I've never used an LA2A or an 1176

[thewizrad]

I've never used an LA2A or an 1176. I have no idea if a plugin sounds anything like the hardware...

All I know is what sounds good to my ears based on the records that I have loved over the years...

To be honest, one of the biggest things that changed my mixing was learning to LoPass things in the mix. That's when my mixes started sounding more like the records that I love...

Does anyone else here get sick of hearing about LA2As and 1176s all the time...?

[Synthetic Wav]

not sick of it but time change, the needs change and there is lot of great stuff out there

[RichieWitch]

I think it's helpful to have a trusted emulation of each in your plugins folder, just to get the character of that hardware when you need it.

[Harry_HH]

I've never used an LA2A or an 1176. I have no idea if a plugin sounds anything like the hardware...

All I know is what sounds good to my ears based on the records that I have loved over the years...

To be honest, one of the biggest things that changed my mixing was learning to LoPass things in the mix. That's when my mixes started sounding more like the records that I love...

Does anyone else here get sick of hearing about LA2As and 1176s all the time...?

That's interesting - often its rather highpass which makes the difference, although I tend to have reservations to all (heavy) filtering which destroys the phase of your track. I prefer "filtering" already in the recording stage (i.e. trying to record the correct frequecies), just do the fine tuning at the mixing stage (if the eqing is not an effect).

[deastman]

I've used an 1176 way back when I was in school, but I was too inexperienced to appreciate it. That and the PCM70.

I don't get particularly excited about specific compressors. For general duties, I use the Sonar pro channel ones or The Glue in Ableton. For more extreme processing, I like Uhe Presswerk.

[khanyz]

I get sick of hearing about them, but I've used them both (or had them used on my sessions) and they are fantastic.

For me, plugins are catching up but aren't as good soundwise as hardware. Listeners want quality but artists also want flexibility, and I'm not just a listener so not having to worry about noise, interconnects and saving settings with a camera (and expecting them to sound the same in a different place) is huge. Harrison Mixbus and DDMF 6144 were the first programs that truly changed my expectations on the mojo I could get from software.

I use UAD for LA2A and 1176, and would never exchange them for the hardware (even for free). I would, however, always use the hardware when I have access to it in a studio. The only exception to that would be a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. If I could, in any way possible, justify buying the hardware I would but I can't for the amount of time I would use it (and I don't share very well).

[RichieWitch]

... or The Glue in Ableton. For more extreme processing, I like Uhe Presswerk.

Same here--there are my two "go-to" compressors. Although I just picked up Waves C6 Multiband Compressor and I'm looking forward to putting that on my next drum bus.