Відео

Ryan, r88 or a pair of Coles?

Sold out worldwide

Love it.

just amazing！

In a live venue where the band changes every gig, drummers' setups are varied to an extent that placement of closer mics will differ with every setup. For this reason, I've settled on using a stereo overhead (a Rode) and a "front" kick mic (drum sometimes has a full front head, sometimes not) as the main pickup, and then place a "floor tom side" and "snare side" mic (Advanced Audio 1084) that are placed to give me more control for those areas of the kit. I usually do a true compression of the overheads at 2:1, keying it from the lower volume playing and then adjusting the ratio depending on the dynamic range of the drummer. The drums tend to carry in the room acoustically, so sometimes I'm just trying to add presence and clarity to the attacks. Nothing is gated. As for large diaphragm mics vs small, the pattern itself is more important. A Sennheiser e965 is a large diaphragm vocal mic for live performance, only slightly larger than an SM58, but much better sounding than the 58. Onboard HPF, pad and dual pattern are switchable. In a studio setting, where one isn't having to be concerned with feedback, I would suggest trying closely placed omni mics as an alternative, on the drums and not cymbals, and then see what a single or couple of overhead mics would add. Why omni - because the bleed wouldn't be coloured, no proximity effect. If the mics are close to the sound sources, then bleed would be minimal to begin with. Try it, you might like it...

I usually see people placing the X/Y overheads directly above the snare to keep the snare as the center of the image. Maybe it's the camera angle, but those look like they're favoring the floor tom. What's the logic in their positioning versus being directly over the snare?

Please send it to me. I need it

I've got a lot of outboard gear, like a lot. And everyone wonders what is the combination I'm using to make my MPC drums sound so amazing. What I use is a USB class compliant audio interface with eight outputs coming from my MPC going into an eight channel Rupert neve DI, then into my preamps, then four channels go into four 500 series SSL six channel modules, and the other four channels go into 4 500 series 73 jr modules. From there all eight channels go into 163X units. Occasionally, I may use a little bit of EQ, or even compression on the SSL modules, that usually makes work easier for the 163X's. Then from there into my RME interface to be tracked into my daw. I know it sounds like a lot, but if you hear the difference, you will completely understand.

I've used my 163x in front of my pedal board to great effect. It's like overdrive that's totally dependant on the volume knob on the guitar. Then you get some flattened signal going in to things like fuzz and stacked overdrives which adds some interesting character. I use it for mixing bass pretty much by default.

I got a pair of them about 10 years ago for just over $100. I track just about everything through them. Just crazy value!

The UREI was hitting too hard, by about 4-5 dB, for a direct comparo. Other than that, the similarity is pretty amazing. I remember these 160-series dbx compressors, using them sorta carelessly in live broadcast mixes in the late 70s. The 2a has a knee you can hear while the dbx don’t have a knee. Rather than onset of compression, they’re 5-10dB down with a very graceful release. A lot of work went into designing those transfer curves. The vca itself is the 202 module with admirably low distortion. A fantastic piece of design from Dave Blackmer.

bro, get that grade dirt OFF of the steel, i don't know why people do that, but you will rust that metal, i don't care how powder coated it is, expose and always make sure you can see 6" of the footing from the outside, i am a licensed building contratcor

Do you have a link to all of your music?

thanks for this, what a great voice for the test

Great review. The 163 sounds neutral and smooth with no discernible coloration. Whispers and hushed vocals sound rich.

Sounds really similar to the art pro VLA II as well- another great price to performance comp

I'm gonna assume you haven't heard this track as it's pretty new. If you like Jazz at all you'll certainly dig it. It's by Will Smith's daughter music.ua-cam.com/video/8txXdr4kkqQ/v-deo.html&si=TcUxhAjnNJXtysxM

I still use DBX266 compressors and they do the job still well, they are nice work horses. Got them for cheap and use them on the inserts on drums on an analog desk. They have gates on them too but I never use those, I prefer the Drawmer gates above anything else.

Really nice video.. Which audio interface should I buy, and does it will affect the tone or audio quality of the Mics ? Should I go for Audient id4 or Volt 276 ? Thanks for the informative video it really helps.

the program dependency of the knee on the dbx is a rly cool feature on hardware. i feel like you can dial it in to sound the same as an la2a even if the broader range of settings is a different variety of flavors

I have a 163x that I purchased back in late 80's or early 90's. Also have a 463x that can be "stereo strapped" to the 163x for stereo compression.

Sounds completely different than a la2a, it's a dbx.....

Great review! it quite clean and natural sounding.

your channel is the reason I have two DBX 163x paired up in stereo! Thank you for all you do!

I had two. They sounded horrible to me..or maybe it was my music that sounded horrible...maybe both. Who knows.

Bob Horn uses one on vocals too I’m pretty sure. Cool vid

Since the Snare and Tom mic came out. What made you choose the larger body versions of those mics instead of the newer models?

Uad La2A 2:51 dbx163A 5:56

Love my little 163x. Use it on bass quite a bit. May try it on vocals now, just to see what it sounds like. Thanks for another cool video Ryan!!

cool

I use a 32 channel analog Midas board with DBX 160, 160X’s and 163’s as well as 1176’s and an LA-2A clone wired to all the channel inserts. I buss out my mix across the board from my Mac, choosing channels specifically for which comp is on which channel. I then mix through this board with a dedicated custom made SSL style mix buss comp and eq I had made for me by Dustin at Regularjohnrecording to a converter and then recorded to another Mac. I have loved these DBX’s. They sound absolutely great in a mix. Totally underrated. They can make drums insanely punchy. Maybe even too punchy… The 160X’s were Dre’s secret for super forward pumping kicks and snares back in the day. I think these DBX comps are a great secret and are really overlooked in today’s flashy compressor market. If you want some phat hifi snap to your snare or a great smooth sounding guitar, there is no better cost to performance ratio to be had from any hardware gear than an old DBX 160X (just stay away from the later model 160A as is does not sound nearly as good). Or even the 163. Just realize that the original 160 is far more expensive when you find them and they are not as snappy, but is much better for vocals. 🎸

Great now these are gonna go from 70 bucks to 500 thanks

First compressor I ever used. Still rocks. Kinda love a stereo pair in parallel on drums.

Thank you! So very much!

Wow, nice little unit and the sound surprised me honestly! Great video! Do you still have your 903 in a dual card rack? I am about to get a bunch of them in a lot i spotted with some para eqs,gates and desser. I would live to see you drive the 903

Smashing stuff with 20db of compression certainly makess the compression in the demos blatantly obvious and i suppose be audible to even people who don't understand compression but doesn't seem very real world if you want things to actually sound good. Might be ok if one is doing parallel compression but other than that trick multiple compressors at much lower amounts of gain reduction is a much better way to go.

stereo 166 or a pair of 163 for tracking vocals?

Man i wish youtubers would stop doing reviews on gear thats cheap and then hyping them in the title, watch these double in value over night Its almost like you wanna sell them so you do a video on them hyping them up then list them on reverb I understand you have to do clickbait videos But people love taking advantage of offers and use youtubers to value their products now FYI These sound nothing like an la2a, not that everyone needs an la2a. Comparing to a plugin is also just a weird review when the plugin sounds nothing like the hardware. (Yeah fight me plugin kings, never said plugins dont sound good, they just dont sound like hardware)

I've used a 160x on the "over easy" mode for tracking vocals and acoustic guitars for the last 2 years or so and had great results! I wish someone would make a plugin version of that over easy sound so I can slap it on more stuff in a mix.

Awesome vid Ryan. I have a pair that get used on drums and bass all the time and sometimes vocals. They’re an excellent underrated compressor as are some of the other dbx pieces. Great to see someone repoing affordable gear.

Been wanting the 163s for yearssss, though I'm also happy with my 160A and the old 166

Cool video; strongly prefer the UAD plugin

I literally just bought a 163A after watching this video. Prices are more like around $110 after shipping. Still feels like a bargain for something that can do 15+ db of compression smoothly.

I paid about 80 bux for my racked 163x. Got it for bass, and it's absolutely awesome.

The UA LA-3A is a nice alternative to the LA-2A. Solid State as well.

I have a couple 163's and like them a lot for when I just need so comp something and don't want to fuss around with a bunch of controls, but I definitely wouldn't compare it to a real LA2A. The makeup gain amplifiers in a LA2A is here all the magic happens and the DBX just isn't there. Usually I'll use the DBX while tracking just to give some compression to cans, but I don't print it and almost never use them in a mix unless I can use them in parallel cause they get ugly when they bite down. I remember years of having racks of these doing sound in crappy bars though. Cool comp for sure. Smack Labs has a (free?) 163 plugin that is convincing.

Thanks for showing this very smooth afordable compressor. Ryan you mention it is unbalanced and introduces noise. It would be great if you could do a video on some noise reducing plugins (some are free) like ReaFir - subtractive EQ in Reaper (On every track I loop a small section with no vocals or instruments to build the noise profile) it can remove all the unwanted noise. This has really helped me as I can now use all my old noisy mics, mixing boards and processors.

I'm not sure Iike the sound of the DBX 163A on Vocals. To my ears, as you add compression, it seems to bring out this low mid range "honkyness" to the signal. Maybe try this on snare instead. I can see it working well!

LDC out front of kick about a fot or two has been my go to forever

I have the original 163 with the wooden sides and it’s great on bass. Great vid. Thanks