Best Compression Plugin Vst

 

Article Content

  1. Best Compression Plugin Vst Plugin
  2. Best Professional Vst Plugins
  3. Best Vst Plugins For Reason

Option overload is a very real thing, particularly in the world of compressors. Compressors tend to be a little daunting to learn to begin with, as there’s a lot they can do (I have a comprehensive course on it if you want to understand compression thoroughly). Couple that with the fact that almost every software brand has its own compressor series and you’ve got an overwhelming number of options.

In this article, I’m going to pare things down a bit and take a look at my favorite compressor plugins, along with a few mix tips to go with each of them.

Hello Composers! Mike here, with a quick guide on the Best Compressor VST Plugins. =) Dynamic Range Compression, or “Compression” for short, is probably the most fundamental effect in music production. Smooth out the rough edges by compressing the peaks, or go hard with ultra high compression for a gritty squashed sound. Compressors balance out. Marquis Compressor is a “universal” compressor AAX, AU and VST plugin for professional music production applications. You’ll find a very smooth compression performance in this compressor, coupled with a harmonically-rich sound, both suitable for mixing and mastering. The VLA-3A is a GREAT compressor plugin. It is a bit less bright (which I like) than the Waves CLA-3A, but has a bit of the same 'mid forwardness' and slight widening effect (especially on an electric distorted guitar bus). This compressor and peak limiter is an especially transparent model that takes care of a signal’s highest peaks with an easy set of controls. Barricade gives you both compression and limiting stages, meaning that you can tailor it to your specific dynamics application, and with channel linking, auto gain and auto release, dither,. Klanghlem’s “MJUC Jr.” is the freeware version of their incredibly popular compression plugin – the MJUC. This simplistic VST plugin can produce smoothed, natural-sounding compression that is reminiscent of the early days of compression, and modern, heavier compression effects.

1. Klanghelm MJUC

You know what’s great? When a single compressor covers almost all of your compression needs. You know what’s even better? When that compressor costs $30. This is true of the MJUC “Vari-Tube” Compressor by Klanghelm. The MJUC is actually 3 compressors — the first being kind of like an Altec style Vari-Mu, the second like a STA-Level 176, and the third being kind of its own thing. While the second and third modules offer the most functional controls, I find myself using the first model most frequently.

Surprisingly, while it is one of the cheapest compressors in my arsenal, it’s the one I reach for most commonly for vocals.

Mix Tip

Vocals: The secret to vocal compression is in the timing constants. On Pop vocals, I’m frequently using module 1 with the timing constant set to “5”. This setting is a fast release and program-dependent release, similar to the Fairchild 660. This means that as the incoming signal changes, the release timing changes as well, making for a more transparent release.

For Rap vocals, I’m frequently going to module 2 where I start with the “density” button clicked in. The “density” button emulates a second compression stage that radically effects how the ratio and threshold seemingly interact. I find if I don’t begin with this in, the compressor is a little tricky to set. From there I’m setting the attack to 12 o’clock and the release as fast as I can get away with without any distortion creeping in (which is usually all the way left or a click or two off). As an added bonus I like to turn the “timbre” control a little to the brighter side to add a bit of pop. But that’s a saturation thing, not a compression thing.

2. Sound Radix POWAIR

It’s no secret that I’m a big Sound Radix fan and have been for a long time. The POWAIR plugin is unparalleled when it comes to transparency. It is about the closest thing you can get to level automation in the form of a compressor. It was designed with mastering in mind but it’s very useful for instruments, group busses, vocals — really anything.

The compressor functions in two stages. The first is a general leveler which pulls the source toward a target threshold whether upward or downward. The second is a compressor stage with a fixed threshold, knee and ratio. We also have variable attack and release, sidechain filters and stereo linking. We also have a few unique controllers, and that’s where the magic in this compressor lies. The first is a “Punch” control that allows initial transients to come through without changing the attack time. The second is an “Adaptive” mode that effectively moves the threshold relative to the incoming signal level so that compression is applied more uniformly regardless of whether or not the playing is soft or loud. And the third mention is a two-fer; the release has a tempo setting which allows you to auto time to the music (very convenient) and an automatic makeup gain toggle that is actually accurate (pretty much the only makeup gain that is programmed to work correctly in any software).

Aside from the architecture being atypical of most compressors, the actual sound is so transparent it can throw off an experienced ear. It is surprising how much gain reduction one can get away with doing while using this thing. This makes POWAIR a little trickier to use than most compressors. However, once it’s learned it’s an irreplaceable tool.

Mix Tip

Music Buss: Working in Pop, Hip Hop, R&B, Reggaeton and Dance music, it’s extremely common to receive reference files that are highly compressed. The vocals parts are usually tracked to the compressed 2-track. But the individual trackouts (stems) simply do not match up to this highly squashed version, because the compression inherently changes the balance and feel of the record … usually in a good and also bad way.

When mixing these genres it can help to do a bit of compression on the overall music buss to help get some of that 2-track feel, but doing it on our own terms rather than trying to rework a brickwalled, decently mixed version from the producer. The two stages allow us to get the “glue” effect of heavy limiting without the overly dense, transient dead, and somewhat distorted side effects.

Introduction to POWAIR

➥ Get 46% off The Compression Collection today Option overload is a very real thing, particularly in the world of compressors. Compressors tend to be a little daunting to learn to begin with, as there's a lot they can do (I have a comprehensive course on it if you want to understand compression thor

3. Waves RVox

Good ol’ RVox. The fixed value, single slider compressor that’s been around longer than some of the people using it. I am not going to lie — to this day it is still one of the best compressors, particularly for vocals, ever made. It’s an “opto” style compressor that adds a little low mid presence along the way, along with a gate. It’s very simple and very effective.

Mix Tip

Vocals: There are two little tricks to RVox that really make it sing, for me. The first is to hold shift and click both the gain and output slider so that as you are applying more compression you are also turning the output down. This way the level stays about the same and you can focus more on what the compression is doing. Once it starts feeling “choked” or “pumpy”, back it off and that’s the sweet spot. The second trick is where it’s placed in the chain. I like it as the last compression stage. It’s a finisher. Get everything all nice and situated with POWAIR or MJUC, and then use RVox at the very end to just give that vocal a little extra punch. 2 to 3 dB of gain reduction usually does the job here.

4. Eventide Omnipressor

POWAIR is to “transparency” as Eventide’s Omnipressor is to “very obvious.” Omnipressor is not subtle. Maybe it can be if used a certain way, but that is not the intention at all. Going from all the way left to all the way right on the function control — omnipressor first acts like a gate, then expander, then lands in bypass right in the middle, then becomes a typical compressor, followed by a limiter, followed by a dynamic-reversal control where the output yield is actually below the threshold. Effectively this means you can do anything from completely killing the sustain of a signal, to making the sustain louder than the attack. This is almost a sound design piece more than a compressor as you can modify the envelope of a sound to something completely unrealistic.

Mix Tip

Drums, Hell Yes, Drums: When it comes to compressing the royal snot out of things, few elements are so obliging as drums. One of the coolest things to do with Omnipressor is to set your drums up on three tracks. A dry track, a track with Omnipressor set as an expander/gate, and a track with Omnipressor set at in dynamic-reversal mode. This essentially allows you to shape the attack sounds and the release sounds on two parallel tracks and then blend them in as you choose.

For super boomy, fun drums I recommend playing up the dynamic-reversal track, and then using the expander/gate track in the context of the mix just to get the drums to poke forward a touch and still have bite to them. It takes a second to get the feel for this but once you do it is money-money-money. This works on the drum buss as well as on individual close mics.

5. FabFilter Pro-MB

I’d be amiss to have a compressor list without mentioning my favorite multiband: FabFilter Pro-MB. This is another compressor that has a lot of options. You have pretty much every compression control you can think of — variable timing, ratio, expansion mode, mid/side, stereo unlinking, knee, and so on — and you have those settings for every band. The GUI is fortunately very intuitive so the learning curve isn’t too steep. That said it does take a while to get a feel for multiband in general, particularly when it comes to using more extreme settings. Once you have it, the FabFilter Pro-MB is a very powerful tool.

Mix Tip

Kick Drum:/60-best-free-vst.html. Whether it’s an acoustic kick or a sample, we often want the low end to either sustain longer for a weightier kick, or cut a little shorter for a punchier kick. Kinda depends on where the bass instruments are living and what they’re doing. To make the sub of a kick extend, create a shelf band on just the deep low end (maybe 80 Hz or lower). A softer slope is usually good because we retain better transient definition and pulling up a bit of 100-200 Hz by proxy might not hurt anyway.

Set the attack very fast (first quarter turn or faster), just making sure we aren’t really messing up our initial transient. Set the release fairly fast as well. Set the GR to -12 to -14. We are aiming to do 6 to 12 dB of gain reduction here! Lastly, set the knee pretty hard (5 dB or less). Once we’ve got our compression action working, now we turn the output up on that band by the same amount as our total gain reduction. This gives us the same overall amount of low end, but with a lot more body!

If we want a punchier kick drum we are going to use expansion mode. We are going to use the same settings, except this time we aren’t going to use any output gain. We want our attack super fast, our release fast, our knee hard, and we’re going to use our threshold to determine where the low end needs to start attenuating and ratio to determine how much. Once this is done we may want to turn up the kick overall as it won’t have the same power and presence it did before. By shortening the low end of the kick we can bring clarity to our low end, particularly if we have another instrument driving the sub.

Introduction to FabFilter Pro-MB multiband compressor/expander

➥ Get 46% off The Compression Collection today Option overload is a very real thing, particularly in the world of compressors. Compressors tend to be a little daunting to learn to begin with, as there's a lot they can do (I have a comprehensive course on it if you want to understand compression thor

Introducing: The Compression Collection

Want to step up your mixing skills? Do you ever…

  • Wonder when to use compression in your mix?
  • Or which compressor you should use?
  • Get frustrated dialing in the perfect attack and release times?
  • Struggle to HEAR the subtle dynamic differences? (And no, I’m not talking about turning up the gain…)
  • Wish you could find new, creative ways to use compression with more confidence?

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Even though a relatively simple instrument, the bass certainly has a major part to play in the feel and vibe of your mix.

That’s why many engineers and producers like a dedicated compressor that will translate the groove and punch of a bassline in a mix well…

… so in this guide, we’ll take a look at a few choises, and see which of them is the best compressor plugin for bass.

Quick answer: Softube Tube-Tech CL-1B Compressor is the top choice among engineers. The punch and clarity that it imparts is simply magic to the ears…

Otherwise, Waves Audio C4 offers great value for the money…

While Waves Audio Bass Rider is the cheapest bass dedicated compressor plugin to get.

Let’s take a closer look 🙂

Table of Contents

  • Bass Compressor Plugin Buying Guide

Find more great guides here:

Bass Compressor Buying Guide

What is a Compressor?

A compressor is a hardware or software device that applies compresses to the dynamic range of an audio signal.

They do this by reducing the higher volume sections of the audio and increasing the low volume section. The process is typically done automatically via threshold, ratio, and makeup gain controls.

To understand more about how a compressor works, take a look at our post on audio compressors.

Features to Look for in a Bass Compressor

The most important features of a compressor are their controls.

Compressors typically come with threshold and ratio controls. With these you can set the level where the compression begins to take effect, and the rate at which the compressor ceases to affect the signal.

These controls are pretty much essential for most compression applications, particularly for bass, where control over the punchiness of the sound is crucial.

Control over the attack is also an important feature for bass compressors. In most cases, you will want a small portion of the initial transient to pass through unscathed, in order to provide definition to your bass part. Without an attack control, you pretty much have to make do with how much of the initial transient the compressor circuit allows through.

Ideally, you will also want control over the release parameter. This has a considerable effect over how the individual note fades out, which is crucial for tempo-sensitive musical applications. By being able to control the rate at which the note fades out, you will be better able to shape your bass track in a more rhythmically logical manner.

You can read more about how to properly use a compressor with bass.

Choosing a Compressor Plugin for Bass

Besides knowing what controls you need in a compressor, there’s another good thing to take into consideration when choosing a good bass compressor: sound.

Although transparency is often a desirable quality to have in a compressor, this isn’t necessarily the most essential characteristic in a bass compressor.

In rock or hip-hop music, bass and other tracks are often processed quite aggressively in order to give them sufficient ‘vibe’ and ‘attitude.’

For these purposes, you might be better served by a compressor that imparts a bit of coloration or harmonic distortion to the sound.

With that said let’s take at a few bass compressors for mixing.

Best Compressor Plugin for Bass – VST, AU, and AAX

Softube Tube-Tech CL-1B Compressor

Among compressor plug-ins, the Softube Tube-Tech CL-1B Compressor stands in a class all its own.

It’s modeled after the legendary hardware compressor of the same name, the software version does a great job of making bass tracks–or most any other program material for that matter–stand out in the mix. And it does at the fraction of the cost of the original opto hardware model.

It’s warm, punchy, and solid, the sound that the CL-1B imparts is made even better by the addition of features such as sidechain low-cut filters and parallel blend control.

Specs and useful features
  • Upgraded version of popular CL-1B plug-in
  • Improved sound via Softube’s latest signal processing technology
  • New features such as sidechain low-cut filters and parallel blend control
  • High-resolution graphics
  • Bundled with legacy CL-1B for backward compatibility
User impressions

The CL-1B seems to appeal to users that appreciate warm, natural compression as opposed to ultra-squashed sonic treatment. Although it does offer plenty of squishiness when pushed to the extremes, most users favor the warm and transparent quality that it imparts on bass, drums, and vocal tracks. The CL-1B is especially effective at preserving the punch and clarity of bass tracks, even as it adds its own distinctive character.

Pretty much a compressor plug-in that can handle most any task, the CL-1B nevertheless garnered some criticism for its small GUI, the odd behavior of the controls when adjusted via the mouse wheel, and the absence of dry/wet and bypass controls.

Bottom-line

The Softube Tube-Tech CL-1B Compressor is one of those plug-ins that just seem to sound great no matter how you set them. Especially effective at bass, it can also easily handle pretty much any compression-related task in the studio.

Of course, versatility and great sound come at a premium, and the CL-1B has a price tag to match. Nevertheless, if you are intent on getting an almost-perfect replication of the hardware Tube-Tech CL-1B compressor, the CL-1B is the best way to get it.

Demonstration

Waves Audio C4

The Waves Audio C4 is a fully-featured multiband dynamics processor that, based on a lot of users, works amazingly well on bass tracks, and could easily handle 90% of other compression needs.

It has control over four parametric bands, along with the ability to expand up and expand down, limit, and compress each of them.

The plug-in also comes with both dynamic and standard EQs, so you’d have the ability to do some precision sculpting with your bass sound.

Specs and useful features
  • Multiband compressor plug-in
  • Control over four parametric bands
  • Precise sculpting of frequency and dynamic response
  • Control over different frequencies of the sound
  • Dynamic mix shaping via frequency-based compression and expansion
  • ARC auto release control

Best Compression Plugin Vst Plugin

User impressions

Waves Audio C4 is another compressor plug-in that can handle most any duty in a studio setting. Most users apply it quite liberally to bass and drum tracks, although many have used it to great effect on the master buss as well. For devoted users of the C4, its ability to retain punch and bottom end are among its biggest strengths. The plug-in is especially favored for its ability to make a bass track sit better in a master mix without affecting any other track.

Any complaints? Sure. A common one is about the noise that it can introduce in certain settings. However, this is often dealt with by careful adjustment of the four parametric bands.

Bottom-line

The Waves Audio C4 is quite a capable unit that can do more than compress bass tracks. While some plug-ins might be simpler to use for bass and low end instruments, there is no denying the benefits that it can impart to any production.

Demonstration

Waves Audio Bass Rider

Simplicity is key to the appeal of the Waves Bass Rider, which manages to preserve the original character of bass like no other compressor plug-in can.

With its ability to rides bass levels automatically, the Bass Rider is perfectly suited for those times when you just need your bass to poke out more, but you don’t want to kill its dynamics with a compressor.

Vst
Specs and useful features
  • Automatic level riding
  • Optimized for bass
  • Retains the bass’ natural character
  • Dedicated studio and live components
User impressions

The Bass Rider seems to appeal mainly to “set-and-forget” users, but even those with more fully-featured compressors can’t help but be swayed by its undeniable simplicity and great sound. The plug-in is especially favored by users that want to have their bass be more present in a mix without necessarily affecting its natural dynamic range.

Of course, some users do wish that they had more control over the character of the sound, but using the Bass Rider in conjunction with another compressor plug-in usually does the trick.

Bottom-line

The Bass Rider is a fairly limited plug-in that surprisingly works well for a varied array of applications. If you have a frequent need to have your bass more forward in the mix but you don’t necessarily want a compressor, the Bass Rider might be all the help you’re looking for.

Demonstration

Waves Audio CLA-3A

The Waves Audio CLA-3A has quite a formidable heritage, being based on the classic Teletronix LA-2A compressor from the 1970s. Like its predecessor, the CLA-3A promises to deliver the kind of character and subtle harmonic distortion that you’d expect from the vintage unit. Despite that, it can also be as transparent as you need it to be, which is good.

With its fast response and sidechain frequency filter, the CLA-3A could be just the perfect sonic sauce to spice up the bass tracks in your mix.

Specs and useful features
  • Based on the classic Teletronix LA-2A solid-state hardware compressor
  • Compressor and limiter modes
  • Ideally suited to bass and electric guitar
  • Sidechain frequency filter
  • Zero latency
User impressions

A few words seem to sum up the user experiences of the Waves Audio CLA-3A: “simple”, “punchy”, and “in-your-face”. It seems to be an especially popular plug-in among bottom-end merchants, used to great effect in treating bass and even booming 808 kick drums. Many users in fact use it on drums as well as bass, citing its ability to beef up tracks without a lot of fuss and bother.

One thing that many users make note of is the inability to fine tune attack and release times. Although this might be an issue for some, the CLA-3A just sounds so good that most users don’t seem to mind.

Bottom-line

Like the Teletronix LA-2A that inspired its design, the Waves Audio CLA-3A is a transparent-yet-punchy compressor that sounds good on most everything, especially bass and drums. If you want a reasonably-priced compressor that can make most any track push its way to the front of a mix, the CLA-3A could be just the thing.

Demonstration

Waves Audio CLA-76

The legendary UREI 1176 serves as the inspiration for the Waves Audio CLA-76, which offers the distinctive limiting characteristics of its noted predecessor in a convenient plug-in form.

The attack can be set as short as 50 microseconds, providing all the punch you need to make your bass tracks stand out.

The Waves Audio CLA-76 also comes with a unique “ALL” control that lets you replicate the explosive character of the UREI 1176 with all its ratio buttons pushed in.

Specs and useful features
  • Based on the UREI 1176 Class-A line level limiting amplifier from the 1960s
  • Extremely fast attack
  • Exclusive ALL control
  • Zero latency
  • Pre-amp distortion modeling

Best Professional Vst Plugins

User impressions

The CLA -76 seems to attract users that appreciate the warmth and punchiness that analog tape effortlessly imparts to recordings. More than a few have mentioned the startling similarity between tracks processed by the CLA -76 and tracks flown in from 2-inch tape, citing the smooth and dynamic frequency response.

Best Vst Plugins For Reason

Interestingly enough, some users also appreciate the aggressive quality that the CLA -76 can impart. A versatile plug-in that can get as aggressive as you need–and yet that can be quite transparent as well–the CLA -76 seems to appeal to a wide variety of users.

Bottom-line

Fast attack and a colorful character…these are what the Waves Audio CLA-76 provides in spades. If you are able to catch it on sale, don’t even think: just go and grab it! If you are into vintage character and aggressive rock-style push and presence in your bass, the CLA -76 is a must-have.

Final thoughts – Which to Get?

For mixing applications, the best compressor plugin for bass in this lineup would have to be Softube Tube-Tech CL-1B Compressor. The punch and clarity that it imparts is simply magic to the ears, and it can provide enough squish for any but the most determined audio mangler or dancefloor groove merchant. The price might be enough to give some people reason to consider other options, but if warmth and punchiness are your sonic goals, this one definitely delivers in buckets.

That being said, the Waves Audio CLA-76 and the Waves Audio CLA-3A pose seriously stiff competition to the CL 1B. Modeled after two legendary pieces of hardware, the CLA-3A and the CLA -76 both provide enough character and attitude for even the most discriminating users. For much less cash than the CL-1B alone, you could easily afford to pick up both plug-ins and have all your compression needs covered.

Apart from the Softube CL 1B, which really does belong in its own price range, every other plug-in here provides exceptional value. But special mention must be made of the Waves Audio C4 which does way more than your average compressor plug-in. A multiband processor that wouldn’t be out of place in your master buss, the C4 wins out over all the rest as far as value is concerned.