DBX 266XL vs. ART VLA PRO II - which is best for mastering?

[FSTZ]

I know a few of you have the ART VLA Pro II, and I'm sure everyone is familiar with the DBX 266XL compressor...

but which would be best to stick in my mastering chain?

thanks in advance,

JJ

[Sharmaji]

my vote's for the ART-- can be way more transparent than the DBX. dbx's circuitry is usually great for smack and pumping, but definitely has a bit of an on-or-off vibe to it.

I have an orig. ART VLA PRO and often get it in the chain w/o doing any actual compression/limiting-- it can help put some life into some mixes that way.

then again, it can work nicely to take 10db off of a mix as wel-- it ain't a manley slam, but use some EQ afterwords and it's an extremely useable piece.

[FSTZ]

my vote's for the ART-- can be way more transparent than the DBX. dbx's circuitry is usually great for smack and pumping, but definitely has a bit of an on-or-off vibe to it.

I have an orig. ART VLA PRO and often get it in the chain w/o doing any actual compression/limiting-- it can help put some life into some mixes that way.

then again, it can work nicely to take 10db off of a mix as wel-- it ain't a manley slam, but use some EQ afterwords and it's an extremely useable piece.

thanks...

I was leaning toward the ART, but the DBX seems pretty standard and the price is right.

but I like the fact that the ART has backlight VU meters

not looking to hard-limit the track, but just give my tunes a little umpfh
again, thanks for the input

[deadly_habit]

yea i have the og art as well and can vouch for that
the dbx is aight, but more bang for the buck out of the art

[FSTZ]

word

[macc]

Agreed - I wouldn't put a 266 across a mix unless it was a very particular case (ie it needed to sound a bit shit ). Great for live rigs and kicks/snares though. Standard bizzle.

[FSTZ]

word

BTW this is just a hold-over until I get that huge record deal and buy my empirical labs gear

[deadly_habit]

:lol:think that sums up the majority of my gear

[FSTZ]

yeah.. I just bought a focusrite octopre (at a good price) and my girlfriend didn't understand

it's hard to be an adult and justify spending thousands of dollars on gear when I really should be putting that money toward other things (student loans, bills, food, etc...)

[deadly_habit]

yeah.. I just bought a focusrite octo8 (at a good price) and my girlfriend didn't understand

it's hard to be an adult and justify spending thousands of dollars on gear when I really should be putting that money toward other things (student loans, bills, food, etc...)

pshhhh cut out heating, your computer and all that lovely gear can provide that
just get lotsa tube stuff

[macc]

it's hard to be an adult and justify spending thousands of dollars on gear when I really should be putting that money toward other things (student loans, bills, food, etc...)

Spending hundreds of dollars on gear is even harder to justify though, IMO

[FSTZ]

it's hard to be an adult and justify spending thousands of dollars on gear when I really should be putting that money toward other things (student loans, bills, food, etc...)

Spending hundreds of dollars on gear is even harder to justify though, IMO

haha

says you!

I have a 14 year old daughter to feed and put through college prep school (don't want her to become a DJ now.. do I?)

plus I have an insaciable travel habit!

[macc]

Hehe, nah, you know what I mean though innit. Buy cheap, buy twice and all that.

You could always sell your daughter to get a nice compressor

[upstateface]

You could always sell your daughter to get a nice compressor

This.

[back2onett]

Can't comment on the ART but DBX is not something I would reccomend for transparency (good for squeezing drums though)

While there's a thread like this going, what's the general consensus on the Alesis 3630? for it's price tag I'm expecting something similar to the DBX

[Sharmaji]

what's the general consensus on the Alesis 3630

that it's the worst non-behringer piece of gear ever made.

though if you want to sound like justice....

[FSTZ]

yeah I cannot believe they still make those damn things

[back2onett]

Really that bad?

seeing as we've got an active hardware thread I might as well ask, would a decent channel strip be a good (cheap) alternative to getting seperate compressor and EQ units? I really want to start getting some gear but not too sure where to start and I don't really have the money for multiple purchases.

[Sharmaji]

yes, really that bad. It can make a drumloop sound like it was mangled by a cheap compressor, which can be useable. otherwise, it's just ugly.

give us some info on what you want to do w/ the gear. tracking? mixing? mastering? 2 of the 3? all 3?

if you want an easy compressor to really learn what it does, and not be left with an awful-sounding unit, get the FMR RNP. around $200 new, always used on ebay as well. i had 4 channels of those suckers for a while; they ultimately weren't what i was looking for in outboard gear, but I completely cut my teeth on them and have used them in sessions at other studios whenever they're around. clean, easy, and good-sounding.

if you know compression and want some 'color' units on the cheap, then you can't really go wrong w/ the dbx 163x. simple, smack-y and about $35/each. awesome on kicks & snares, stereo-linkable, fun on guitar/synth/hiphop vox. not clean, but musical... and $35! that's cheaper than dinner and a movie.

if you know compression and want something subtler, the ART is a great bit of kit for under $300. I haven't used the FMR RNLA but people seem to dig 'em-- a similar vibe, at least in reviews, to the ART.

beyond $300 i can't imagine that we're still in the realm of inexpensive.

EQ... my gut feeling is that until you're ready to drop some serious coin on either an EQ or a pre w/ decent eq, it's just not worth the money. the cheap parametric eq's that are out, IME, sound like eq's on mackie boards-- weak in the lows and harsh in the highs. you'd be better off investing $200 in a really, really good EQ plug in. demo the stillwell vibe EQ and the neve emulation they have to get a sense of how eq's differ.

channel strips... at the low end i remember the presonus eureka not being bad at all, decent bang for the $. Joe Meek gear has a lot of vibe to it (and is bright green)... i had a pre/compressor thing of theirs for a while that was really, really weird but awesome on a few things, not enough to warrant me keeping it around though. definitely fun to learn about how to work with overcompression. Those non-neve-designed focusrite strips are ok, basically a step up from behringer- again, great tools to learn on that will last, but once you develop your ears, you're most likely going to choose good plugs over just-ok hardware.

haven't been into any of the ART/DBX etc prosumer ranges beyond that VLA. I had an art stereo compressor for a hot minute-- not a good bit of gear.

FWIW i'm also not a fan of that shiny-shiny avalon 737, which is the go-to channel strip in a lot of studios (i think, again, because it's shiny). The pre sounds really fruity to me, the compressor heavy-handed... but the EQ is nice. budget channel strips are a tough bet, you get 3 just-okay elements rather than 1 great one.

but seriously-- post up what it is that you want to do w/ outboard gear, and we can steer you towards stuff.

[back2onett]

Thanks for the post sharm. For the most part I'm looking at mixing but it's going to be used for a bit of tracking too, I'm not looking for total transparency (considering the quality of high end plugins now I don't think there's much point going for transparent hardware) I'm looking for a compressor - if possible with an EQ too - to add a little colour to things without completely mangling the sound so there's still a little bit of subtley to it.

I guess because this would be my first major outboard investment I'd be looking for something that's fairly easy to work with and versatile (just a few steps above baby's first compressor really). Before my budget was a little bigger and I was having a look at some low end TLAudio comps (we've got an Ivory 5050 at college and it sounds goood) but that money's gone now so I'm looking around the £200 mark ($250 or so?)

As far as channel strips go I was having a look at the Joe Meek three q and a Presonus vacuum tube strip but I've never heard any of them in action, obviously I would make sure I got to hear them before I spent any money but I thought I get some info on what's generally seen as the standard low end channel strip.

Basically a low end, multipurpose comp with a little bit of colour that doesn't sound like shit would suit me fine, oh and a preamp/EQ would just be a nice add on