286a settings

[Dale]

Ok... My new USED DBX 286a arrived Friday and it sounds awesome. I have tied my NT1A and new AT2035 (thanks Jacoby and Scott) to it, and really like what I hear.

I have trolled the archives and found some setting recommendations. I am looking for recommendations for the 'drive' and 'density' settings and an explanation of these. They seem to work backwards from compression ratio and threshold. However, I am thinking the 'Drive' acts like ratio- providing gain reduction; and the 'Density' releases like threshold. Am I close or way off base?
Dale👨

[Jacoby]

The way I understand it, the compressor section on the 286a works kinda in a similar way to a Waves L2 limiter plugin. Instead of Ratio and Threshold you simply add more gain to the compressor stage in a "less/more" kinda way with "Drive", and the "Density" control the release settings in a "slower/faster" mode. I would start off with a setting about 1 or 2 on the Drive setting, and a rather high setting (faster) on Density.
In general though, I would never add compression in the recording stage at all. Once there, it's there. A clean recording can be processed to death in post, but you'll always have the clean recording.

[Dale]

Thanks Jacob. I will play with those settings.

I appreciate your explanation. It makes sense of what I was experiencing, while tweaking the settings. A little bit goes a long way, with this unit. I can tell "a little dab"ll do ya."
Dale

[Jacoby]

No problem, good luck with your new toy :-)

[InThisHope]

Dale, I have one of these units too, and I have found the compressor to be decently useful. I still prefer to compress in post (and I use an apogee interface with soft limit enabled, so I don't use compression as a recording "safety net.") One thing I have found quite good (though I don't need it since I built my room) is the gate. I did some recordings, when I was in the old room and could hear through the walls, with the gate threshold at -20 to -25ish (which I'd expect to sound choppy) and it was really really natural sounding. If you need gating, you have the right device for sure. It is also a really quite unit, it only added tiny bit (maybe 1 db) of noise...but anything you add to the chain will add noise.

As for the other features, the desser is not bad and the LF and HF exciter had some potentially useful tonal changes, pretty subtle to my ears.

All-in-all it is a good little unit!

[Dale]

I.T.H.!
Thank you for sharing your experience. My playing with this new toy concurs what you shared. I find this strip very quiet and with some impressive features. Initially, I was over-doing it with the compressor section. I realize that I will need to go very easy, or none at all, with the compressor. Jacob and your reccs are getting me dialed in.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase...especially since I talked the salesman at Guitar Center into letting me steal it for $75. I told him that 'I want this purchase to make me feel like I stole it,' and it does.

I need to give credit where credit is due, and thank you and the others who talked-up the DBX in this forum. Y'all are to blame for my new addiction. I like it...
DL

[Campbell]

Dale,

Set all knobs at "9:30" except output (adjust that to your DAW). It's a great starting point.

[Dale]

Will do, Bill. Thank you.

I do appreciate all of the feedback.
DL