Distressor vs DBX 160 vs UAD 160 vs Waves & elysia

[Ermz]

Firstly I want to thank Plec and Kassonica (from another forum) for providing the Distressor, DBX 160 and the UAD plug-ins for this test.

This is the extension to a thread I made several days ago comparing the DBX 160 VU outboard compressor to the standard fare Waves SSL channel and elysia mPressor plug-ins. Now we also have the fabled Distressor, and UAD's recreation of the DBX 160.

Some notes before I provide the listening files:

• The compressors are alternated on kick & snare only. Nothing else in the mix changes. The idea is to find the punchiest/best sitting compressor for this track.
• This isn't a scientific test. I tried to match the levels by ear as closely as I could, but different settings plus different envelope characteristics makes this impossible. Also, the units were dialed by 3 different people, so you will find natural differences that come with this.
• Due to possible predisposition bias, this time around I've made the shoot-out blind, and I'll reveal the results in a few days after enough people have shared their preferences.
• The idea here is NOT to guess which is which, but rather to just say which is your favourite. It's not a shoot-out to find the golden eared amongst you, but rather just to approximate which the end listener might find the most exciting to hear.
• The mix is pushed a little loud - enough to approximate how it may sit in a near-finished product, but with enough headroom to let the transients poke out a little.

Here they are:

A
B
C
D

Cheers, and hope you guys find it somewhat entertaining!

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I'd probably say D is my favorite but at least at low levels the differences here are tiny tiny tiny... makes me want to sell my distressor haha

 

[Ashgarth]

They all sound nice, but voted C.

 

[HandsOfDespair]

D seems to preserve the body of both more then the others but I'm not sure its my favorite. On some parts it works, but at like 0:45, just after the blastbeat if you focus on the snare you hear a lot more nasty resonance than in the others.

I don't like A at all, the kick sounds much worse than the others.

I think B and C sound quite similar. I prefer C mainly for the kick, seems to sound a bit better.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

awesome, thanks heaps mate, gonna give these a listen later

 

[Soundlurker]

Overall, I like 'B' and 'D' most. I voted for 'D' because it's cleaner than the rest and very punchy. 'B' is similar but less tight. 'A' has a very cool snare but the kick is lacking. I didn't like 'C' at all, it doesn't sound as open and natural... it's almost like there's pumping going on.

 

[~BURNY~]

Voted D but I also really like the snare on A (160vu ?).

 

[bibz]

B or D for me, they seem to work better. C isn't much different to B, A seems to kill to quickly. It's all to bassy on this hifi setup though, shitty sub crossovers and all

 

[barricade]

I like A

 

[Ermz]

I really like all these impressions guys. Some of you are very very switched on, and accurate in what you're hearing. Can't wait for the reveal actually, I think you guys might be surprised/impressed. There are no wrong answers of course, and it's just great to read what everyone makes of what they're hearing.

Out of curiosity, would you guys like me to re-print A with the kick louder? I think I may have left it a bit too buried in the mix.

 

[Fragle]

thanks for the thread?
i'm on laptop speakers right now, will check on monitors later!

upon first listen, i thought A had the best snare, and C the best kick. B was boring to my ears...

 

[Soundlurker]

Yeah it would be nice to hear A with the kick bumped up a little, since the snare in A might really be the best out of the bunch.

 

[Ermz]

As of right now, the clip 'A' has been updated with a slightly louder kick.

Any higher and it would eat up too much headroom relative to the others. It is actually the envelope of the compressor shaping the kick in such a way as to make it a little more subdued than you might expect from the rest. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you to decide.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

just listened at normal volume - I still like the kick on D the best. it sounds like... angrier. more aggressive. to me at least.

I think I like the snare for A better.. seems fatter, thicker, juicier. but D is nice too.

edit: did you make these drum samples???

 

[Wild Hades]

I like D the most, seems more natural, expecially on the snare.
Gotta agree with the comment about the snare resonance, the decay just seem to be longer when compared to the other 3 versions and I like it.

I'm curious about your preference, Ermin...

 

[MortenDK]

Had a listen on these crappy sony mdr-210 headphones here at work on our workstations. To me B and C seems to grap the quick parts better, where A and D seems to smear the snare attack to me. And A and D adds this really nice punch to the snare on the slower parts.
Cant seem to hear which I like best of A or D on these headphones!.... I´ll go with D :Spin:

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I'm going a bit against the major opinion here. A seemed the most meh to me. Not bad, but it didn't really get me excited. D was really nice and punchy, but there's something about the snare's decay that doesn't sound right to me, and IMHO it doesn't fit the context that well. A healthy, big sound, that's for sure, but for this mix I'd like something a bit snappier... Which brings me to B and C. It was a really tough choice, but in the end I chose B because I felt it had a tad more attack and punch to it. B was my favorite when quickly listening through the clips the first time, and it remained the winner when I did a re-run, so B it shall be

Mind you, I based my judgment mostly on the snare since I find it easier to concentrate on compression that way, and how the drums complimented the mix otherwise without paying as much attention to the kick.

 

[grywolf627]

I can't say I like just one for both kick and snare. I prefer the kick on D, but the snare on B. Jarkko summed up my feelings about the snare.

 

[Straight Shooter]

I preferred B snare and D kick (like how the D kick sits with the bass guitar). Did not care for the D snare though.
So choosing only one I would go with B for this song.

 

[462studio]

Voting for D.

I like B and D the most out of them.