Kick Drum Compressors!

I used a sampled DW Kick from BFD. Here is the dry sample:


Each were approximately:

Ratio- 6:1
Attack-3
Release-.2
About 10 GR

I'm also getting out of the habit of using exact settings for every plug-in and play with the settings for each, getting them to sound as good as I can.

Here are the audio samples. I recorded them in 88.2/24bit, and had to export them (since it won't play wave files) as mp3's at 44.1k/320kbps.


Waves API-2500- Affects more of the beater side of the sound. Punchy, not very deep sounding. Sounds like it would sound good for fast metal with a lot of double-bass drum. Vintage sounding, what a surprise!



Sonalksis SV-315Mk2- Bigger sounding than the API. Sounds much clearer. Still attacks more of the beater sound, but includes some of the thump and low end. I prefer to not hear a compressor working, but if I were forced to, this is acceptable! However! It seems to be doing it's job a little too well and brings the snare bleed out more than the others. That could be a deal breaker depending on the situation. But can you really fault a compressor for doing too good of a job? In all likelihood, I'd probably end up playing with the settings a little more to fix it if it were a real issue.



Waves RComp- Looowwwwww. Really gets it sounding deep. Pretty well rounded, beater isn't as present, and I think that's what gives kicks their "punch". I'd be a little concerned with all the low energy it seems to be effecting. Either that I'd end up in the mastering process put a HPF on whatever it's hitting, or if I left it in, it would destroy car speakers. Would be awesome for R&B or Rap kicks or something heavier. But then I suppose if I were using it for Hip-Hop, I'd be slamming the mutli-band mastering compressor so this didn't tear apart someones car speakers.



Softtube FET Compressor (Neve 1176 clone)- Very natural sounding, very well rounded. This plug-in is weird and takes a little getting used to. There's no normal "Threshold", but I got a sound I liked out of it. Probably the most transparent of them all. Only seems to enhance what's already there, not necessarily add something new. On this particular drum loop and on a DW kick, I might not be looking for natural though. Will have to see how it sounds in context.



URS 1970 Compressor (From what I am told, Neve 2254 clone)- Bigger. Seems to be the middle ground between the Sonalksis and the RComp. Has a nice blend of the meat and punch. Also very transparent. Actually sounds very similar to the Sonalksis. A little darker sounding.



Results!
After listening again and comparing each one, I liked the Sonalksis the best for this. It seemed to really enhance what was already there, and where it did add something new, it was only an enhancement to the track. Being a DW kick, you're expecting a certain punch to it, so I think this did the best job bringing out those qualities. But this was good, because I liked each one for different styles. If I was doing some light pop or jazz (and it even needed compression!) or country, I'd probably use the Softtube Fet or see how the URS sounded. Heavy metal, R&B, Hip-Hop and such, RComp all the way. Something more vintage sounding, like a Beatles tribute band, I'd turn to the API or URS.