Which is the Best Compression for vocals

[Brian Middleton]

I find that the UAD LA2A and Fairchild are the two best comps I have for lead vocals. Which one works better depends on the character of the voice and the mix, but I end up using the LA2A most of the time.

I recently discovered that the LA2A's kid brother, the UAD LA3A, can be absolutely marvelous on backup vocals. It's a shade less subtle than the LA2A, with a little more audible "grip" to it, and that works beautifully for backup vox that you need to sit very tightly in a space a little bit back from the lead, but still with plenty of presence.

I haven't tried the Rocket on vocals yet. I'll have to check it out.

[mhschmieder]

That Stillwell link hurt my head, as I was trying to read the product names as Russian, not realising they were using Cyrillic in a "cute" way . Although ironically they do phonetically spell out "drive" in Cyrillic. Weird. Anyway, I didn't know they were Mac-compatible until now, so hadn't looked at them in detail.

[Tritonemusic]

Although ironically they do phonetically spell out "drive" in Cyrillic. Weird.

Yeah, I got a good laugh out of that. Funny how the "Olga" plug-in uses Cyrillic letters that aren't phonetic but just kind of look like the word Olga. Phonetically, it would sound something like "FGBD."

[rainmaker]

Hands down, the LA2A from UA. Get yourself a UAD 2 card , the LA2A and you won't ever worry about vocal compression again.

Thanks,
Rainmaker

[Eleventh Hour Sound]

Well now that we're back on listing our fave compressors -

Stillwell Rocket Compressor - big-bucks sound, recession-era price (60 bucks).

http://www.stillwellaudio.com

Wow... Lot's of neat plugs (cool graphics!) Downloading demos now. Thanks for the tip David!

[Eleventh Hour Sound]

So many questions, so few answers.

For plugs, the best bang for the buck - and I mean LOT 'O BANG - is the URS Channel Strip Pro. This is an awesome compressor. The EQ is okay, but you have 60 different comp models with 30 different "pre" emulations. Sounds fabulous, deep, and clean... but can squash as desired.

A one trick pony I'm still working with and love the sound, but haven't really mastered is the Abbey Roads TG Comp. Sounds amazingly cream and smooth. Does not disappoint, but takes some getting used to how it responds to vocals. Sounds amazing on drums in limit mode.

+1. I think you can download a demo. I'll sometimes use multiple compressors on a track like an la2a and an 1176. You could have multiple instances of teh URS plug to accomplish this. Then end the chain with a little bit of Waves L1 (or something like it) to catch the peaks.

Wow $500 smackers!

[cloudsplitter]

I like the Avalon 737...but they don't come cheap.....