Big thank you for the demo. I must say to my ears this sounds great on pretty much every setting. I really love Retro Instruments gear. I have a Powerstrip, and it is just a phenomenal piece that takes a lot of effort to make sound bad. The preamp is superb, but additionally I regularly use the EQ and compressor with my other preamps and it never fails to deliver beautiful results, regardless of the configuration. Being a NC guy myself, I also wanted to thank you for the videos on the Serrano 87. Your demo convinced me to order one and it has been a great addition to the locker with amazing build quality. 👍
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s great to hear from a fellow NC engineer. We’re lucky to have Carlos Serrano making such great mics here! I’ve long wanted to try a powerstrip so I really appreciate you sharing your experience with it. The 176 & Sta Level are two of my all time favorites so I can’t wait to check out more Retro gear as time and budget allows. Thanks for checking out my channel, I hope you’ll find some more content here that will be useful to you.
Oh that's a sweet sound! I don't know if I gleaned anything, though, because the singing was already so fine... How does it sound in the mix? Do you still think this is the best vocal compressor there is? Even better than the Sta-Level and the RS-124? Do you find that the RS-124 is harder to control than the 176 and Sta-Level? It just seems easy to get great results out of the two Retros, but the RS-124 can beat 'em if you have the time to dial in just the perfect attack and "recovery" and input level.
Thanks John! So, what I'm doing here is pulling the vocal sections out of all the extended reviews I've done and I'm putting them on a playlist together so people can cycle through them quickly. I know it's still hard to glean too much from UA-cam but I hope to give people at least a starting point on one or two of the compressors that they connect with so they can get them in their own studios and see what they think. For people that are getting their first outboard compressor or are in a position to purchase only 1 compressor for vocals, I always recommend starting with the 176. The reason being, it is the most versatile of the bunch and can control wildly dynamic vocals. It is particularly useful for vocals tracked at home through a UAD Apollo or something like that with no compression on the way in. It will help you save a ton of time on volume automation when it comes mix time! If you already own something like an 1176 where your dynamics are under control then you may enjoy the tone of the RS124 or Sta Level followed by that 1176 to grab anything they may miss. The RS124 can certainly be my favorite tone of the bunch but it is also the slowest and I pretty much can't ever use it by itself on a vocal because of how many peaks it allows to still get through. The sad, expensive truth is that you'll probably find yourself wanting them all at some point( I know I do haha). They are all amazing compressors and I'd be glad to work with any. I hope that helps and maybe one day I'll get all of these in here at the same time and do a massive shootout video!
@@SeawellStudios Sub'd just because of this explanation...man, I'm so tired of channels only reviewing low end gear unless they're selling something (they've never used or put through the wringer). I've found new jewel, Seawell Studios. -D~Wats
@@minkfranchise6389 thank you so much for this comment! I'm committed to doing this channel in a way that is actually helpful to other engineers. It's so nice when that is appreciated!
Thank you! Tracking chains were: 1st song "Lately" = Flea 47 > Shadow Hills Preamp(Iron) > Retro 176 2nd song "Something to Lose" = Korby KAT(67M capsule) > Shadow Hills Preamp(Iron) > Chandler RS124. Retro 176 as a mix insert for this demonstration on both vocals of course. Artist is Patrick Rock.
Fantastic !!!
Thanks for the great work, Josh!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Jeffrey! Thanks for taking the time to watch.
Big thank you for the demo. I must say to my ears this sounds great on pretty much every setting. I really love Retro Instruments gear. I have a Powerstrip, and it is just a phenomenal piece that takes a lot of effort to make sound bad. The preamp is superb, but additionally I regularly use the EQ and compressor with my other preamps and it never fails to deliver beautiful results, regardless of the configuration. Being a NC guy myself, I also wanted to thank you for the videos on the Serrano 87. Your demo convinced me to order one and it has been a great addition to the locker with amazing build quality. 👍
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It’s great to hear from a fellow NC engineer. We’re lucky to have Carlos Serrano making such great mics here!
I’ve long wanted to try a powerstrip so I really appreciate you sharing your experience with it. The 176 & Sta Level are two of my all time favorites so I can’t wait to check out more Retro gear as time and budget allows. Thanks for checking out my channel, I hope you’ll find some more content here that will be useful to you.
This vs RS124; you can pick a pair of either for mixing 🤔 what is your pick?
RS124 for pretty much everything. 176 will be best for some vocals. It’s a tough call but the RS124 tone is the pinnacle of compression to me.
@ thanks for your feedback!! I appreciate it and it means a lot
Any time! 👊🏼
Oh that's a sweet sound! I don't know if I gleaned anything, though, because the singing was already so fine... How does it sound in the mix? Do you still think this is the best vocal compressor there is? Even better than the Sta-Level and the RS-124? Do you find that the RS-124 is harder to control than the 176 and Sta-Level? It just seems easy to get great results out of the two Retros, but the RS-124 can beat 'em if you have the time to dial in just the perfect attack and "recovery" and input level.
Thanks John! So, what I'm doing here is pulling the vocal sections out of all the extended reviews I've done and I'm putting them on a playlist together so people can cycle through them quickly. I know it's still hard to glean too much from UA-cam but I hope to give people at least a starting point on one or two of the compressors that they connect with so they can get them in their own studios and see what they think.
For people that are getting their first outboard compressor or are in a position to purchase only 1 compressor for vocals, I always recommend starting with the 176. The reason being, it is the most versatile of the bunch and can control wildly dynamic vocals. It is particularly useful for vocals tracked at home through a UAD Apollo or something like that with no compression on the way in. It will help you save a ton of time on volume automation when it comes mix time!
If you already own something like an 1176 where your dynamics are under control then you may enjoy the tone of the RS124 or Sta Level followed by that 1176 to grab anything they may miss. The RS124 can certainly be my favorite tone of the bunch but it is also the slowest and I pretty much can't ever use it by itself on a vocal because of how many peaks it allows to still get through.
The sad, expensive truth is that you'll probably find yourself wanting them all at some point( I know I do haha). They are all amazing compressors and I'd be glad to work with any. I hope that helps and maybe one day I'll get all of these in here at the same time and do a massive shootout video!
@@SeawellStudios Sub'd just because of this explanation...man, I'm so tired of channels only reviewing low end gear unless they're selling something (they've never used or put through the wringer). I've found new jewel, Seawell Studios. -D~Wats
@@minkfranchise6389 thank you so much for this comment! I'm committed to doing this channel in a way that is actually helpful to other engineers. It's so nice when that is appreciated!
Hi , Lovely , what's the chain ? Thanks
Thank you!
Tracking chains were:
1st song "Lately" = Flea 47 > Shadow Hills Preamp(Iron) > Retro 176
2nd song "Something to Lose" = Korby KAT(67M capsule) > Shadow Hills Preamp(Iron) > Chandler RS124.
Retro 176 as a mix insert for this demonstration on both vocals of course.
Artist is Patrick Rock.