Messing around with hardware compression

[abaga129]

Hey guys, this is my first time ever using hardware. I bought a broken Alesis 3630 for $15 and fixed/modded it. I wanted to test it out, so I figured drums would be the best way to test it.

I compressed the cymbals, The drum bus, the room track, and I parallel compressed the drum buss. What do you guys think?

Before: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56167527/3630 Mod Test Clean.mp3

After: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56167527/3630 Mod Test Compressed.mp3

 

[Cephara]

Honestly, its hard to say without a mix, but compressing overheads (cymbals) in that matter has always been one of the most important processes to let them ring without turning them up to loud. The only note I have on your drum mix is that your kick lacks presences on the bottom. The click is there, but I'm not feeling the thud that should be there. Snare sounds good.

 

[abaga129]

Okay thanks for the feedback. If I find the time, I may try doing the entire mix with the 3630 to really put it to the test. One thing I've noticed with hardware is that I'm much more likely to pay attention to detail since I know there's no turning back. I'm not sure if I can see myself working this into my workflow though.