Produce Like A Pro: Creme vs. SSL and Pultec

• 12.10.2017
• Tobias Schacht
• Creme
• Testbericht

Video from October 2017 (24:55 min).

Warren Huart of Produce Like A Pro is known in the world of audio for his legendary introduction "I hope you are doing marvelously well". Friends, customers and fans of the Tegeler Audio Manufaktur will certainly understand how we felt when Produce Like A Pro released this fantastic video for the Creme Bus Compressor an Equalizer. Make your own picture, but we just felt marvelously well!

Here comes the complete video:

What Happens in the Video

Warren Huart – producer and mix engineer (Aerosmith, The Fray, Rick Springfield) – unboxes the Creme and turns it into a shoot-out: on his SSL console an SSL bus compressor and Pultec mastering EQs normally sit on the master bus; he copies exactly those settings onto the Creme – a touch of 60 Hz, a little more at 12 kHz, ratio 4:1, auto release – and prints the same chorus of a very dense pop track once through the console chain and several times through the Creme: without and with the side-chain low cut at 60 Hz, EQ before the compressor and compressor before the EQ. He drives the Creme as hot as he is used to from his console. The comparison: with the side-chain filter more energy and dynamics stay in the mix and the pumping on the kick is gone; EQ into compression is his favourite "for the excitement value".

What Warren Huart Says About the Creme

"I've mixed a lot of great sounding records and I love my console. But – wow. This is really amazing for the money. Incredible. Incredibly good value." – Warren Huart, video, October 2017

"It seems to have the headroom to cope with an SSL console being slammed, which is wonderful. I mix hot, and it does a great job." – Warren Huart, video, October 2017

"I can't find a fault with this. I'm slamming it [...]. We now have something that we can choose whether to use instead of our $10,000 worth of outboard. Pretty amazing." – Warren Huart, video, October 2017

His interim verdict after the comparison: copying his favourite settings onto the Creme "sounds as good, if not better" – and on the master bus he might even prefer it. Warren Huart later also visited us in Tegel: Produce Like A Pro visits Tegel.

What the Creme Is – and Why It Sits on the Mix Bus

The Creme is our bus compressor and mastering equalizer: a passive Pultec-style EQ and an SSL-style VCA bus compressor in one 2U unit. The order is switchable – EQ before the compressor or compressor before the EQ. On the mix bus the compressor pulls the separate parts into one whole, almost inaudibly at a 1.5:1 ratio, with a rhythmic signature of its own at higher ratios and faster timing; a side-chain filter keeps frequencies below 60 or 120 Hz out of the control circuit. The EQ offers a bass boost between 20 and 200 Hz and a high boost between 10 and 24 kHz, each 0–5 dB, every value on a rotary switch – which is why every setting is exactly reproducible. If you want plug-in recall, the Creme RC with motorized pots has it: Amazona.de reviews our Creme RC.

Produce Like A Pro homepage: https://www.producelikeapro.com/

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Related: Produce Like A Pro Visits Tegel · Pro Tools Expert Reviews the Creme (Video) · MixbusTV: "the perfect 2-Bus processor"