Best Hardware Compressors For Music Production In 2023

What are some of your favourite compressors, digital or hardware? Share below!

Warren, I know your a busy man but wondering if you have a min if you could throw any light on the SSL pure drive octo pre released around a couple of month or so ago, have you tried one or familiar with the unit ? Any thoughts ? I know the pre’s are from the Origin console

Thanks man

Take care and have a awesome Xmas

Surprising to hear the repeated pushing of the Warms. They fall into the category of "looks like what it 's imitating more than it sounds like what it's imitating" and are cheap because the components and assembly are cheap. Has this been reviewed for compliance with the FTC's guidelines under the Consumer Review Fairness Act?

Super great stuff really, how about Shadow Hills?

No one ever gives any love to the ART Pro VLA II optical tube compressor. For the price, you cannot beat that unit, and as anyone who has used one will know, they sound great in many many applications. Particularly for a channel that emphasizes “use your ears, not your ego” when evaluating gear, I’m surprised that it didn’t even rate an honorable mention in this list.

Fun video 🎉🎉🎉🎉 love compressors.

I like the Tegeler Creme~

Hi Warren, all this quality equipment is very expensive and even more so if they are stereo, could we pass a stereo signal through a mono equipment, passing l and r separately, process them in the same way and join them again in a stereo file? Would there be problems? Thank you for your teachings. Kisses from Palma de Mallorca

All the blind test I’ve done the Ua 1176 smoked the rest. And the warm 1176 was not as good as cla76 or uad 1176.

oo its all gone a bit shopping channel :(

I own a ton of compressors and have built a ton. The best sounding most all round comp IMO is the Great River PWM 501. It’s a better sounding more flexible distressor. I do enjoy distressors but the 501 wins.

The Warm CLiB clone is nowhere close to the Tube Tech….better off using the plug-in than the Warm. In every demo video online the Warm bottoms out on the low Mids. Use the money and buy a Distressor instead.

I have an Atomic Squeeze Box Mono, this would give that tube tech CL1B a good run for its money Ryan.

Ryan you need a bigger shirt mate

Great comparison...... I have a saying .. "You cannot hear the cost in a mix"

Retro Sta-Level & Chandler Germanium, RND MBP ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loving this top-5 series. Thank you Warren. For compressors here are some of my favourites::
SLA level - it's a beast of a mono valve compressor. Epic on vocals. Mine is made by Giles Audio
Valley People 610 - super fast , versatile. Reliable.
the dBX DDP - which is a digital compressor from dBX - now discontinued. I recommend people check that out... amazing functionality in a one-RU box

I use the WA76 in conjunction with the 2A-KT. They are budget compressors but I love them both. Especially the wa76.
I also have the RNC 1773, a 76-KT and the dbx 266XL comp/gate 2 channel unit.
I’m in budget hardware comp heaven.

Interesting list but missing some important pieces

Great video!!!!!..... I think that at least one of the Audioscape 76 compressors should have been mentioned... Their 1176 style compressors are absolutely amazing in my opinion!!!!!....

RND MBP

TL Audio C1

At the end it seems more likely like a Warmaudio advertisement…

This is odd because the engineer who recorded the biggest selling record of all time (thriller) said, the only compression used was a tiny little bit of the 1176 on Michael Jackson's voice, and there no compression anywhere else on the record during the recording process, and to think, I just dropped a bundle on a tube tech compressor, now I'm wondering why? He said they used ribbon and dynamic mics on Michael's voice, no fancy, overpriced condenser mics...

Great video and great selection. Two of my favourites that weren't featured:
1. Thermionic Culture Phoenix
2. Valley People 610 (which I've had for a long long time).

I like my API 2500. One of the most versatile out there. Literally can sound great on anything.

I don't have this (yet) but I'm super curious about Huge Audio's 'Clubber Stero Fat Compressor'. Anyone here who has it?? On the software side, Kush's Novatron is pretty amazing, and recently acquired Softube Summit Audio TLA-100A has been very nice (use Borat voice).

That purple MC77 is AMAZINGGGGGGGG. It has a really hi-fi soundstage.

Warren, I like the compressors but you didn't show us the socks. Those are way more important. 😁

What about Drawmers? Dont hear much opinions about them around
Once tried softube's multiband drawmer and had a lot of character (fingerpicking guitar and drum buss)

Great mini series, marvelous content as usual. I'd love to see a follow up series based on the 2nd hand market and hidden gems / secret weapons. For instance, no one really talks about Orban or similar products available at decent prices in EU & USA. 😊

Awesome video 🎉🎉👍👍💯💯

Symetrix 501

Wes audio really improved the ssl bus comp

J. J. Blair is a musical engineer, producer and musician who has worked with such artists as Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Rod Stewart and The Who.Blair produced and engineered June Carter Cash's 1999 Grammy Award-winning album "Press On".Blair was an engineer on Johnny Cash's 2005 box set The Legend and all of the first three Great American Songbook albums by Rod Stewart. Blair has also engineered songs for many artists, including Weezer, George Benson, Smokey Robinson, Unwritten Law, Lee Dewyze, Kelly Clarkson, P. Diddy, The Black Eyed Peas, Ryan Adams, Bird York, Stephen Bishop, David Cassidy, Melissa Etheridge and others.

As far as 1176 clones I think stam audio is at the top of the food chain, especially with the extra features

It’s a distressor or for me. Swiss Army knife of compression. But… I have admit guys: in the last five years it’s all gone. No hardware left. I have to be honest with myself, for the last couple of years, in a mix I can no longer tell the difference between software and hardware.

It still love to be able to justify a big room full of classics though…

Great video! I started, back in the mid 80s, tracking on my Portastudio with a dbx 163X Over Easy Compressor, which is an amazingly forgiving compressor that really gives good results. I mean, there's just one dial for gain and one slider for amount. How can you go wrong? Great little workhorse.

No Gates STA-level? 😮 I'm surprised!

poor mans compressor, the distressor of course, two el8x bought from hunting online markets..very very cheap ;)

My alesis 3630 which cost me 5 pounds about 20 years ago on eBay and still works fine!

I’ve had 1 of my distressors go up twice but it was fixed in record time FOR FREE. Most versatile comps I have. Great video.

My top 5…

1) Distressor (This is the most versatile compressor ever made so get this first.)

2-5 in no specific order…

2) CL-1b… super smooth… THE #1 vocal compressor.

3) MC77… best 1176 emulation, sounds great, superior build over any other emulation

4) Neve 33609… incredible on the drum buss and great on mix buss if used gently

5) RND Master Buss Processor…. an incredibly flexible compressor. The SFE module is ridiculous, the silk modes, and the limiter just put it in my top 5.

Honorable mentions: the Manley Vari-Mu and Fairchild.

The MC77 is the best 1176 option. It sounds just as good as the originals but the build quality is far superior.

On a side note: its so disappointing to see how Sweetwater and Warm Audio are gently twisting the arms of so many YT influencers. Warm Audio cuts corners on parts, build quality, and QC. Their gear is junk and has no resale value.

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Looptrotter Emperor 500 series! (I'm sure the rack version is great too). That thing is different to anything else around.

These hardware cost alot of money 🫤🫤.. I have only fabfilter c2.. 😌😌..

Haha my favorite compressor is a cheap Donner pedal. Why because it always comes up is the same state as last left......

My best buy for this year: Wes audio rhea. Absolute beast.

If you could somehow set those rack comps up to be controlled by a naff looking circa-2000 plugin (kind of like a blind test), I wonder if it would change your opinion of then.