• Welcome to the General Discussion forum for UAD users!

    Please note that this forum is user-run, although we're thrilled to have so much contribution from Drew, Will, and other UA folks!

    Feel free to discuss both UAD and non-UAD related subjects!

    1) Please do not post technical issues here. Please use our UAD Support Forums instead.

    2) Please do not post complaints here. Use the Unrest Forum instead. They have no place in the the General Discussion forum.

    Threads posted in the wrong forum will be moved, so if you don't see your thread here anymore, please look in the correct forum.

    Lastly, please be respectful.

Favorite Drum Bus Compressors

Marshall K

Marshall K

Active Member
I use a UA Neve 33609 on the Brauer B bus, calibrated and set to minimal gain reduction.

Sometimes I use a UA Chandler Zener Limiter on the drum bus, when I really want to slam and colourize the drums. And then route to the B bus, as usual.
 
chrisharbin

chrisharbin

Hall of Fame Member
I have the legacy version of that SSL bus plug, it was great but not sure if it would work on the silicon mac (not likely)

I'll throw something in the mix (pun intended) that isn't mentioned much. The Capitol Mastering Comp from UAD. Honestly, I feel it adds allot of life personally.
 
jonchristopherhughes

jonchristopherhughes

Active Member
UAD: fatso, manley varimu, fairchild.

third party: cytomic the glue, softube chandler germanium comp.
 
M

mrufino1

Established Member
chrisharbin said:
Oh, sooooo boring Matt...... :ROFLMAO: Those are industry standards, can't really go wrong.
Click to expand...
They do seem really boring, until you one day realize they are standards for a reason! It’s still fun to experiment though. When you need to actually finish something, going to what you know works well is usually a good strategy.

I know you were joking, I just wanted to add that.

My answer is either ssl type plugin or 33609, sometimes 2254, if I use drum bus compression at all. I have experimented with the 2500 lately as well and liked that too. And, I had never tried the LA2A silver (or that free one) on drum buss until I read that here and that was cool too.

I don’t really compress things very much though, so the results aren’t night and day difference. Ever since I got the 33609 plug-in last year though it has been on my master buss doing about 2db of compression and I don’t see that changing.

One plug-in I almost never leave off of a drum buss though is the soundtoys little radiator. That, followed by a gain plug-in pulling back about 4db of gain since little radiator has no output control, is a beautiful thing on drums.
 
Last edited:
Eric Dahlberg

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
LA-2A -> 33609 behaves a lot like the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor hardware. Lower noise, too.
 
MakerDP

MakerDP

Hall of Fame Member
For subtle I like the Neve. For brash I like the Distressor or the API.
 
chrisharbin

chrisharbin

Hall of Fame Member
mrufino1 said:
They do seem really boring, until you one day realize they are standards for a reason! It’s still fun to experiment though. When you need to actually finish something, going to what you know works well is usually a good strategy.

I know you were joking, I just wanted to add that.

My answer is either ssl type plugin or 33609, sometimes 2254, if I use drum bus compression at all. I have experimented with the 2500 lately as well and liked that too. And, I had never tried the LA2A silver (or that free one) on drum buss until I read that here and that was cool too.

I don’t really compress things very much though, so the results aren’t night and day difference. Ever since I got the 33609 plug-in last year though it has been on my master buss doing about 2db of compression and I don’t see that changing.

One plug-in I almost never leave off of a drum buss though is the soundtoys little radiator. That, followed by a gain plug-in pulling back about 4db of gain since little radiator has no output control, is a beautiful thing on drums.
Click to expand...
Again, tried/true isn't really boring to me. It's functional, and those are terrific. I think the SSL is still the "industry standard" imo. But of course, there are other options :)
 
Eric Dahlberg

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
BeingHumans said:
@Eric Dahlberg I’m curious how many DB’s are you hitting the LA-2A with before it goes to the 33609?
Follow up question please,.. how much compression on the 33609 after the 2A?
Click to expand...
Under 1dB on the LA-2A, under 3dB on the 33609.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
UAD Bundle Month
Top