1176 fast attack issues

[mairomaster]

Hey guys!

Everybody seems to use 1176 on drums and bass. But it's know that even with the slowest attack setting, the attack time is 1 ms. I'm wondering isn't that killing the transient?
With drums for example, it's pretty common to use 20-30 ms attack to keep the punch. How then the people have such good results with 1176?

 

[Uros]

Well, they are not normally used for transient shaping on drums exactly because of that. They are mostly used for destroying room mics or to control overshoots.

 

[mairomaster]

Make sense. Thanks.

What about the bass guitar then?

 

[Nimvi]

Many people in metal like to compress their bass so that it doesn't jump around too much and it sounds like a sort of constant deep drone. the speed of an 1176 enables you to chop off unruly peaks and as a side effect increases the sustain after you make up for the lost gain. If you want something to emphasize the beat on the bass, you can follow it up with another compressor that is more suitable for that kind of thing. Since the 1176 chopped off the rogue spikes, the compressor after it will have a much easier time doing what it does best.

 

[AboutBlank]

I love the 1176 + LA2A combi (both UAD in my case) for Vocs and bass, just so smooth.
Also 1176 for paracomp stuff is a burner...

 

[soundsunderground]

How then the people have such good results with 1176?

Because they start turning knobs until it sounds good and do not worry about specs.

 

[tgs]

Because they start turning knobs until it sounds good and do not worry about specs.

This. I use 1176 on snare all the time, if I think it fits the sound. Never had any issues with the attack.

 

[JonWormwood]

It's killing it on toms right now for me

 

[Manicompression]

I agree that people do seem to pull some cool results using fet style comps but I think its worth noting alot of people just use the standard ssl style comp too. Im pretty sure Andy is using vca style comps on his snares and such with metric halo channel strip. I usually use the glue or the waves api or h-comp, whenever Ive tried using 1176 style plugs I dont get that front end pop that I want out of my snares.

 

[Daunt]

I've been really liking the SSL Duende Channel compressor on snare and toms lately. It has only the default auto attack or "fast att" (1 ms) settings. Auto attack does the trick! Still using Softube FET on parallel buses though.

 

[crillemannen]

Well most ppl use the 1176 for parallel compression. I usually use the glue aká SSL style compression on both kick,snare,toms and overheads. I like the pop and i usually use .3 attack so you get some of the transient.

The trick for drum compression is to leave just enough of the transient to make it pop, and then set the release so you get the amount of sustain wanted. Usually around 12o clock on a ssl comp for me.

 

[Darren "Jenk" Jenkins]

1176's vary from one to another. No two units sound the same and a lot of the high-profile engineers have them modified. Of course this doesn't apply to the plug-in (the UAD emulation is the best sounding). Personally I never use 1176's on drums but always on vocals and sometimes bass guitar. With that said they work great on kick and snare and although their attack time is very fast, they don't kill transients as much as other compressors.

 

[AboutBlank]

all buttons in on parallel

 

[BLUElightCory]

I've been really liking the SSL Duende Channel compressor on snare and toms lately. It has only the default auto attack or "fast att" (1 ms) settings. Auto attack does the trick! Still using Softube FET on parallel buses though.

+1, the Duende stuff is seriously underrated, especially if you're doing metal. It completely smokes the Waves SSL plugs.

 

[amarshism]

I found the compressor on the duende totally ate the waves one. Amazing for snare.

 

[vespiz]

Been liking the CLA76 on snare for a while now. I love that pop it gives me, but you have to be careful with it, doesn't always work (well duh).

 

[mairomaster]

So, does everybody agree, that it's not the best option if you want to increase the attack of a snare?

 

[ze kink]

I occasionally use a 1176 -style comp on the snare (Stillwell Rocket's my choice), but I find I'm not really compressing my snares that much so I can probably get away with it better. I just shave the transient a little to give it more balls, if it's too pokey and snappy. Occasionally I don't compress the snare at all, but then I'll usually have something on the drum bus to compensate, and that's actually often a 1176 too. I like it on the tom bus a lot of the time, and taming overheads. And obviously, all buttons in on parallel and room.

I use the 1176 on bass all the time. Vocals too. Paired with Logic's stock comp on opto mode, simulating an LA2A to the best of it's abilities - sadly the soft clip on it sounds like ass most of the time. On vocals, I find the LA2A often comes first, and on bass, the 1176. That's not a set order though.

 

[Darren "Jenk" Jenkins]

+1, the Duende stuff is seriously underrated, especially if you're doing metal. It completely smokes the Waves SSL plugs.

The UAD SSL emulation sounds better than both the Duende and Waves versions. It's the closest thing to a real SSL.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

The UAD SSL emulation sounds better than both the Duende and Waves versions. It's the closest thing to a real SSL.

And the funny thing in that comment is: duende is what you have when using a C200. So Duende is the real SSL.

I know what you want to mean so apologize for that...