Register to Access Free Courses, Plugins, Projects, Samples & More Taken from anywhere in the world for up to 64 weeks, it’s one of our most comprehensive courses and has been taken by the likes of Claude Von Stroke, Plastician and Jon Rundell. If you want to learn more production, mixing, mastering, sound design and composition tips, our Online Master Diploma course is perfect for you. We took a look at Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor in our latest Plugin of the Week – watch it above and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tutorials and live events. UAD in collaboration with Brainworx have created a thorough emulation of this revered hardware. The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor has become one of the standards for mastering and mixing, thanks to its unique design which includes two compressors, an opto and a discrete VCA, and three transformers output. There are different types of compressor designs, all with their own characteristics, features and unique sounds, and as such, some have become ‘classic’ processors over the years, i.e. Urei 1176, Teletronix LA2A, Fairchild, SSL. Used creatively, a compressor can drastically alter the shape of a sound, making it more or less percussive, more or less punchy, more or less dense, etc. Essentially, the basic concept behind a compressor is that it reduces the highest levels (above a certain threshold), thus reducing the dynamic range. Originally used for purely technical reasons, creative use of compressors has become part of the production process, with many popular music genres based around the sound of compression. Overall, its hard to fault the UAD MK II releases, they are so great, but along with the UAD 1176 MKII, the VBC is my favorite comp bundle.Tony Visconti famously said, “compression is the sound of rock ‘n’ roll”. I have to say, I was skeptical about Slate, and had avoided them because some of their claims seemed a bit to good to be true, but now they have my undivided attention! I'm now looking forward to their Virtual Mix Rack, and squirreling away my lunch money. The one I have used the least so far is the Red, simply because I was having so much fun with the other two. Perhaps they modeled Manley Vari Mu, and incorporated it (they don't come out and say which "MU's" they modeled of course). This is all so subjective, but I instantly clicked with it. FG-MU sounds more modern, and seems to suit rock mixes better to my ears. Also, FG-MU is amazing! I personally find it much more useful than the Fairchild MKII, especially in the mix bus. Since Slate's version is a modified SSL, it could be argued that it isn't authentic, but for me, FG-Grey beats UAD SSL for how it sounds to me (subjective). Slate added a transformer to the signal path of the FG-Grey, and I like it better than the transformer matrix on the SHMC. I also like it better than the VCA comp on SHMC. To me the transients stay firmer at larger reduction values than UAD SSL Buss, and I really like the hi pass side chain. I A/B'd FG-Grey with UAD SSL Buss comp, and I like FG-Grey better. I was demoing this yesterday, and I really like the sound of these comps even when you put them in the circuit without compressing. OTOH, he was smashing that drum kit to hell! If I did that in a mastering session, I'd fire me.īumping this old thread because I am way impressed with Slate VBC. I did like that extra bit of woody upper-mid presence the hardware exhibited in the demo vid though. I agree the SHMC doesn't quite match the hardware in the video comparison, but I have successfully used it in mastering, and would use it in a mix as well. Matt - I respect you greatly, but IMHO, a comp 'across the mix bus' is already mastering (at least a first step), unless you take it off before running the mix unless you mean a group (aux). I found the promising mix knobs in the Slate to sound odd - phasey, like they didn't nail the sample accuracy or need to run the 'dry' signal through the modeling to make it match. I wanted to, but it just wasn't quite there. I personally didn't like the Slate VBC package to buy it. I do enough mastering to know that a LA2a into a SSL, 33609 or 1176 just doesn't match the SHMC. Each of the compressor mentioned are distinctly different.
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