Tag: Compressors

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5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor by Rupert Neve Designs – VIDEO – Tutorial – Info

Rupert Neve Designs: …how does it sound? The best way to audition any gear is to try it in your own setup, but this video series is here for when that’s not an option. Hear how the 5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor brings out the attack of the electric guitar while smoothing out the dynamics and enhancing the overall ambience of the track.

5254
Dual Diode Bridge Compressor

Two channels of iconic diode bridge compression, thoughtfully improved and refined for modern tracking, mixing, and mastering.

Originally developed for the dynamics circuit of the acclaimed Shelford Channel, the 5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor captures the soul of Rupert Neve’s original 2254 compressor while providing modern updates including advanced timing control, significantly lower noise, fully stepped controls throughout, and internal parallel processing capabilities.

What is diode bridge compression?

Where the VCA compressor found in the Master Buss Processor provides unmatched clarity, the weighty, harmonically rich tonality of diode bridge compression can be essential in pushing key sources like vocals, electric guitars, bass and drums to the forefront of a mix.

By understanding the limitations of vintage units like the legendary 2254, painstaking effort was taken to reproduce the unique tone of these classics while improving the noise floor & accuracy, expanding inflexible time constants, adding full wave sidechain detection for improved dynamic response, and widening the range of threshold and ratio controls.

Delivering the powerful sound of these iconic designs with enhanced flexibility for the modern age, the 5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor is a dynamic tool equipped to make a bold statement on virtually any mix or track.

Classic Diode Bridge Tone
Capture the punchy, larger-than-life tone used on countless hit records for the last 50 years.

Advanced Timing Controls
Custom-shape your compression envelope with the unified timing control, which enables a much wider range of responses than vintage units or clones.

Custom Transformers and Class-A Line Amplifiers
Vintage warmth meets the improved headroom and precision of Rupert Neve’s updated transformer-coupled line stages.

31-Position Detented Controls
Accurately recall and match your settings with precision and speed.

Built-In Parallel Compression
Internal blend control enables you to subtly dial in more dramatic compression settings for color as desired.

Full-Wave Sidechain Detection
Enhanced from the vintage units’ half-wave design, the updated sidechain detector provides substantially more accuracy.

Stereo Linking
Run your compressors in either dual mono or stereo configurations.

Internal Universal Power Supply
EIC connection for world-wide AC power from 90-240V embedded in the 1U rack-mountable chassis.

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Universal Audio 175B + 176 Compressor – UAD

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Universal Audio: The tube compressor that changed recording. Often cited among the crowning achievements of UA founder Bill Putnam Sr., the 175B and 176 are prized for their rich tube gain reduction character, fast attack, & sonic flexibility. Learn more here.

The Bill Putnam-designed tube limiter that changed recording. The 175B and 176 tube compressors are prized for their rich tube gain reduction character, fast attack, and sonic flexibility.

With only roughly 1,000 units made, vintage 175B and 176s easily command well over $5,000 on the vintage market today, and they can be found in the racks of some of the world’s finest studios. Now, you can track and mix with the only authentic plug-in emulation of the original UA 175B and 176 compressors — exclusively for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces.

Introduced in the early 1960s, Universal Audio’s 175B and 176 compressors were the first audio compressors purpose-built for studio recording and mixing music. Often cited among the crowning achievements of audio pioneer and UA founder Bill Putnam Sr., the 175B and 176 are prized for their rich tube gain reduction character, fast attack, and sonic flexibility.

With its breakthrough fast attack time and independently variable Attack and Release controls, the UA 175B and 176 went far beyond all previously available broadcast limiters. They were quickly installed in the early 1960’s at both United/Western and legendary Sunset Sound studios, where a rack of 176s still reside today.

As an all-tube predecessor to the famed 1176, the 175B and 176 compressors have lent warmth and character to thousands of seminal recordings — from the Rolling Stones and Elton John, to Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Aretha Franklin, and Miles Davis.

A Pioneering Limiter
With its breakthrough fast attack time and independently variable Attack and Release controls, the UA 175B and 176 went far beyond all previously available broadcast limiters. They were quickly installed in the early 1960’s at both United/Western and legendary Sunset Sound studios, where a rack of 176s still reside today. As an all-tube predecessor to the famed 1176, the 175B and 176 compressors have lent warmth and character to thousands of seminal recordings — from the Rolling Stones and Elton John, to Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Aretha Franklin, and Miles Davis.

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Distressor Compressor Tutorial/Tips – Universal Audio – UA Plugin

The crux of the Distressor is its variations in compression.  Use the 1:1 ratio to warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical low-order harmonics. To the opposite, Nuke is famous for adding excitement to room mics or an entire mix.

Introduced in 1993, the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios all over the world as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile, super fast, and offering tons of color, the Distressor has been used of thousands of hit records, and it’s a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative.

The only authentic Distressor plug-in endorsed by Empirical Labs’ founder Dave Derr, the UAD Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is available exclusively for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces. An exhaustive end-to-end emulation of Derr’s iconic hardware, the UAD EL8 Distressor is the only faithful emulation of this true “desert island” compressor.

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UAD Manley VOXBOX Channel Plug-in – Review & Tips

Universal Audio’s Manley VOXBOX Channel Strip Plug-In exclusively for UAD-2 and Apollo hardware

— Endorsed by Manley Labs and developed by the world-class algorithm team at Universal Audio, the Manley VOXBOX plug-in features Unison™ technology for real-time vocal tracking with Apollo audio interfaces —

Track in real time with the ultimate all‑tube vocal processor.

Key Features

An authentic end-to-end circuit emulation of Manley’s state-of-the-art vocal channel strip exclusively for UAD-2 and Apollo interfaces
Provides the clarity and headroom of Manley’s high-fidelity, Class A tube mic preamp
Features Manley’s famous optical compressor with 25 Attack and Release combinations and Pultec-style passive EQ with 33 selectable frequencies
Additional tube-based de-esser/limiter section
Unison technology for Apollo interfaces offers authentic tone, touch, and feel of Manley’s VOXBOX thanks to precise impedance matchin

UAD Manley VOXBOX Review

Comments:
AMAZING!!!

I’ve been using the real VoxBox everyday for 20 years. I’ve been asking UA for this for at least 10, and it finally came, yes!!! I just had the opportunity to test it on my laptop in a Paris session, and I was completely blown away. It sounds THE SAME!!!

Now my studio and travel setup match perfectly.

Now if my original Voxbox dies, I’ll have a backup, and now it’s in my travel template.

Amazing job yet again!!! -J. Ducornet

Believe the Hype – magnificent!

This is simply superb. Not only is the compressor perfect on vocals (do not worry about the fixed 3:1 ratio as it is spot on), the DeEsser does exactly what it should with no lisping artifacts and the Pultec inspired EQ is a touch of pure glitter on an already stunning channel strip that is simply a joy to use. Getting the vocals sounding and sitting properly in the mix has never been as simple (unless you had the original hardware unit of course) -N. Wilkes

Another amazing Manley plugin

The Vari-Mu and Massive Passive plugins are my favorite plugins during mastering, the new VOXBOX plugin, after testing it extensively, has become my favorite plugin on lead vocals. It’s basically all you need to make a vocal sit perfectly in the mix. The compressor is smooth and versatile, as it has a lot of attack/release options. The gain, when pushed, adds some extra character, just perfect! The de-esser is smooth and very effective in my experience, I have not found a de-esser plugin that sounds as natural as this one. The EQ section is smooth and can shape a vocal to taste. UA and Manley did it again, what an amazing plugin! -M. Hoomans

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Shelford Channel – Transformer Gain Mic Pre, Inductor EQ, Diode Bridge Compressor

A Whole New Vintage – Over fifty years in the making, the Shelford Channel is the definitive evolution of the original technologies in Rupert’s classic console modules like the 1073, 1064, 1081 & 2254, thoughtfully advanced and refined for the 21st century studio. The Shelford Channel is built around Rupert Neve’s first new transformer-gain, class-A microphone preamplifier in over 40 years, the “best-of-the-classics” inductor EQ section from the Shelford 5052, a tone-packed Diode bridge compressor, the analog power of variable Silk saturation, a new dual-tap transformer output stage for maintaining headroom or allowing the full driving of the Channel without clipping standard converters, and twice the operating voltage of vintage designs.

The Input Stage and Transformer Gain Mic Pre

Like Rupert’s designs from his time in Little Shelford , the Shelford Channel’s preamplifier uses a directly-coupled transformer input with gain provided by the custom transformer itself – a first in over 40 years for Rupert Neve. This new custom-designed input transformer, along with its careful integration with the surrounding circuitry, is critical to the Channel’s bold and instantly recognizable character.

“It sounds like the best aspects of the 1073 and 1066’s. It sounds so familiar and comforting, and the compressor is mind blowing. You can move in fine brush strokes, but it can also be a bulldozer.”

Craig Ross (Patty Griffin, Spoon)
Shelford Channel

“After working on a vintage Neve console for 10 years, it’s exciting to hear the Shelford sound like a 1073 and 2254 are supposed to, but without all the baggage. ”

Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay)

“This piece to me just sounds classic. ”

Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price)

““I’m pissed that it took so long to put all of this into one box. This is ALL the best stuff.” ”

Reid Shippen (Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum)

“You’re going to need two of these. One will not be enough.”

Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton)