When I first loaded Waves Live onto my Avid VENUE console, my primary goal was to discover a compressor that exerted subtle dynamic control while adding strength, body and drive to the three rawest and most elemental sounds in a rock performance – kick drum, bass guitar and electric guitar. To be sure, I had my favorites in the analog world, but I had not yet found a plugin that knocked my socks off for these particular applications.
Using the Pro Tools playback functionality of my VENUE D-Show console, I was able to go through a trial-and-error elimination process rather quickly. At this time, I was working on the Cher show in Las Vegas, and the first instrument I chose as the subject of my experimentation was the dry guitar signal from Dave Barry's rig.
Dave uses one 2 x 12 cabinet for dry signal and two satellite 1 x 12 cabinets for his effects. In the mix, the dry signal is panned slightly to the left of center, and the effects are panned hard left and hard right. I leave the effects channels uncompressed and I mic the cabinets with Audio-Technica AT4047s. These A-T mics are thick and rich and give me everything I want to hear from the effects channels.
The dry cabinet is miked with a Shure KSM 27. The power and wide frequency response that comes through this large diaphragm condenser is a great match for Dave's sound. I was familiar with the C1 plugin, so I tried that one out first. It's a great compressor but didn't satisfy my particular search criteria. I also auditioned the CLA-76, CLA-2A and CLA-3A plugins, and my feeling was the same – very good emulations, but wrong for the application. I was totally unfamiliar with the Renaissance product line, so I got on my laptop and downloaded the user guide from the Waves website.
As I read the guide, I was slowly getting the feeling that the Renaissance Compressor was the software solution I had been seeking. Two sections immediately grabbed my attention: Compression Behavior and Character.
Compression Behavior
Electro (the original mode of the v1.0 software) has a release time behavior that is increasingly faster as the gain reduction approached zero, but only when gain reduction is less than 3dB. When GR is above 3dB, the release time becomes slower, behaving more like a leveler in high gain reduction situations. Therefore, when used with moderate compression, the Electro mode produces a great increase in RMS (average level) and is ideal for "loud" applications, such as voiceover and certain genres of music.
Opto is actually the inverse of Electro. Opto-coupled behavior always "put on the brakes" as the gain reduction approached 0dB – the release time gets slower as the "needle comes back to zero." As in Electro, this is true only when the GR is less than 3dB; when greater than 3dB, the release time is faster. This is the vintage emulation that sounds so great for drums and more!
Character
This button chooses between Smooth and Warm low-frequency characteristics, which certainly can also affect wideband character, depending on the source material.
Warm adds low frequency harmonics as deeper compression is applied (greater gain reduction).
Smooth avoids adding such harmonics, keeping the sound as close as possible to the original.
I confidently loaded the "R Comp" into my plugin rack, set it for "Opto" and "Warm," disabled Automatic Release Control (ARC), dialed up a 2.5:1 compression ratio, set the attack moderately fast with a bit slower release and turned on the playback. I worked the threshold control so that the compressor was just nipping at normal signal levels but dug in on lead parts. I immediately liked what I was hearing. The guitar was fat, punchy and undeniably right in your face. Solos didn't thin out and retained their brilliance.
Just to be sure I was on the right track, I switched the compressor out of the signal chain and noticed that, while the guitar sound was still undeniably good, it had lost the extra strength, power and size I had just been hearing. When I flipped the R Comp back in the chain, I had to admit that I had been completely won over.
Because the dry guitar sound now took up more spectral space and made a much bolder statement in the mix, I found I was also able to use more of the two effects channels without compromising or masking the dry sound. Combining the three audio elements in the right proportions now resulted in total electric guitar awesomeness, and I was definitely wearing my happy engineer face.
This success with the guitar application convinced me to try a similar set up on the bass guitar. I slowed down the attack time and used a medium fast release, but the rest of the setup was essentially the same. I just dialed down the threshold so that the bass lay in 2 to 3 dB of 2:1 compression all the time and added 3 dB of makeup gain. The result was equally pleasing. The bass pushed right through the mix with the body and power imparted by the R Comp.
Kick drum underwent the same transformation when I set it up for medium attack and fast release. At low ratios, I could not hear the compressor, but definitely heard the change in the harmonic content. Kick and bass also locked together in away that was far better than I had experienced before employing the R Comp. This compressor was like a key unlocking a door.
I have since employed the R Comp on this year's James Taylor tour on the low speaker of Larry Goldings' Leslie cabinet and the bottom mic on Luis Conte's djembe. The audio result has been extremely consistent, and I am continually pleased with the than larger-than-life instrument reproduction this plugin creates. I have become a big fan of the Renaissance line, and I will discuss other products further down the line. These plugins all feature a simple interface and create great audio. The Renaissance Compressor is now in the "must have" column for me.
