OmniTop 12, T39, Wedgehorn Review

[BrentEvans]

4 screamo singers Lord God!!!! they sing so low that you need to crank the gain to the point of feedback then they scream like B#^%*#$# you wanna hit them with a brick!!

yes you need to go digital to be fully protected.... but you can use a small submixer for vocals and compress the outs

Why would you do that? On analog, comps can be inserted on each channel of the maion mix, on digital it's all in the box.

[jswingchun]

+1 on compressors. I've mixed a bunch of screamo bands. Just about not possible without it. I run up to 8 channels. Cheapo behringers, but they do the job.

Is that the cheap behringer four channel you are using? I had a behringer two channel once and it had so many controls I couldn't figure out how to make it work. It looks like the four channel one may be a bit simpler. I'm too busy (or lazy) to learn how to run stuff with a ton of controls. Also those behringer manuals suck.

4 screamo singers Lord God!!!! they sing so low that you need to crank the gain to the point of feedback then they scream like B#^%*#$# you wanna hit them with a brick!!

It was three screamers not four, but yeah, it was painful. You nailed it right on the head. The drummer actually sang "real" backing vocals and knew what a harmony was. That was pretty rare in a band like that. I had a hard time controlling the feedback on the drummers vocal mic, but I got it sorted out about the time they finished up.

Am I missing something?

A stupid gene?

The only thing I would say is that as much as I hate it, the kids dig it. So I guess the band is smart enough to cater to their audience.

[BrentEvans]

+1 on compressors. I've mixed a bunch of screamo bands. Just about not possible without it. I run up to 8 channels. Cheapo behringers, but they do the job.

Is that the cheap behringer four channel you are using? I had a behringer two channel once and it had so many controls I couldn't figure out how to make it work. It looks like the four channel one may be a bit simpler. I'm too busy (or lazy) to learn how to run stuff with a ton of controls. Also those behringer manuals suck.

I'm no gear snob and certainly not a Behringer hater but the S-Com4 sounds way better than the Multicom. I can hear the multicom "pumping" when compressing. The Multicom is also compressor/limiter where the S-Com4 is a compressor/gate (much more useful IMHO).

And thanks, Bill. I'll take that as a compliment!

[AntonZ]

Any suggestions on reasonably priced compressors that would do the job and be fairly easy to operate?

RNC (Really Nice Compressor) from FMR Audio. One third rackspace for two channels operated by a single set of controls. 3 of those in a single 1u tray gets you 6 channels, with 3 sets of controls. Sounds ok for the screamers to me, and will handle more subtle needs gracefully, too. Plenty of user reviews online, see Google search and Google Groups (search terms rnc+fmr).

[jswingchun]

Any suggestions on reasonably priced compressors that would do the job and be fairly easy to operate?

RNC (Really Nice Compressor) from FMR Audio. One third rackspace for two channels operated by a single set of controls. 3 of those in a single 1u tray gets you 6 channels, with 3 sets of controls. Sounds ok for the screamers to me, and will handle more subtle needs gracefully, too. Plenty of user reviews online, see Google search and Google Groups (search terms rnc+fmr).

I looked at these a long time ago when I wanted a compressor for my recording studio. I read a lot of good things about the RNC, but ended up getting a Joe Meek instead because I got a really good deal on one on eBay. The only thing is three of the RNC's would get me 6 channels of compression, but would cost me $525, which is more than I want to spend. The more I have looked around, the more I am leaning toward the Samson. Thanks for the suggestion though...

[thijs666]

I'm sure glad I posted that question in my review, this has been a very helpful discussion for me. I think a four channel compressor and some insert cables might be on my Christmas wish list...

Now you're getting to where there's no substitute for digital, where you can have a separate compressor/limiter on every input and output, as well as signal processing and EQ, and with no patch cables at all. IMO analog is OK only until you get to the point of needing to do more than global compression.

+1 on digital . Whether SAC, Yamaha, Behringer or other digital solutions, inserting FX is REALLY easy, not to mention cheap . My Behringer digital mixer (DDX3216) cost me €425 and has compressor, gate and 4-band PEQ on EVERY channel strip (that is 32 channels ). It would've cost me a fortune to buy that much extra gear and probably 2 or even 3 full racks of space . I'm happy .