Introduction

If one were to take a peek into the racks of equipment that can be found in legendary recording studio facilities around the globe, that person would find compressor/limiters from Smart Research in some of the finest facilities in the world. Since 1987, the company— established by Alan Smart, one of the engineers who helped establish Solid State Logic (SSL) as a household name and whose work helped transform the company into the formidable presence in the world of professional music that it has become, has created dynamics processors that bring the sound of the vintage SSL consoles of the early 1980s into the racks of artists, engineers, musicians and producers. The company produces products that feature impeccable engineering, tremendous versatility and legendary sound quality.

How did the legendary engineers of the past use the products that are highlighted in this article from Smart Research? 

In just about every recording studio facility that I had the opportunity to work on a recording session, you would have found legendary engineers using the compressor/limiters from Smart Research. The most common use for these products were as either mix buss compressors or as drum submix compressors. Though these products are often used as the final glue for either a mix or a submix, there were engineers who did use them as dual-mono compressors on singular instrument tracks, such as an electric guitar, or more commonly on a kick or a snare drum. These compressor/limiter units are extremely versatile, and can be used to great effect in a wider variety of scenarios rather than just for mix or submix buss compression— though, the engineers who used them for this component of the recording process used them for it quite often and to tremendous effect.