IRON Mastering Compressor review at Bonedo (featuring audio examples and video)

Dreamlike feel

“Although I already metioned it before, I would like to do it again at this point: The SPL Iron is a ‘sexy piece of hardware’. The build quality is very good. Everything, including the control elements, has a high quality touch.”

Astounding variety of sounds

“Now I was wondering for some time how to explain the many possibilities that the Iron offers and came to the conclusion: It is in actual fact impossible!

That’s why I want to avoid an overly academic approach. You have to feel the Iron! Depending on the rectifier setting and its unique sound characteristics, the operating point (Threshold) is shifted, which among slightly different tone color, other dynamic differences occur.”

“It makes little sense to try to adjust Attack and Release, so that they sound fairly the same for different rectifiers. That’s not how they work – and this is really great!”

“The different Sidechain-EQs also have a strong influence on the final result and should not be confused with typical SC-Lowcuts.”

“The strengh of this compressor is above all its incredible transparent way of compressing music material without negatively influence the dynamics.”

Conclusion:

“From now on I will have a dedicated 4U-space in my rack for the Iron”.

You can find the review, audio files and video at bonedo.