Buss compressor vs regular compressor on the buss

What will a plugin that is designated as a "buss compressor" do compared to a regular compressor that I put on the buss?

Toth wrote:What will a plugin that is designated as a "buss compressor" do compared to a regular compressor that I put on the buss?

It really depends on what features each one has. A bus compressor may have a side chaining option as where the other might not.

It really only means a compressor being used on a bus. Often, the compressor plugings marketed as more or less "buss specific" in application are just models of famous, high-end hardware compressors/limiters, as well as dedicated the buss compressors found in high-end consoles. Usually for buss compression you want to do very minimal comrression, at lower ratios, with something that has a fairly smooth, transparent and musical kind of response to it -- my favorite is a good optical compressor (or model thereof). People most often speak of proper buss compression as sonically "glueing" the mix together -- making all of the elements fit together and have a more cohesive sound.

Speaking of glue....Cytomic's The Glue and PSP Busspressor are two of my favs for this application.

Yeah, I've got "The Glue," too, and a whole host of others. A current favorite or mine is Waves' MaseratiGRP (group) buss compressor.

Ah so you like the Maserati plugs then?.....I've heard VERY mixed reviews of those and the JJP plugs.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 31/07/2012 00:33:11

cristofe wrote:Speaking of glue....Cytomic's The Glue

A huge fan of this plug...

Terry

Im a huge fan of the Kush Audio UBK-1. I use it on drum buss and the 2-buss. Sweet character compressor. Give it look up if you guys get a chance. Its the closest thing to Fatso ITB.

I'm an even bigger fan of "Less Compression"

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 31/07/2012 03:49:25

tomorrowstk wrote:Im a huge fan of the Kush Audio UBK-1. I use it on drum buss and the 2-buss. Sweet character compressor. Give it look up if you guys get a chance. Its the closest thing to Fatso ITB.

I just checked out the UBK-1 videos on their site, talk about Audio PORN! hahaha

I wish more tuts had that quirky energy in their presentation. Kudos to Kush!

themuzic wrote:
I'm an even bigger fan of "Less Compression"

+ 1,000,000

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 31/07/2012 05:32:47

Ah....yes....less compression.Years ago I bought a few analogue records from a company called Sheffield Records, which did direct to disc recordings (studio quality tape right to the lathe). There was also very little compression on the mix. Boy, did those things sound alive and great

Unfortunately, content was so-so

I'm an even bigger fan of Less Compression

Case in point...Jack White's latest.

I prefer less compression, too, but there are times and places where it is absolutely essential. Regarding your earlier comment Cristofe, I haven't really read a lot of reviews or heard people talk about JJP or Maserati much. I haven't auditioned the JJP stuff, so I couldn't say anything about those.

I don't like the Maserati plugs for all material, and I think some within the bundle are stronger than others, but, for the right material (particularly pop oriented), I find them quite useful. You can get a free, full functioning demo of them and see what you think for yourself. I find a lot of this stuff to be so subjective -- YMMV.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 02/08/2012 22:46:22

What will a plugin that is designated as a "buss compressor" do compared to a regular compressor that I put on the buss?

A bus compressor is typically stereo. The SSL bus compressor, the Fairchild 670 or something like The Glue are good examples. Some key off one channel and some key off a mono version of both channels. Another example is the Distressor EL-8S setup.

In the plug-in world it is not nearly as well defined because most all plug-ins can be used as stereo or mono.