and might purchase a 2nd one but if I can run everything through it from the daw without buying another that would be ideal.
I suppose you could record the left channel through first, then record the right channel through in a second pass, then marry the two tracks together to get a "stereo 1176" effect. However, I would want to hear the effect of the 1176 on my mix while mixing, so this wouldn't work for me. Part of the magic of having a compressor on your mix bus is not just slapping it on an existing mix, but rather mixing INTO it and hearing the effect of the compressor and adjusting the mix to take advantage of the compression. If I had only the money for one compressor in the 1176-ish price range, I'd get a stereo Manley ELOP or Smart Research C2. Those work for individual instruments as well as the stereo bus.
***** Thanks! Yeah I think I am just gonna get another 1176 so I can track in stereo. I actually use mainly soft synths itb and I wanna run them through the 1176 back into the daw to record them so they get some more punch. Eventually I would love to get a smart research c1/2, api 2500, or other bus compressor for mix bus duties. I thought about the chameleon labs 7720...heard good things about it for the price range. It is actually this video that convinced me to get an 1176 over a distressor lol. I like the distressor but it just seems the 1176 is more full warm and real sounding.
Scott McClure
in order to get a good stereo image from compressing the two channels in two consecutive passes, you need to create a mono mix from the two channels and use that to feed the detector circuit in both passes. this will steady the mid image of the mix.
+Alexandru Nuca could pls you explain that further? how can you feed the detector circuit while recording i. e. left channel through the compressor?
+Daniel White I beg your pardon, my fault, Distressor and 1176 don't have a sidechain input so it is not possible. WIth external sidechain input compressors it is easy, you mix the L+R channels of the stereo material on another channel perfectly time aligned with the original stereo. then you feed the L channel to the mono compressor unit input, select on the compressor external sidechain input and to the sidechain input you feed the mono sum you created. print and repeat with the R channel. this way the compression applied to the both channels L and R is the same so the elements that are in the middle of the mix won't jump from left to right (voice, drums, bass, you name it). Otherwise, if you compress the L and R channels of a stereo mix through two passes and you feed the compressors with separate sidechain signals (as default on any compressor) the differences between the two channels will affect the level of the compression/output and when combined back with the other channel in a stereo mix the resulting stereo image will be ”jumpy”
first video i view from you and subscribed!
Thanks!
The comparison between 1176 and distressor. If I'm not wrong, the attack and release on the 1176 is backwards, so attack on 3 is slow! That's why the audio from the distressor loses more attack and sound more compressed while the 1176 sounds more open! But awesome video.
The 1176's attack and release are actually backwards on that unit. So what appears to be a fast attack is actually slow and vice versa.
great video. Have a pair of them and use them on live gigs
finally a really good video on this...thanks!
Is the EL8X that much better than the EL8?
why is opto mode 10.1 if 2a is actually 3.1
An LA-2A may start at 3:1 ratio, but the ratio increases with level and then seems to level off around 10:1. I think this is what they are trying to emulate. I like the sound of my LA-3A,’s when the gain reduction needle is swinging way over :)
Subscribed! Have you compared The Tweaker by Kush vs. Distressor? Do you think one's a better compressor?
Yeah they seem to sound marginally smoother than the distressor, I bet fiddling with the distressor a little more you can get it virtually identical
Check One Two, here come the drums 6:24 thanks for the review!
THANX!
I couldn't hear the distortion or harmonics.
Im confused about the 2:1 ratio. You say because of the 15 db knee that the ratio stays at 1:1 until you start getting up to 15db of GR or more? And with 6:1 you say it's similar? Like I get that its not compressing hard when it's a very low db of GR, But I dont understand how for instance in 2:1 that even at 4-10 db of GR it's still at a 1:1 Ratio. That would mean its not even compressing at all. Can you just clarify this concept?
I have a question...and well it is probably a dumb one but how are you running stereo drums through one mono 1176? It sounds stereo.
The video is in good 'ol mono.
Excellent tut. I want a mike E bad
hey hey HEY back at ya! :D 2019
I have one of these for narration / audiobook work, I feel guilty sometimes, knowing how under utilized it is!
Mike Sloan Spoken word is not easy to capture! If the tone is even slightly unnatural the human brain notices and is distracted from the story. . Quality gear is worthwhile to have
Great vid..
I know this might make a lot of you out-board gear people mad out there but if you are doing a blind test, today's plug in's are either so close, it's pretty much the same or in some cases with tweaking, exactly the same. I know it's not as sexy as the outboard gear where you can adjust the knobs, lights, etc., but thats just my personal opinion. Anyone else? Hey hey hey hey hey hey by the way.
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
Hey between the 1176 and the distressor...which one do you feel you like better on vocals?
1176
distressor by far.... fuck the 1176
Should have used singing to demonstrate the compression, there's barely any noticeable difference otherwise because UA-cam compresses video sound anyway.
ugh the la3a is beautiful.. i like it a lot more than the distressor, but the 1176 is super close
On voice, but I imagine the distressor shines in the low end on bass and drums.
Fuck I want one. Sounds so GOD DAMN GOOD..
HEY!
I want to buy this unit so bad but maybe I can go with the uad version instead to save a few hundred.
I really really appreciate the work put in to this. But without a drum-room as the test signal it’s lost on me. Dare I say lost on most of us.
brian boyd drum kit at end of video is in fact a room mic
Oooops! My bad.
And it sounds great too!
What I meant was more throughout the video.
Hey Hey HEY HEY HEY !!!!!!!
hay hay hay hay hay, I like hay.
hey hey hey, nice vid
if only UAD could make a emulation of this one with the FATSO quality...
i totally agree...lol...
aaaah shit it was me who said that...
hahahahaha
WOW ! Now I vonderbstabs !
nice
best part is at 7:28 sounds awesome
wtf..
that joke is older than a stagecoach wheel
Interested in trying a Distressor from your studio with your music? We can connect you to a robotically controlled Distressor in the cloud via our Analog Matrix plugin - check it out at @t
I can barely hear any difference between the 1176 and the distressor. The LA-3A however is not even close. The distressor sounds more hi-fi or modern than the 3A. I personally prefer the 3A, but point being... definitely not a substitute.