Hi All,

Can anybody recommend me a good multiband compressor?

I am using Nuendo 5.5 on a PC and mac laptop and i mainly want it for music production and film dialogue work. I won't be doing any mastering (only a little for my own stuff).

I was looking at Waves C6 but was wondering what else is out there?

Cheers in advance.

BB

Flux Alchemist and Image-Line Maximus are quite interesting multiband comps, but maybe they're too weird.

The C6 is pretty much as flexible as it gets, especially when you factor in the variable Q. The one by Flux is also very very good too, even more flexible than the C6. Aside from these two i also have the MC2000, the least flexible...i probably use this the most for mixing on vocals and drums. I just like feel and sound of it for these duties, but for acoustic guitars and bass the C6 does a fantastic job. Alchemist is purely 2 bus for me if i even go there...which is rare. Honestly all 3 of these are superior multibands in my opinion, and although many foo foo them, they're invaluable tools for mixing...eq doesn't always get you there.

One last thing. I also have the Oxford Suppressor. I have from time to time taken 2 or 3 suppressors in series and made them into a different flavor of multiband. This plugin is very powerful and possibly induces the least amount of distortion at the crossovers than anything else out there. But technically it's not a multiband.

DMG COMPassion can be set-up/used as a multi-band compressor...works very well...

The Waves C6 is the best mulitband compressor in plugin form that I have used. It is very powerful and it can be gentle at the same time. With side chain capabilities, makes it even more flexible. Oh another thing, it sounds great. As a Cubase user myself, I don't like the multiband comp that is in Cubase/Nuendo.

Depends on how much money you want to spend and what kind of features you like to have.

DDMFs LinComp gives you a good bang for the buck.

Melda has one

KVR: IQ4gui by platinumears - Details
This is by far the best multiband com I've ever tried. It's fully parametric and can be used as an upward/downward compressor/expander. The only thing to keep in mind is that you need to create multiple versions with different names ( iq4, iq4-1, iq4-2 ect.) because it was designed from a platform that won't support multicore machines. That said , this workaround let's me use it without any problems in Cubase 6. Best of all, it's FREE!

Mcdsp ML4000 or Waves C4.

+1 Waves C6. Determining factor is how intuitive it is... I don't really use de-essers anymore 'cause C6 is more flexible and faster for me to fine tune.

I'm unclear why your request.
What's wrong with just using the included Steinberg's included Multiband Compressor?

UAD Precision Multiband is the best.Get the whole mastering bundle as their eq,limiter,etc are better sounding than waves.If you don't have a card then you don't know what you are missing.All their plugins are a cut above the rest. Flux sounds good also after UAD.I have to say also though that the new Izotope 5 is amazing.Good Luck!

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Hi Guys,

Thanks for the reply's.

I don't really have a massive budget and i am happy with the rest of my Waves plug ins.

I mainly wanted one for dialogue tracks in film work (just so i could compress certain frequencies so the background noise wouldn't be pumped in any way).

Secondly for music tracks (mainly my own). I will need to do some sort of mastering but i am sort of toying with the idea to get someone else to do it for me but i am just about to produce a mini album for a friend and i would have to do everything (playing instruments, recording him, mixing and mastering).

I am not really happy with any of Steinbergs compressors or limiters as i just seem to prefer the sound of my waves plug ins (although i do like their Steinbergs reverb and delays a lot). I think it's more an aesthetic thing though.

My problems with Waves though is the whole 64 bit issue, which is why i was looking for something else. I hear rumours about them being released in April but there is nothing on their site to back this up.

Thanks for all your help.

BB

When you say you don't like the Steinberg compressors it tells me you want coloration. Since you're doing film, you need clean dialog. I engineer voiceovers for plays, ads, docos etc and cleanliness keeps me in work. Maybe I'm doing it a way you avoid.
Overall, the Steinberg stuff is vanilla, clean, transparent, and transferable.
I have all the UAD and work in a studio with Waves. We all use everything constantly, including Steinberg. We love them all.
And having my little lappie sitting in my in-laws log cabin, not having the expensive stuff handy, I'm using the proprietary stuff.
The UAD is the best Multiband I've ever heard and I hardly use it because the solution I don't have your problems with voice recordings.
To each his own.
BTW no one has a budget these days.

+1 for Waves C6. It's very intuitive, flexible and sounds good. Waves is coming with 64bit versions on March.

Hi Famousbass,

Thanks for the replys.

Most of the interview footage i get is from the camera microphone but occasionaly it's voiced over.

I wanted the mulitband for the camera mic stuff. I haven't tried it out on this yet, but i was thinking that this may be a good solution.

As for looking to buy another, I was going on my results based on music production that i have done and yes, you're right on that one i probably liked the colouration, so maybe i will get the waves one mainly for music (in particular the mastering i have to do for my next project) and i will try both out on the dialogue.

Thanks for your advice,

BB

Yes i like the quickness of the waves plug ins also, but i guess this is also because i am so used to them.

I hope you are right about March, that will increase my ram from 3.5 to 8GB.

Thanks for the advice.

BB

ReaXComp is free and it's included in Reaper. There's also a standalone/VST version of ReaXComp

Hi,
Cheers with your projects. Waves works great.
What started looking like you need multiband actually sounds like you need a specific noise filter, like found in Sonnox SuppRessor or Waves. SuppRessor works on one freq and can remove it totally in the audition mode with no artefacts. Chain them for muliple freq bands. I remember Waves have a noise filter that takes a footprint of the offensive sound and takes it out whenever it appears. Can't remember the name. X Noise, Z Noise? Unfortunately, all denoisers leave artefacts. I'd go the Sonnox, massive props for all audio work.

ReaXComp is nice but Waves C6 sounds much better (the band splitting in ReaXComp causes too much phasing and C6 is way cleaner in that area, that's actually what made me buy it).

I have both waves C6 and alchemist and regret that I spend money on the alchemist. Waves does it. UAD multiband is better? not for my ears.

Post some material showing us the difference.