Distressor users --> Share your settings!

[acappa]

Hey! I always use this piece of gear on the way in with vocals, my settings are normally 6:1 dist mode 2, attack 1.5 and release 2 and I wonder if any of you have experienced good results with other settings! cheers

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Wrong subforum... For back on topic: 6:1, attack at 6, release between 3 and 5, 6db gr for vocal tracking.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

I usually track vocals 3:1, attack 2.1, release 3.5, mid focus and highpass filter on for detection, hp filter and dist 2 on for the output, 14 db gain reduction on the loudest parts, usually it's riding around 10db

edit: that is behind a tube preamp with some saturation going on too perhaps that's why I go for lower ratio...

 

[AEL89]

That's a lot of compression on the way in! I have a mike-E, saturating quite hard and compressing 5db (absolute maximum) on the way in. Attack - whatever works (though never very fast), release - fastest.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

That's a lot of compression on the way in! I have a mike-E, saturating quite hard and compressing 5db (absolute maximum) on the way in. Attack - whatever works (though never very fast), release - fastest.

yep, it is, but because of the detection filters it never sounds too much IMO

 

[AEL89]

yep, it is, but because of the detection filters it never sounds too much IMO

Fair enough dude, I think that even if you were to compress "too much" - better on a distressor than something like an 1176. Fucking sick unit. Watching the youtube vids makes me want a pair so bad.

 

[acappa]

6:1, attack at 6, release between 3 and 5, 6db gr for vocal tracking

Interesting... I always end up using such a really fast attack, and I really dont know why.....

For those who run the compressor like 10-12 db gr, do you compress again in your daw?? If so, what kind of compressor, some 1776 plugin...¿?

 

[waltz mastering]

For vocals 3 or 4:1 med attack med release 4-6dB GR usually coming back through a Tube Tech CL1B w/ 1 or 2 dB GR

 

[Ermz]

You're using some pretty good settings. They're safe in theory. Relatively fast attack and release, which tends to usually work well for vocals.

With the Distressor I've found slower attacks can work quite well though. For some reason the distortion circuitry works harder when you open up the attack, so you can get a lot of bite on vocals on the way in by doing this. Then hitting it with an 1176 or something fast attack in the mix to even it back out.

I tend to favor Dist 3 mode personally.

 

[Sonic75]

On vocals, 6:1 or 4:1, med/fast attack (6-3), med/fast release. I start with no dist mode, then I see what it does. If I use, usually I prefer the mode 2.

Hey! I always use this piece of gear on the way in with vocals, my settings are normally 6:1 dist mode 2, attack 1.5 and release 2 and I wonder if any of you have experienced good results with other settings! cheers

Sometimes I use the same setting like you but with the attack a little bit slower.
:Shedevil:

 

[Aaron Smith]

For metal vocals (that is, growls and screams), 10:1, Dist 3, fast attack and fast release. Normally averaging around -20dB of reduction. Yep.

I always do some EQ, almost always some multiband compression in the low mids (especially with the more gutteral growly stuff), de-essing, and a touch of limiting PRIOR to the Distressor. Then usually a bit more EQ, de-essing, and and some soft LA-2A style vocal bus compression after the Distressor.

 

[acappa]

For metal vocals (that is, growls and screams), 10:1, Dist 3, fast attack and fast release. Normally averaging around -20dB of reduction. Yep.

I always do some EQ, almost always some multiband compression in the low mids (especially with the more gutteral growly stuff), de-essing, and a touch of limiting PRIOR to the Distressor. Then usually a bit more EQ, de-essing, and and some soft LA-2A style vocal bus compression after the Distressor.

So I guess, you record the clean signal from the preamp, then in the bus/track you put the fx´s you´ve mentioned, and then as an external insert you plug the distressor??? Otherwise I´d understand you already have al multiband, de-esser, limiter and LA-2A hardware...¿?

 

[acappa]

For those that use the distressor as a paralel compressor I hope you can help me out:
I´m using my distressor as external insert in a mono bus, so I set pre fader sends in SN, Kick and Bass tracks. I´m setting the distressor with fast attack/release and 10:1 ratio, but I´m getting some flaming and noises...don´t know if you have experienced something like that...
Ermz I´ve read multiple post where you state the using of the distressor as a paralel compressor...hopefuly you can shed some light...
Thankss

 

[pipaguapique]

i LOVE distressors!!

for vocals...i use the same settings as Aaron...but with slow attack and slow release.

on the picture is something im using now, top is kick and bottom is snare.


so kick at 3:1 Dist 2 all the attack and release at 3.
snare is 2:1, 8 attack and 6 for release.
those are my settings on the way in of course.

 

[acappa]

Cool! I´m searching another distressor actually, I need a pair for drum bus process!! The SPL, is it a Vitalizer??

 

[RiF]

For mixing: 6:1 (mostly) or 10:1, attack fast if I want to tame transients, if not about 3-4ish. Very fast release for audible compression, longer release (4-5) for evening out the level. I go for relatively high GR (8-15), because the Distressor does that really fine. No plugin can do that amount of GR without sucking all the life out of the signal.
DET: HP is almost always on, Bump=ON for some deessing if needed.
AUDIO: HP sometimes, Dist2 if it helps to give some more edge. StereoLinking for even more distortion (rarely).

The ultimate compression box, I want a another one ;-).

 

[ArthurD]

Guys, just saw this on GearSlutz (Michal Wagener Stuff):

mwagener: "Let's see. Distressor settings: input set so I get about 18-20 dB of reduction on very loud passages, prefferably no reduction on low passages, attack is on 3.5, release is just under 2, output set for optimal level to the converter (-6dB). I use the 6:1 setting and the audio button is set to dist2 and hi pass, detector cicuit is set to hi pass.

I like the Distressor on vocals, since I normally deal with singers with quite a large dynamic range. With the right Distressor setting, they can step back 4 feet and it still sounds like they are right up on the mic, that way they can sing all the way through the song and we don't have to go piece by piece. Great box, great sound."


And Lasse shared this on facebook sometime ago (am I allowed to share it here?):
Bass Content

 

[Aaron Smith]

Kinda funny that this thread was resurrected, because just recently I was toying with the Distressor attack/release settings on metal vocals to see if there was something I liked better. I still ended up keeping them both pretty fast, at about 1. Anything less than that just didn't seem grabby and aggressive enough for me!

 

[mva801]

What about for clean vocals? The settings most of you run tend to give me distortion with cleaner stuff. I usually run around 3:1, about 10dB GR on the loud parts, around 2.5 attack and release, with hp on detector and audio.

 

[amarshism]

Generally medium att and rel 6:1 hp^hpdist3 shaving 14on loudest parts riding about 6-8 most the time. That's with a 610 shaving 3 off before hand.