Old compressor sound

oldskoolstreet

New member
Don't have an old compressor around? There are ways to come close with modern gear.

Set the attack to the absolute minimum time possible. Decay time varied depending on the designer; a shorter release (around 100ms) gives a "rougher" sound with chords, but some compressors have quite long release times--over 250ms--to smooth out the decaying string sound. Set a high compression ratio, like 20:1, and a low threshold, as older compressors have low thresholds to pick up weak string vibrations. Finally, try overloading the compressor input to create distortion, which also gives a harder attack.
 
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