Behringer MDX2600 Compressor

[MarcuzB]

Hi everyone,

I recently added a Behringer PRO-XL MDX2600 Compressor to my setup and I'm hoping that someone out there may be able to provide me with some good benchmark settings to get me up and going. Before you ask I did read the manual but Behringer (in my opinion) doesn't supply the most informative user manuals.

Setup is: 2 x mics into Behringer Ub1204FX mixer, main outputs of mixer into the Compressor which is then output into Tascam US122 and onto PC.

Everything works fine but I find the compressor settings hard to get my head around.

I would really appreciate some guidance on this.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

www.thesmallroom.net
Brisbane, Australia

[SkinnyWhiteBoy]

I am with you man, Behringer manuals are not the best. Having said that, compressors are complicated beasts. I have an MDX 2600, but I doubt giving you benchmark settings is going to be very useful. Everyone expects a different end result from the same equipment and that drives how it is dialed in. Personally I like the "FM" sound. I use high levels of compressions and I purposely send my mic signla into the machine TOO LOUD. This always triggers my MDX and when I am talking and there is music going it puts my voice right "in the music", when it's me solo, I get that nice compressed voice over sound. Most vocalist would kill me if I used the same settings on recording a band :D

My best advice is to step back and think about what a compressor does. There are 2 important settings to think about:

Threshold - anything that comes into the compressor higher then this setting will be compressed

Ratio - For every X dB over the threshold only X dB will be send out (or rather: gain reduced). So a ratio of 2:1 means that for every 2 dB over the treshold, the gain will be reduced by 1 dB.

Anyway, since you asked for benchmarks (even though I think it isn't useful), here are my settings...

Gate: no use giving you my gate settings, depends on the noise levels in your own studio.

Compressor:
Threshold -10
Ratio: 8
Lo Contour: On
Soft (interactive) Knee: On
Auto: On (so the attack and release dials do nothing in this case)
Tube: On
Enhancer: On
Output: + 10
In/Out: On (turning on the compressor)

De-Esser
Male/Female: Off (male)
In/Out: On
Level: 5 dB

Peak Limiter:
Very close to 0 dB

Hope that helps!


I linked the channels, but noticed that even so, some settings on the right channel are not taken from the master (left) so I duplicate every setting, just to be safe.