Perhaps that’s why some of these strange and unique design choices made it into their gear. The engineers behind some of the greatest pieces of audio equipment weren’t known for their shortage of creativity.

So if you’ve been wondering if your 1176’s gain reduction meter is broken, it’s not. Conversely the number 7, represents the shortest attack and release times. Turns out the lowest setting on the 1176, in this case the number 1, represents the longest attack and release times. Well, if you used the 1176, this may not have been the case. Logically speaking, if you increase the attack or release settings, the actual release and attack times should increase too. What you may not have noticed is the peculiar choice in attack and release settings.

Odds are you’ve used this plugin, or the hardware. This compressor is so popular, that an emulation of it is a ProTools stock plugin. Setting 7 being the fastest, and 1 the slowest. The attack range’s from 20 microseconds to 800 microseconds. Set the ratio first and then dial in your other settings – otherwise you may compress too much or too little. Keep this in mind the next time you use the SSL compressor. This may be helpful to some, but if you didn’t know this fact, you may have compressed either more or less than you intended. This is due to the designer’s desire to allow the engineer to hear the compression equally across ratios. It turns out that in both the hardware and software emulations of the compressor, changing the ratio automatically alters the threshold, in an attempt to keep gain reduction the same.

When it comes to the SSL compressor, increasing the ratio won’t lead to an increase in gain reduction. This is of course, if the threshold and other settings remain the same. It’s common knowledge that if you increase the ratio on a compressor, the amount compressed should increase as well. Setting a higher ratio may even compress less, considering the automatic threshold adjustments are not exact.

1176 compressor plugin