Audient Black Comp

• Fabricant : Audient
• Modèle : Black Comp
• Catégorie : Compresseurs de studio
• Fiche créée le : 01/07/2018

The Black Comp is a Class A, transformer balanced optical compressor/ limiter.

The Overcomp function allows a large amount of pre-compression to be added to the signal, with some stunning results possible where an increase in the "energy" of the signal is desired.

The Smooth function switches the side chain characteristic into a dual mode where a relatively slow RMS sensing circuit allows a gentle levelling of the signal while a peak sensing stage pulls down any peaks that pass through.

Gain reduction or output level can be monitored via the VU meter at the top of the module and a link mode allows 2 or more Black Comp modules to form a stereo or multi channel compressor/limiter.

• Discrete Class A circuitry opto compressor
• Transformer balanced input
• VU meter- switched between gain reduction and output level
• Switched Ratio, Attack and Release controls
• “Auto” Release function
• “Overcomp” –Fet based compression circuit for over-compression feature
• “Smooth” –Switches to dual time constant mode for overall mix bus compression
• “Link” - to link modules for multi channel use

The Black Comp works a little differently from most conventional compressors. There is an input attenuation and output gain control that, when used together, provide your threshold settings; there is no conventional threshold control. Audient states that the Comp has a fixed threshold of -20 dBu; with a higher input attenuation, you effectively have a higher effective threshold. This seems to work just fine, but I had to get used to it. A VU meter shows output level or gain reduction, and it worked just as it should. The Black Comp’s controls perform as you’d expect and were easy to use with attack, release and ratio, each offering six variations.

The Black Comp sounded exceptional on the Blue Bottle overheads. I squished the signal way down and then brought it up against the rest of the kit, and it produced cannons in the room — huge. Then I pulled all of the drum kit mics out of the mix and just listened to the overheads, using a much more conservative setting on the Comp, and it sounded as if that’s all that was necessary.

The Overcomp button applies a preset compressor to the signal before the main compressor. This sounded best when crunching down high-gain guitars and on the Blue Bottles, but it wasn’t so subtle on the sax or acoustic guitars. The Smooth button uses average and peak detection simultaneously. This worked well on acoustic guitars, taking the edge off the pick attacks (you know how those coated strings can get) while keeping the body forward in the mix.

Distribué par Audio-Technica Europe