Distressor EL-8X Awesome On Bass

[brandondrury]

The studio has been a little slower lately so today was the first day I got to track a with my Distressor. We were tracking bass on for a country/rock song I'm producing.

I was VERY impressed with how much BIGGER the Distressor made the bass sound. It wasn't any of this crap we've had lately with AD Converter Shootout or the Recording Gear Quiz. This was a clear, obvious, and DEFINITELY better result. The was no "well if it was more scientific of a test" crap. You set the unit as best as you can. You hit bypass, the sound sucks. You turn it back on, you say "Ahh". I can't believe I've tracked bass for the last 7 years with no Distressor. Toss the fancy converters and preamps in the trash. The compressor is more important. I'm convinced.

Just for the hell of it, I let my buddy playing bass to hear the difference with with and without the compressor. His response was "Oh God!". My response was even though I'm probably going to be doing some gear swaps soon, this thing is staying in my rack!

I'll have a full blown review of the Distressor EL-8X eventually, but I just wanted to point that this thing was great on bass.

After the session was over, we messed around to see what other tones we could get out of it. (American Fender Jazz > Sansamp > Vintech 1272 > Distressor). Like an idiot I ended up tracking the bass with the attack on 0. When I increased the attack up a bit (which I normally always do), the clarity of the bass and pick attack was may more "open" in a very pleasing way. I'm not sure why I didn't put more time into the settings beforehand. I must have gotten distracted teaching Mr. Bass the song or something. Even with the attack crushed right off, I'm very, very happy with the bass tone. For this country song, this mellowness may be a good thing. For rock bass, I would want a slower attack.

Epiphany Time
I always took the school of thought that the bass player should have a light touch for rock music. That's just what I was taught and read. Then I watched "A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica" and saw that Jason Newstead beat his bass so loudly that they built a gobo fort around him in the control room so the clicking sound of the pick on the bass didn't distract producer Bob Rock.

Mr. Bass is always a Metallica fan and we put this to the test. With a good compressor in the signal path, I could see some DEFINITE reasons to beat the hell out of the bass. The compressor has a way of "sanitizing" the crap that gets through and just makes it sound good. Mr. Bass was hitting the bass so hard he was trying to break the pick. That got a bit too ugly, but I was shocked to hear that if the bass was struck just not-quite-breaking the pick intensity, the tone would be very useful in metal and hard rock stuff.

As always, question what you know constantly!....and get a Distressor if you are gonna waste big bucks!

I've got vocals tomorrow. We'll see how the Distressor EL-8X does.

Brandon

[punkemogeekrock]

Stop teasing us already. Let's hear some samples of the EL-8X in action!


Can't wait to get your review on how vocals go with it.

[.tom]

smooth bass is for stuff like boston sound and and soft rokburton was an animal...cmp was in his rig.

[brandondrury]

It's coming. It's a bit tricky with hardware gear with lots of settings. A before and after is only possible if I deal with a client who is willing to play a few extra takes while I play around for RecordingReview. I'll figure out something.

Brandon

[brandondrury]

smooth bass is for stuff like boston sound

That may explain why I ended up with such a fast attack time. This song has a similar feel to some of Boston's stuff (more on the bluesyish side the fence for them).

Brandon

[Big Mouse]

Hey Brandon,

You just got my mind off the converter; well, at least for now.

A while back I was actually having a hard time deciding whether to get an external convert or the Distressor. Although most people recommended the converter, I've decided to wait a little and ask as much as I can before I make a decision between the two. Now, you got my mind back on the Distressor? How is it compared to the 1176? I've heard the 1176 is a rocking beast on many things. Is the Distressor like that too but in it's own way?

Can't wait to hear your samples.

Thanks

[brandondrury]

A while back I was actually having a hard time deciding whether to get an external convert or the Distressor.

I'm 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE that you will hear dramatically better results with the Distressor than you will with any fancy converter. I'd put SERIOUS money on it.

The Distress is that thing I've been missing for the past 5 years or so. My life has been happier now that I've gotten it. Not because I have new toy, but because I've solved a problem that has plagued me for years. Converters are a waste of time in comparision.

Although most people recommended the converter

These are the same fucking scumbags who have no real clue what they are doing and just repeat the same damn lies over and over again on useless recording forums. There was a reason I started my own recording forum back in 2005 even though were were plenty of forums. There weren't any that I thought were any good for the beginner / intermediate guys. The effects of the Distressor are so obvious on every source I've tried it on that I can't fathom how a person would prefer a converter of a Distressor.

Read the first post again. The bass player was "Oh god" and snarled his nose when I turned the compressor off. Change a converter and see what a bass player does: Breath! Blink! That's it. They won't notice.

Also I tracked a vocal with it yesterday. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!! The Distressor does all the stuff that the high end pres are supposed to do but really don't. I went somewhere and Daughtry was on the radio. I started laughing because I could hear the Distressor sound (or equivalent compressor) on his vocal. This sound was elusive to me before. I thought I would get it with my $2,500 Soundelux U99. I did not. However, I bet I could make a killer recording with an SM57 and a Distressor on vocals in a situation where maybe the U99 was preferred.

I've got a tune with a Distressor on the bass and vocals that will soon have it on the electric guitars (which I will also run through the Distressor) that I'll post sometime next week. There is no question about it.

I'll make my official stance right now: Anyone who tells you a high end converter (vs a Firestudio converter or equivalent) is more important than a Distressor for pop music (pop, country, metal, rock, etc) is a sick bastard who is intentionally misleading people or is completely deaf. Tell them I said that. These child-molesting, corporate lawyer, politician caliber scum need to be thrown in a furnace. If there is a such thing as God, Karma, or justice they will.

Then again, maybe compression is a subjective thing! ha ha

Brandon

[the.blode]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I'll make my official stance right now: Anyone who tells you a high end converter (vs a Firestudio converter or equivalent) is more important than a Distressor for pop music (pop, country, metal, rock, etc) is a sick bastard who is intentionally misleading people or is completely deaf. Tell them I said that. These child-molesting, corporate lawyer, politician caliber scum need to be thrown in a furnace. If there is a such thing as God, Karma, or justice they will.

Damn you sexy when you're angry

but really... I'm getting pretty turned on to the distressor; these things sound something special. I'm seriously considering adding one to my shopping list.

[Big Mouse]

I know what my next gear purchase will be...

Thanks Brandon.

[brandondrury]

Damn you sexy when you're angry

To be honest, I'm MAD AS HELL. If I could go back to that "person" (I'm going to control my rage to put on the facade of professionalism this time around) that said I had to have a $1,000 Vintech 1272 to get good guitar sounds.....

Well let's just say that the quality of my recordings has been a huge factor in my life. Some people out of mallice in my opinion have tried to distract me from the goal in various ways.

I'm so happy with my Distressor right now that I can't fathom why a person with remotely similar tastes wouldn't recommend it. If I had to give up my fancy pres or my Distressor, I'd ditch the pres in a second.

My full review will come when I finish my current project.

Brandon