Fearless Gear Review: Midas 522 Compressor
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 พ.ค. 2020
- Taking an unsponsored look at the DIRT CHEAP Midas 522 analog compressor. Is it any good? Let's skip the corporate sponsorship & give you the real story!
Great news! Sweetwater has these in stock again with a "V2" model... check it out at: imp.i114863.net/y7Na2
Check out the Drum Q at AiXDsp: bit.ly/3ahdX5B
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These people made sure I could review this compressor without any "manufacturer influence"
David Velez, Brenden, Jefferson Hunt ,Nathan Rice, Andrew, Paul Bacher, Samuel Evert,David Locklin, Pavel Semenov, Nathaniel Naranjo ,Jason Howder ,Shawn Milochik, Michael Mooney ,Randy Clower ,N-SOMNIA, David Bradshaw, James Loan, Tony Morgan, Dale Block, Jordan Jones, Shaun Matthews, Lee Daffern, CAMERON R KASPER, Dean Harkness Larry Tooley Merlish Eric Lnrd, Justin Estocado, Thaddaeus Davidson, Monte Ough, Mark Steinemann, Xander ten Boden, christiaan lommen, Mikkel Sørensen, T.j. Smith, Manny Dylan Music, Richard Poodles, Kev Bowker, Steven Wynn, Aidan Chapel, Darren Oxbury, Ka Nyne ,Jean-Francois, Matt Hem, Josh Taylor ,Susan Barclay Nichols, Steve Ford, Knut Helge Gran Hanssen, Tim Eades, Adam Whitinig, Tony Morgan, Mortiz Branstatter, Alex Harper, Tommy Pedersen, Moder, and many, MANY more. You guys rock!
About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!
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The next episode: *LET'S RECORD, MIX AND MASTER A TRACK WITH ONLY BEHRINGER HARDWARE, SHALL WE?*
I'm gonna watch it, yes.
Instablaster.
This would be so rad. Live drums too.
Oh look, a rare shot of Glenn cupping the mic, lol
First time I understood anything about compressors. Seeing you tweeking the knobs (this is not inuendo) and hearing the difference in sound was enlightening.
Glad I could help! This video explains it further: th-cam.com/video/EuWwq8Vidbk/w-d-xo.html
@The Tired Horizon oh yes.
@The Tired Horizon Keep doing those and you will get explosive results!
I worked at Klark Teknik (Kidderminster, UK) back in the 90's where we also built Midas mixing desks. They both used to focus on live audio equipment, but some rack mount stuff was very popular in the studio (the EQ DN360 for sure, fuck, I assembled so many of those fucking things).
cobberwebb what are their best sounding preamps on the consoles of your knowledge?
Great video glen. It was fun watching you handle that Midas.
Glenn cupping the sm7b just made me die.
One excellent use for a compressor: As a secret weapon against'sound guys' at gigs. It's especially helpful for keyboards, but great for guitar & bass as well. The keyboards tend to sound huge during soundcheck, but in the middle of the show, when the drummer is going for it, they get totally drowned out. You can try and signal to the sound guy, but chances are he's off having a beer, talking to friends, or generally not paying any attention to the music. Now the compressor becomes your best friend! Set it for a bit of boost, with slight dynamic squish, and the keys cut through the mix without sounding overbearing or 'boosted'. VICTORY!!
Insightful niceeeee
I don't know why since I started to watch your videos my mixes sound just incredibly GREAT... nice job man.
Glad I could help!
I started to watch your videos 4 years ago... now nobody believe that all mixes that I have record was produced in home with free plugins 😅😅😅😅
I'm writing my thesis for the College about Home Rocording using free stuffs and how to sound like a pro... and you really gave me a good starting point.
MIDAS is great.
To me, still the best analog live console. I am glad that they made their designs into 500 series. Huge fan.
I agree, MIDAS live consoles are amazing, today they are my fav
I love the Venice ones and the legendary XL4... Best live consoles. Still looking for a Venice16 for my studio.
I find when teaching compressor controls to a non engineer an analog synth is best . It has very similar controls and can demonstrate to a musician what those controls do to a waveform in real time . Assuming you explain what a waveform is .
korg monologue so you see the waveform
When he shows the compressor in the chassis and it is next to a pair of the greatest preamp ever made 🙌
Glen's voice change when he put the headphones on. "What happening! I'm Glen Fricker and you're listening to The Quiet Storm."
That's Mojo baby!
Love you reviewing this stuff! 🤘🤘
Your way of compressing the snare is something i love. I will try to use that in praxis, too.
That double kick bleed though.
"Look at me. I am the snare bottom track now"
I'm impressed at what it can do. I was slightly alarmed that it got warm, but over all I agree. I'll stick with the preamps from Midas, but I'll be looking into the ART compressor this summer.
Hey Glenn everybody loves the 5150 myself included. That said I would love to hear your opinion on the Valveking. I feel like the old ones could be seen as a hidden gem by many. Not to mention they are dirt cheap on the used market. Keep killing it with the weight loss!!!
Exactly the video I was looking for , ty
Good review Glenn
Sounds awesome on Snare
I’m gonna try 214 on the Snare also
Thanks 😊
I recorded last night Snare Bottom with AKG WOW!!!! Thanks Glenn For The NO FUckereeee !!!!!
That comp feels like it's MADE for bass with the presence knob and high pass filter. also concerning about the heat issue. but hey you are paying for behringer and they skimp on things to make it cheaper. also when the comp 'clips' it sounds pretty nasty compared to a Distressor and LA2A (even plugin versions). which is super bad on vocals, but could be super helpful on bass. Thanks for the video. More hardware comps need to be compared and looked at in this much detail.
DUDE! STOP CUPPING THE MIC!
Read that in Glenn’s voice
3 guys walk in to a bar 1 on Paleo, one on Keto and one who's a vegan, how do I know THEY FUCKIN' TOLD ME WITHIN 30 SECONDS.
Great review Glen, I might need to have a look at one of these for lower female vocals, what you got was very nice.
The story with Midas and Music Corp (Behringer's parent company) is that when Music Corp bought Midas the deal was that all manufacturing would remain in the UK until the engineers at Midas signed off on the process in the Music Corp owned production plant in China. All the Midas design is still in the UK and, from what I understand, will always be.
One other Midas (kinda) review that would be worthwhile would be the Behringer ADA8200 8 Channel ADAT pre-amp. These have 8 Midas designed pre-amps and are dirt cheap for adding 8 channels to an interface.
The testing deathmetal part had me rollin. I think it would be interesting for adding some energy to vocals.
Great demo!
Sweetwater has the Midas 500 modules for like $170usd each now. (Not currently in stock, 2021.09.23)
That makes stereo compression and stereo EQ quite affordable, at only $680usd total. Plus a 6-slot Midas case for $260 that's only $940usd for stereo compression and stereo EQ. Way cool I say. You can EASILY pay that much just for a single module, not to mention a lot more.
Glad to see this review so I can see how it sounds. I hope you have a video about the EQ as well.
Compression and EQ are really the only two things I'd really really like to have as analog hardware.
Hey glenn that snare sounds amazing
That mix sounds amazing
Since Behringer bought Midas, their gear has hugely improved.
Those guys at Midas are really good engineers. I have some synths, that were developed by the Midas guys and they're just killer!
Also the Behringer ADA8200 uses Midas Preamps, which are totally clean and have no noticable noise. The Noisefloor of my ADA8200 is at about -120 dB.
Edit: The phrase "worth their weight in gold" is kinda odd, when referring to software plugins. xD
I get, what you mean, but still... :P
No, the price dropped.
Midas was highly respected for their quality before that. Even their live consoles where used for studio purposes back then. And those consoles are still around.
Let's see if the Behringshit made by workslaves will last that long.
Is this reply abt midas improvement backed with experience or see a video and get excited and talk..because glen has the midas v1 now Barringer owns them and v 2 has 4 times less internal parts .if like to know
@@metalfather8139 The Things i wrote about the synths and the ADA8200 preamps is backed by my own experience as i use those daily. Other Midas gear was tried at shops and was pretty decent too.
Every other assumption is an extrapolation of these experiences.
And less parts doesn't mean lower quality imo. Technologies improve and better ICs can replace discrete circuits pretty well these days. So less parts are needed.
So i just went from this video to one from 2018. DAMN! Kedo (bass player, so you know i can't spell) is working for you. Glenn you're shrinking! Congrats and keep it up! Also Glenn : don't cup the mic. also Glenn : cupping the mic. Love the content keep it up!
That's a sick mix Glenn!
Dear Glenn,
I'm not a metalhead, I can't stand people screaming, and I'm that guy who listens to a 78RPM scratched vinyl without any complaint - although I've worked for 25 years as a musician until my early and blessed retirement. That being said, I am completely hooked on your channel! The laughters would be enough but there is something much deeper about you and your army of winged monkeys: you guys share your knowledge with something I can only describe as caring. And that is so freaking rare nowadays! You have a mighty opinion, but I can't remember once in hours and hours of show you claiming the Throne of Truth. Perhaps that's why so many Dunning-Kruger disables have a hard time with you. But I digress...a very warm "fuck you" from the south end of Brazil!
Midas looks interesting. I've got couple of Behringer analog compressors & plan on recording with them over summer. Got their 31 band eq too. Great stuff
100 [Thumbs Up] before the haters got out of bed. I'll write that down.
Over 10+ years I've had Behringer and HAPPILY. My V-Amp Pro has been essential in my Guitar Rack. My FCB1010 controls it, never a single issue with the hardware, and I've even modded my fcb1010 with a Eureka and love it. My sound is driven by a Peavey Power Amp, right into a Behringer Ultrastack. Soon I'm swapping my power section with a Behringer Power Amp. I use Behringer mixers, and have for at least 15 years, shit, we even have the same lil Behringer mixer because its top notch. I love behringer, great stuff.
People give behringer crap cuz of the cheap pedals but theyve made alot of good products.
The Hipass is on the sidechain I think, that must be why it brings out the bottom out. Cool compressor
I would go crazy with that output! I liked it on that bass!
Hi Glen! Very nice video! I have a couple of this compressors and very happy with them. I have a question, .. which Reaper theme are you using? It's very clean and I like it. Cheers from Spain!
Cool, this Midas sounds pretty good!
Thanks Glenn, just bought one. I have a distressor but it never hurts to have a spare compressor in the rack and at that price it’s kind of a no brainer.
Indeed!
Great video.
I love the berhinger super fuzz pedal, that thing rocks.
For some odd reason analog effects tends to seem more intuitive to Me. Perhaps because that's what I grew up with
I think having a physical knob or fader to control lets me rely more easily on my ears, even if it’s a digital encoder assigned to a software plugin.
BINGO!
I grew up with digital stuff. I use it all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it but I agree, analogue stuff is just... simple? Like easier to use for me at least. I’ve learned so much from analogue gear yet I’ve learned it way faster than digital gear.
When you have an analog gear you learn to respect and use what you have. It's not the same as just putting any plugin in 3 seconds on the rack in DAW
Midas was a British company famous for some really great analog live sound consoles (such as the xl4 and h3000)
Man love the h3000. Legendary console
If you want to really bring out the transient of the snare, try putting your attack at the slowest setting and your release at the fastest setting. Adjust ratio and threshold to taste. Works amazing on a parallel buss
I have a couple of them and LOVE the dirty way they make stuff sound
I’m really interested to get one and try it on upright bass. I think it’d give a nice boost to the attack of the instrument without degrading the tone of the instrument as a whole.
Seek out a live venue with a Midas XL series console in it......it will absolutely blow your mind how good it sounds........Dave Rat still uses them live......I toured for years with a XL2.....miss that board a lot
Thanks Glenn! You were obviously listening regarding the Midas 500 series review... Any input about Midas 500 rack units? ... and hope to see more Midas and other low cost/high quality modules as you mentioned!
Not yet!
I have a Midas L6 rack with the 502 pre, 512 EQ and 522 compressor modules and they are all great.
@@clintonmaher6930 they are mono ins and out right? I mean, I will need two of each model to fill the L6 box and for stereo purposes.
Holy fuck that snare came to life with some reverb and once it was put into the mix! Just goes to show you don’t need things to sound amazing solo, it’s about how it sounds when it all comes together.
I def need to look at this compressor since I’m a bassist though lol it sounded great. I’m getting into recording and this maybe a nice piece to pick up.
oooo that mix sounds great
Thank you very much!
DBX 560 vs whatever 160 you have would be interesting!
I bought this last week! As well as the 502 pre and 512 eq
any heat issues 1 year later? any other issues, or has it all been smooth?
@@elbeethrie5140 No, I have 3 L10s, one L6 and 6 of the Midas modules. No issues with any of them.
@@clintonmaher6930 How're they holding up after four years? I'm considering picking up the L6 and a few modules.
12:00 dude, the snare on the Black album was a sample.
It was from 1991 where samples didn’t exist. You can also hear that because they changed the snare head for a perfect record, because the snare sounds different even through out the parts of the songs and from song to song.
@@giuliano8031 Snare samples definitely existed before 1991 and all throughout the '80s, using AMS and Wendel units, and DAT tapes loaded with samples. It was very common
That was a hell of a bass sound!
Wonder how it would sound on Robot bass?
@@sansocie I wonder myself now!
A crunchy round wound open B string, you can't miss it.
That drummer is great, super even and getting awesome tone from the drums
Your right about ART
I uses a ART Transy Stereo FET open on Double mono before going to my SoundCraft LX7II and then I go back to a WA G Comp (Transformers in mode) before I go back into my UAD476
Thats giving
Weight
Width
Some EQing from the Souncraft and Compression from either the ART or G Comp....
Its been doing fine...adding a nice Analog Rich sound to my Mixes
The Midas XL4 , the Heritage Series and the XL3 (with optional direct outs) are maybe the best analog live consoles ever, just paired by the ATI Paragon, the Gamble EX56 and Cadacs, althought the routing is not perfect for studio work the sound of the prés and EQ are in my opinion better than some of the most known and expensive studio console brands.
@The Tired Horizon i think Daniel Lanoy still uses a XL4 for mixing in one of his places.
@The Tired Horizon Yes...that guy.
Looking good with gain loss Glenn keep it up 👍🏼
Nice demo! I do want it though I don't want it to set the house on fire. I use a Midas M32 as my interface into reaper. Is it similar to the compressor that is on the M32 or is it from the Pro series boards or maybe neither one? The sound of it is really good on instruments and the price is pretty much unbeatable.
Hey Glenn if that song ever gets released, can you tell us? I love that riff, especially with the super present bass
that presence knob was actually imo the most noticeable lol
Just this one compressor is getting the job done. Digitally I end up using multiple compressors for bass and it still does not feel enough. This thing is brutal. I wonder what you might get by combining this with 1176 or some other vintage / colored digital comp
Damn, for $250 and with a high pass and the bonus presence knob? Seems like a no brainer for when i decide to start building my first 500 series rack.
Midas, born in UK in 1970, built (and still does) on fo the best preamps in the market, their analog consoles are legendary sounding, and their new live mixing desks (Pro series) are pretty much the real deal.
About that compression, that's mainly the typical midas compressor, stellar for high transient sources, drums for instance, where you can pretty much dial your compression, while loosening the transient compression with the presence knob (which is pretty much a variable low pass into the compressor sidechain. They are cheap, because old gear was made in UK and either sweeden or switzerland, can't remember for sure now, and nowadays their built in china on behringer city. They claim the QA is better than the typical Behringer QA (if there is any at all) and the components are the same, I kinda doubt about the components, since they (behringer) in the same city also build their components there, hence how cheap it can be. And finally, plenty of fabrication is automated right now, leaving only crytical assembly in the hands of humans.
Nevertheless, it sounds as a regular analog midas compressor, they were never 'stellar' they do their job IMO, as a live sound engineer, they do their job well, but I do rather their new Pro series mixers compressors (more models tailored for specific applications) and would kill for those Midas Heritage 4000 preamps!
The box is there especially for tone , ever eared of tone wood :)
I have just totally over indulged and bought a stereo pair of distressors and I fucking love it
I've had a distressor since 2003, so I can't say I blame ya. Great stuff!
Considering the cost I think it could be a useful tool!
what kind of project are you using to test the compressor? sounds really awesome. can it be heard final somewhere?
this whole midas series is amazing for the cost
I really want to try out the 10 space lunchbox
Might want to check the RNC compressor at this price point.
Please do a video on how you record audio and video simultaneously with screen capture and playback of daw audio separately.
The Behringer ADA8200 has the midas preamps and is pretty good for having extra inputs..
Glenn I have a question I play a lot of heavily distorted guitar but a lot of times I have trouble with sustain the guitar signal breaks up I’m not sure if it’s the settings on my amp like to much of something or maybe it’s my guitar idk but every time I try to sustain a note it stays for a couple seconds and then breaks up and if I turn down the distortion my tone isn’t as heavy please help been having this trouble as of late
I've always had good experiences with Behringer stuff.
A gallop is not a triplet.
Nice sounding compressor at a great price point. I'm considering setting up one of those 500 Series racks, but I'm not sure how it works w/ these power supplies etc.
FYI as of Jan 2021, sweetW has it on sale for $150 (It's on backorder, but they lock in the price).
Man! You have got to have an IQ that jumps up off the charts!! LOL! I thought I spent 67 years filling my head with a lot of useless information, (that would put most people to sleep with the over-complexity of it all), but YOU, my friend, have taken it and made it something that even if the viewer hasn't a clue on the subject, will still want to watch to see what happens next! LOL.
Don't get me wrong, I do have a good idea of what is going on here, but I'm just impressed all over the place! The incredible ability you have to get it all across without the viewer needing a sound engineer degree is 'part 1'. 'Part 2' is the way you deliver it all in such a way to make it very interesting, even to those who haven't the slightest idea what all this is for!
I've played the drums since I was 8 or 9 and my 'band & stage days' are way behind me now. I have a full electric kit in my house (though I much prefer the acoustic kits), but only to keep my joints and fingers from stiffening up, lol. As an audiophile, I have several large 2 & 4 track/channel Decks and a 1/2-track mastering deck, (my favorite).
Occasionally, I record some of my solos and then push them around with some software plugins. This Midas 522 Compressor hardware is definitely priced well and I can justify buying one to mess around with on those solo-recording sessions.
However, I need to ask you about the "AUTO" button on the Midas 522: When you switch to AUTO, does it bypass all your previous adjustments except the filters?
Thanks for the great video. I only intended to watch a minute of it but I had to stay and watch the entire review, (and I missed an appointment because of that!).
Now that I found your show, I'll be coming back to see what other gear that you've reviewed in the last year or two.
Great Job!
Rich
Glen: Just gonna adjust the threshold a little
- Turns the ratio down
😉
i'm looking into buying a set of headphones since the headset i'm using right now are falling apart(roccat kave xtd 5.1 analog. dont judge got it for a good price) i have been thinking about the Beyerdynamic DT 770 30 and 80 ohm variant and the DT990 30 and 250 ohm variant. my sound interface is currently a Yamaha AG03. i have read places that higher ohm headphones have better quality but needs a amp. would i be better off buying the lower ohm variant when using it with the AG03 or should i buy a higher ohm headset. my price range is about 150$ as of now if you have any suggestions for good headphones around that mark. i will mostly use them for live monitoring(some live sound engeneering), gaming and some mixing(mostly video editing and mixing that audio)
good job thanks
Thanks very much!
The compressor is cool, but jesus christ that fucking snare sound is KILLER.
Glenn, sorry if you get this a lot but what’s the best classic rock sounding amp for someone on a budget?
Hey Glen have you tried the orange micro dark. Whats your thought on the trend of micro amps?
Man loves his crack! Great review dude
Im going to be adding the Neve88m and a separeate Mixing Rack with the Lin76 and 2A and dbx160A...in about 4 or 6 months
I have no idea how outboard rack gear works. How does it effect the sound that's on your computer, on your hard drive? I just always assumed they're used to change the sound of incoming live recording. I have no idea how it links up to a specific track. I work all in the box and assumed I'd never have any use for analog gear. How do they even work!?
It varies depending on your interface/DAW setup, but basically your computer just plays the track's audio through a cable on some sort of output jack. That cable feeds the input of your outboard gear, and you run the output of your outboard gear back into a standard audio input. Within your DAW, you tell the track which output to use and which input to pay attention to. Glenn uses the ReaInsert plugin to handle these routing decisions.
Using this method while tracking live can present a latency problem, so you need to have a basically instantaneous setup. Alternatively, you could just do your tracking without using outboard gear and then run your audio through the outboard gear later during mixing.
Hey Glen, you should check out ART they have a 500 series VLA compressor. I know that you did a review on the rack unit version. I'm curious what the 500 series is like.
As a bass player that uses a lot of outboard hardware compression types, I would like to hear how this can make a bass sound better. Not just squash and distort the track to make it sound worse. Is this compressor musical with normal tracking techniques? Thanks for the video though!
is there an issue with youtube audio compression? Maybe it's the volume of Glenns mix being squashed by youtube audio compression but the mixes seem to sound like they drop in volume under big snare or kick hits. Not criticism just genuine curiosity.
Re, Behringer stepping up their game... you should see their recreations of classic analogue synths: Moog & Korg Monopoly.... awesome builds, spot on tone and DIRT cheap!
This looks and sounds pretty good. My only beef is that I wish it was made in either England, the States or Canada. Just got a hate on for China right now.
FYI ART Pro VLA II street price is now $359.99, at least in the US.
That’s a great price! And it’s killer
Nice compressor!
Indeed!
14:11 Well you heard him folks, Glen "loves that crack".
They should include the stuff to make cigar box guitar with the box
Midas is basically the top end part of Music Group. Behringer uses their designs, but the parts aren't as high quality as the Midas branded stuff and can be a bit more noisy (X32 vs M32). I record using Midas pres (M32) and they are amazing, beat the stuffing out of the Focusrite Scarlett series stuff I started out on, and prefer to record using them versus my Apollo (silverface) Quad.
Can I hear this track anywhere?! Sounds awesome!!
Try a sennheiser 609 or 906 on your snare could be top or bottom its sounds really great!!
Behringer is crushing the entire game ......slowly 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🇨🇦🙏🏿👊🏿😷
Hey Glenn I know this is old but I wanted to point something out that you probably know anyway. Midas was and is still a UK based company. Music Tribe (Behringer which is actually a German company) bought them like a decade ago or something which did cheapen the product but they were already manufacturing some of their stuff in China at that point already. Of course this is not really a new thing. Almost everything especially electronic is made in China and as that is the case it is clearly not a usable metric of quality measurement. I have always been a huge proponent of high end gear but China has changed the landscape and as you know already the accessibility. Oddly enough it seems that employee wages are not as big a factor in that as we would think. That is a topic for a different post though. The thing is there is great stuff coming out of China and like always cheap stuff. The best part is all of it is a lot cheaper.