A PUNCHY PERSONALITY GETTING THE (MULTI)BAND BACK TOGETHER
really shines when pushed into slight drive or Introduced in 1976, the dbx 160 took the Back to our main goal of narrowing down the
even purposeful distortion. According to UA, compression world by storm. According to the right compressor for our particular application,
the 1176 “injected character, attitude, and vibe original instruction manual, the 160 is a single- let’s switch gears and look for something
to anything run through its circuitry. Some even channel utilizes decidedly transparent. We now know we can
used the 1176 with the compression turned off, “unique circuit designs, such as true rms level- probably leave the LA and 1176 and 160 out of
just for the distinctive tone it imparts. The unit’s detection and feed-forward gain reduction” to the running here. For an all-around transparent
amplifiers and transformers all by themselves place it “in a completely different class from Swiss Army knife option we might instead opt
give a desirable ‘hot’ quality to anything passing conventional compressor/limiters.” Agree! for a multiband compressor / dynamic EQ like
limiter. While in the same boat as the LA-2A
as far as having a sound of its own, the 1176
compressor/limiter
which
through them.”
the Allen & Heath Dyn 8 or Waves C4 or C6.
Almost every hit record from the 1970’s and
Not to mix my audio metaphors too much, I 1980’s was imbued with the telltale punch of a These types of software units are extremely
tend to think of the 1176 (at least in live sound pile of dbx 160 across the drum tracks. Based flexible tools, allowing you to target very specific
settings) somewhat like a Klon Centaur or around a VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) frequencies for compression. They are not
subtle overdrive pedal on a guitar pedalboard designed by dbx founder David Blackmer, the emulating classic hardware units or intended
that you just leave on for its certain je ne sais 160 is known for its perfect blend of simple to bring any particular sonic palette or texture
quoi. controls and its ability to thicken up and add to the mix, but rather allow for a wide range of
character to just about anything you throw at it. ‘just the facts’ audio tweaks.
Selecting the 4:1 or 8:1 ratio on the 1176
provides compression, selecting 12:1 or 20:1 Although the dbx 160 is based around a VCA ratios limit signals. One really cool, not-so-secret and is usually pushed hard to create obvious Your other option for transparent compression
secret feature of the unit came into play when compression effects, keep in mind that VCA- is usually just going with the onboard ‘stock’
all of the buttons are pushed simultaneously based compressors (even the 160) can be quite compression or anything that isn’t trying to
(All-Button, Nuke or British mode), which really transparent when approached with a bit more emulate one of the classic models listed above.
brings about the famed 1176 overdriven tone. restraint. In fact, many high-end mastering For instance, the Platinum Digital compressor
mixdown compressors are based around VCA in Logic Pro X is essentially what is left over if
circuitry.
LISTEN:
MODEL: dbx 160
TYPE: solid-state VCA compressor/limiter
SOUND: punchy, full of character, fat
KEY APPLICATIONS: excels at bringing more punch to drums,
adding presence and attack to acoustic guitars
IF IT WERE A CEREAL: Cocoa Puffs
152
December 2019
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