Mix Compressors... TL Audio fatman/ ivory series

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:15 pm

Anyone any thoughts about the standard of TL Audio compressors...

I've heard from loads of people and heard loads of opinion...

I'm thinking about getting hold of one to use as a final insert stage of my mixer before the recording point... a mix compressor...

any thoughts?

p.cubby

macc · Post by **macc** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:47 pm

__________ · Post by **__________** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:50 pm

cheer up bob, everyone's gotta start somewhere

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:14 pm

I use a lot of outboard gear...

and having a compressor to thicken up the mix is obviously needed, but one other thought I've looked at are UAD (plugin cards in general) softwear options...

I've got acess to a fully stocked UAD pack already so I was looking for something to smooth/bridge/tame the signal from my mixer to the sound card...

almost to make it a treated self contained mix out of the mixer

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:28 pm

its.... ok. not sure i'd reach for a TL on the master bus but that's just me. To my ears, it just makes things sound literally compressed, rather than, you know... pumping and hairy and fuckin' awesome.

macc · Post by **macc** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:41 pm

pandacub wrote:I use a lot of outboard gear...

and having a compressor to thicken up the mix is obviously needed, but one other thought I've looked at are UAD (plugin cards in general) softwear options...

I've got acess to a fully stocked UAD pack already so I was looking for something to smooth/bridge/tame the signal from my mixer to the sound card...

almost to make it a treated self contained mix out of the mixer

Depending on what your soundcard is, I'd either spend the money you might spend on the TLA on either

1) A Lavry Black AD-10
or 2) half a real compressor (ie save a bit more

)

wil blaze · Post by **wil blaze** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:18 am

personally i love the TL Ivory series and fatmans...

I wouldn't use them over the master of my mix, but for use on drums or bass they are really nice... warm valve sound...

They are used in some pretty big studios as workhorse compressors alongside much more expensive models so i wouldn't turn your nose up at them Macc... have you actually used one?

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:56 am

considering getting one for running stems through...

i might just spend the money on the sonnox plugins that i am 'demoing' at the moment though

3rdeye · Post by **3rdeye** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:41 am

yeah i would recommend the Ivory series of TLA gear and regularly use a TLA VTC 24-channel when engineering bands.. lovely warm, harmonic tone...

but for master bus i wouldnt go there, would use a Manley or Neve 2254R pair for that, though i wouldnt be able to afford either of those options for my home setup

macc · Post by **macc** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:18 pm

Wil Blaze wrote:personally i love the TL Ivory series and fatmans...

I wouldn't use them over the master of my mix, but for use on drums or bass they are really nice... warm valve sound...

They are used in some pretty big studios as workhorse compressors alongside much more expensive models so i wouldn't turn your nose up at them Macc... have you actually used one?

Nah I just make recommendations based on what internet people say.

Of course I have - what TeReKeTe said was spot on. I didn't like the compression action at all, and the sound was 'awwawllright'. You said it yourself - 'wouldn't use it over the mix' - which was the specific purpose stated in the original post. I quite liked the newer M4 desk when I worked on that, I'm not just slating TL

FWIW I'd buy a Fatman (the purple/red things) for £100 off ebay for wanging parts through, then save the rest towards a 'Rolls Royce' compressor

Or spend the money on an AD-10, which has excellent tube/transformer saturation modes on the input, and will record your mix in *pristine* quality.

wil blaze · Post by **wil blaze** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:06 pm

Macc wrote:
Wil Blaze wrote:personally i love the TL Ivory series and fatmans...

I wouldn't use them over the master of my mix, but for use on drums or bass they are really nice... warm valve sound...

They are used in some pretty big studios as workhorse compressors alongside much more expensive models so i wouldn't turn your nose up at them Macc... have you actually used one?
Nah I just make recommendations based on what internet people say.

Of course I have - what TeReKeTe said was spot on. I didn't like the compression action at all, and the sound was 'awwawllright'. You said it yourself - 'wouldn't use it over the mix' - which was the specific purpose stated in the original post. I quite liked the newer M4 desk when I worked on that, I'm not just slating TL

FWIW I'd buy a Fatman (the purple/red things) for £100 off ebay for wanging parts through, then save the rest towards a 'Rolls Royce' compressor Or spend the money on an AD-10, which has excellent tube/transformer saturation modes on the input, and will record your mix in *pristine* quality.

Seen...

yeah sorry i come off like a prick in my original post... dunno what made me say that... must have been in a bad mood or something lol.

And yeah... the M4 desk is naice... i worked with one for a few albums and i got on really well with it.

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:17 pm

any thoughts on the joe meek sc2.2?

or for that fact any hardwear comp that doesnt divide opinion as much...
its a confusing one...

I'm now thinkin it'd be worth saving up my pennies for a trusted compressor second hand, to try to get a better thing for my coin...

but the setup I've got is a mix of digital and analogue so the feel of the sound is on the dustier side (but thats what I've gone for)... as I've got things that sound rite, but are by no means precise, surely the sound quality of the setup is only as precise as the weakest link of the chain...

the quandry is do I
a. try to get the cleanest compressor possible, in the attempt to limit the amount of dutty signal or
b. just go for one that isnt terrible and hope that it fits in and so long as its not being pushed too hard get it to sound as good as it can...

(ps sorry if this post is all over the place... its just got me thinkin...)

cheers for all the input sofar tho'

p.

macc · Post by **macc** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:19 pm

What are you recording into?

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:53 am

an edirol fa101 10i/o firewire

into logic 8.

running 8 seperate outs thru a studiomaster desk (its nothing amaizing but it does everything and sounds alrite)... I've got a pair of drawmer gates, a focusrite octopre (which is devoid of any personality but does 'a' job passably) then a handfull of fx units delays, reverbs, phase 90 mxr, two kp3s, a boss 202 sampler being used as a gritty siren unit, things put thru a neutrik bantham patchbay and a few 1950's tube amps... bits and bobs... a few drum machines, novation drum sation and bass station, microkorg, a few other older synths and drum machines, and a drumkit, guitar and bass,

so there is never flawless sound thru my system

macc · Post by **macc** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:40 am

Perfect - IMHO you need to capture that perfectly flawed sound perfectly

I'm serious man, I like shitty too. I often run a £30 cassette deck into a £750 AD convertor ffs

Seriously man... Personally I am not convinced you need a compressor really - the Lavry has the saturation things for 'warmth' (and they beat the shitbox off any plugin I have heard), and it sounds like you have bundles of that anyway

More importantly you'll a) properly capture all that beautiful shitty analogue loveliness you're putting in, and b) be able to clock your whole studio from it (assuming the edirol allows for external sync). Literally everything will sound better as a result - stuff coming out the Edirol, stuff going into the edirol, and the whole mix will go in via the Lavry and get captured in pristine quality (perfectly shitty). Basically if that edirol has spdif in then you're laughing.

Just IMHO! It's expensive after all. I'm just spending vicariously, not that I need another AD

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:10 am

they look sick...

bit on the pricey side tho...

are there any other names to look out for as a temporarily cheaper alternatives?

is it something that a DAT machine could at all be used to do?
if you record to DAT does it at all colour the sound? I'm thinkin that the media wouldnt but the ad converters might...
the reason I'm askin is because there is one available on long term loan...
just thought I'd check... its tascam mid 90's machine...

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:09 am

In any situation i've been in w/ DAT, if it's colored the sound, it definitely hasnt' been for the better. W/ that said, years ago when decent a/d conversion was super-expensive, a bunch of folks were using the old blackface 20bit adats as a front end. Thankfully that's all gone the wayside.

I had a joemeek SC2 (i think that's what it was called? pre/opto compressor/exciter) for a few years. it was a really,really weird pre, and i wound up selling it because i only ever got it to sound awesome once. that once, of course, wound up being the absolute best tabla sound i ever got. so I'm the sucker on that end.

In general the joemeek gear does transparent ok, and weird-ass flavored fuckin' great. if it's in your budget it's definitely worth investigating. I don't necesarrily regret getting rid of mine, but were some other bright-green boxes to show up-- i wouldn't say no.

If you're dead-set on getting some dynamic processing, there's a bunch of options. at the track level, i'd think distressor or dbx 163a. for the stereo mix, api 2500 or fatso are both great starting points.

though if you're into spending that kind of cash, there's always the UAD options....

thesis · Post by **thesis** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:09 am

if you're not wanting to spend so much, look into the RNC1773. I wanted an outboard compressor to finalise my mixes, making them louder and warmer sounding. Decided on the RNC1773 and it works a treat for this purpose. I also use it as the last link in my live PA setup.

Check these links:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep00/articles/fmr.htm
http://www.fmraudio.com/reviewspage.htm[/url]

macc · Post by **macc** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:26 am

^ Verrrrrrrrry good call - completely forgot about the RNC!

pandacub · Post by **pandacub** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:07 pm

fella that sounds wicked...

I love the potential of it when sos say the only drawback is an external psu...

I'll have a look for one of them...

by most of the reveiws it is, funnily enough, a really nice compressor...

cheers for the advice!

Mix Compressors... TL Audio fatman/ ivory series

Mix Compressors... TL Audio fatman/ ivory series

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