We have three different stereo compressors here in the studio and I wanted to do a quick comparison to see which one I preferred on the 2-bus. So here you have them: API 2500, EMT 266, and a Gyraf SSL 4000 Clone.

The track you will hear is one I'm currently mixing for an Indian a cappella group from Northwestern University, Brown Sugar. There are no instruments or drum machines on this recording, only voices. Yup, I spend all day mixing only a cappella music.

This is not a finished track, so please excuse the odd off-pitch note. The song is "Right Here Right Now" from the Bollywood movie Bluffmaster. I tried to keep the levels pretty close from bounce to bounce, but the SSL one is a bit louder, sorry.

API 2500 - Used Paul Wolff's suggested settings.

EMT 266 - No idea what the settings are, there are no knobs on this thing!

Gyraf SSL 4000 Clone - I don't have this box anymore and I don't remember the settings (since the faceplate had no markings anyways, heh)

No 2-bus compression - A clean version with no compression, just for comparison.

Enjoy!
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