Sorry to bother you guys with this but I am going to be hiring a Distressor for a mixdown for my college course and was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on usage as I will only have it for 2 days and won't be able to do all the experimenting I want to.

The track I am mixing is in the vein of neurosis (A sun that never sets/Eye of every storm era).

So yeah, any tips for it's use will be of great help.. thanks!!

There's going to be like 50 people that tell you: plug in, power on, turn knobs. So I won't do that.

There is a cool trick to get an pseudo-reverse sound on drums. Set the ratio to NUKE, the attack to about 2.5, release to about 7. Engage the Brit mode. When you turn the input up to about 7 then the drum track will really start to pump in a cool way.

I may have the numbers backwards on the attack and release or wrong altogether. heh I'll have to check my notes. I took notes when Dave Derr showed me how to do this during a demo of the unit.

Brad

If you go to www.empiricallabs.com, look under Distressor, then up at the top you'll see a link for the manual (I had to hunt for it a bit myself). It has a bunch of great starting points for different instruments -- but of course, they're just that -- you'll need to tweak to taste. but it'll get you in the ballpark.

P

Thanks for that guys! I hadn't seen the manual before, some good starting points.

I am looking forward to the distressor, just wish I could keep it :(

Better get a second job...you're going to want to bring it home.

Brad

You might also do a search for "1176" or "Purple" here. There have been some good threads suggesting ratios, and attack and release time for drums, vocals and bass. You might be able to adapt them as well as starting points.

Good luck!