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OCTOBER 2014 USA $5.99 CANADA $5.99 VOL. TWENTY EIGHT NUMBER ONE
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Dangerous Music Dangerous Compressor Dangerous Music was founded in 2001 by Chris Muth and Bob Muller with the motto, “Sonic Integrity Is Non-Negotiable.� Since its first product, the Dangerous 2-Bus analog summing device, the company has been at the forefront of both analog summing and the hybrid analog/digital studio paradigm. In addition to a long list of summing and monitoring devices such as the 2-Bus and the Dangerous Source (reviewed February 2014), in recent years Dangerous has started offering studio audio processors. First there was the Bax EQ, reviewed by yours truly back in our October 2012 issue, and now it’s time for us to check out some Dangerous compression! The Dangerous Compressor The Dangerous Compressor is is a 2U 19" rackmount unit with two matching channels of ultra-transparent VCA-based compression. Unlike the many vintageflavored compressors on the market with a minimum of controls, the Dangerous Compressor offers a host of control and tweaking choices. Buildwise, as with all Dangerous gear, this compressor is top-drawer in every way. Its thick front faceplate is dressed in a classy brushed black finish and adorned with the familiar “Dangerous style� knobs, done in black with easy-tosee orange accents and silky-smooth to the touch. This is, to my personal taste, a
Dynamics control without compromise or coloration big improvement over the feel of the Bax EQ’s knobs, which operate smoothly but whose surface texture is rough to the touch. As with other Dangerous rack products, the Dangerous Compressor’s buttons are backlit in a variety of bright colors and you can hear the relays clicking in and out as you engage and disengage them. The center of the unit is dominated by two large bright VU meters that can show input, output or gain reduction. Around the back are XLR inputs and outputs for each channel, as well as additional XLR I/O for the unit’s external sidechain capability. There are also a pair of small recessed set screws for adjusting the VU meters. Functions explained Moving left to right, it all starts with a group of pushbutton controls that affect both channels of the unit simultaneously. The first and largest button is labeled Engage; this is a hard bypass that allows signal to flow freely through the Compressor for true A/B comparisons. The next four buttons comprise the sidechain section, with two internal sidechain controls and two external. The first, labeled Bass Cut, is similar to how most modern compressors handle sidechaining; it engages a 6 dB/octave filter, 3 dB down at 60 Hz, that allows
low frequencies to pass through the unit without the detector clamping down. This prevents low-end information (e.g. kick drums or even vocal plosives) from causing heavy-handed unnatural compression and sudden drops in the signal. Next is a button labeled Sibilance Boost. This engages a Baxandall shelving EQ that boosts 2 dB at 5 kHz and up into the detection circuitry, so the compressor grabs a little more at stuff on the high end, like vocal sibilance. This feature is one of my favorites on the unit; it’s especially nice on acoustic guitar, and on cymbals when used on the drum bus. The final two controls in the sidechain section are for external sidechain functions. Here, you can use an external equalizer to focus in on certain audio bands for frequency-specific compression. One control activates the external ins and outs while the other, labeled Sidechain Monitor, lets you listen to just the external EQ band for fine tuning, and to the internal Bass Cut and Sibilance Boost (the signal sent to the detection circuitry). Next we have the Contour section. The first button, Smart Dynamics, engages a pair of independent slopes in the detection circuit. According to the manual: “One section of the detector controls the average level. The other handles only rapid transients... This results in a higher average
Excerpted from the October edition of RECORDING Magazine 2014 Š2014 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-954-653-3927 or www.recordingmag.com
level relative to peak, without the stereo image collapsing.� This is best used for 2bus and mastering work; in simple terms, it keeps the source audio sounding more open and not as obviously compressed, with the compressor sounding less “jumpy and pumpy� on fast strong transients. The next button engages a classic Soft Knee curve, and the last button selects between Auto (program dependent) or Manual attack and release settings. Three buttons next to the VU meters control their display function as described above. The last of the buttons on the Dangerous Compressor is labeled Stereo; when it’s engaged, the Left channel’s Threshold and Makeup Gain controls affect both channels, with Attack and Release knobs remaining independent for each channel. Engaging the Stereo button also sums the control voltage to the VCAs, so both channels will react to whichever side triggers the compressor first (preventing sounds from “pulling� to one side when compressed). This makes accurate matched stereo operation and recall a breeze. The right side of the unit contains the familiar compressor controls. The first knob is a stepped pot to control the Ratio which goes from 1:1 up to 20:1. All of the other controls are variable and include Gain with settings of –10 to +10 dB, Threshold with settings of –20 to +20 dB, Attack with 1 ms to 100 ms settings, and Release from 10 ms to 500 ms. In use If you are keeping track, this is a compressor with 17 different controls and features, 22 if you count both channels. This may sound pretty extreme when many vintage compressors offer as little as two or three controls! But what’s most interesting to me is that despite the amount of control, the Dangerous Compressor is not really all that dangerous. In fact, quite the opposite—its main overall goal is to be as transparent and unobtrusive as possible, and many of these unique features, like Sibilance boost and the Contour controls, really help it achieve its goal. As a VCA-style compressor it is equal parts clean, smooth and fast. As far as a color or tone goes—this unit has none! It offers no sonic signature of its own and will not alter the tone of your sound, unlike many vintage-style compressors, which often alter your sound just by running signal through them with no compression happening. The one thing to be aware of is that while it won’t alter your sound, the Dangerous Compressor is still a compressor, and it can and will help you shape your sound. Transparent compression does not mean that you don’t hear its effect on a source; you do become aware of smoothing, added fullness, tamed dynamics—and even pumping if you wish!—depending on your settings.
Having said that, the Dangerous Compressor sports many parameters that do help the compression be less obvious. This is especially helpful on delicate acoustic music, 2-bus work, and even mastering, for those sensitive to the sound of compression. I used the unit on acoustic and electric guitars, bass, vocals, the drum bus, and the 2-bus during my time with it. I did like it best when doing its job gently, but appreciated that it can get extreme and slam hard when needed. Unlike a FET compressor, the one thing it never becomes is aggressive. My hands-down blown-away moment came when tracking a vintage Gibson acoustic guitar, where it really helped the fingerstyle playing and strumming stay controlled, yet nicely pop forward in a smooth solid way. My second favorite use was on the 2-bus, where it can be quite subtle or you can clamp down in a fast SSL-esque way. This unit’s transparency makes it a natural on any bus where you don’t want all of your hard work to change with the sound of a compressor. It was quite nice on the drum bus for a jazz recording; that is one place I don’t often compress a drum buss, but its transparency worked beautifully. On vocals I am pretty set in my ways, preferring the smoothness found in tubebased optical compressors. That said, I did find the Dangerous handy during tracking for controlling outbursts and transients, and I liked that it did not get in the way of the initial vocal performance. Likewise, with electric guitars and bass it was a case-by-case scenario. Often I preferred my old standbys, especially on electric guitar, but I was surprised by how much I liked the Dangerous on bass in folky and alt-rock settings. It kept the bass sounding raw and natural, yet thickened it up—not with added tone, but tight control. Very cool! Conclusion This is one of those interesting pieces where its lack of obvious character actually defines its character. This is without a doubt the most transparent compressor I have ever used, and the more I learn it, the more uses I find for it. As lovely as it is for tracking difficult sources, on the 2-bus it simply shines. If your job description includes any kind of mastering work, you need to put this magazine down, go call your local retailer, and arrange for a demo immediately! The Dangerous Compressor stands out from many me-too units in what it can do... and what it doesn’t sound like while doing it. Price: $2799 More from: Dangerous Music, www.dangerousmusic.com
Excerpted from the October edition of RECORDING Magazine 2014 Š2014 Music Maker Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-954-653-3927 or www.recordingmag.com