MIA Laboratories 925 Compressor

MIA Laboratories’ preferred main mix compressor, designed using physical modelling principles.

• Classic ‘feed-back’ topology
• Detection stage based on the analog envelope detector circuit
• Variable knee response
• Logarithmic gain reduction

The 925 is MIA Laboratories’ preferred main mix compressor.
It is designed using physical modelling principles, based around the classic ‘feed-back’ topology in hardware circuit-design.
The 925 side-chain detection stage is based on the analog envelope detector circuit.

Key design design features  include:

• Variable knee response allowing more compression to be applied, esp. on high-transient sounds like percussion, samples, vocals etc.
• Logarithmic gain reduction, since the ear’s sense of sound level is roughly logarithmic.

When used in extreme settings on sounds with long sustain, it can produce a distortion effect. This happens when due to the high speed of the detector, it follows the actual waveform instead of the envelope of the program material.

This is normal for such a design and in some cases desirable.
After a lot of consideration it was decided not to exclude setting range, as the process is very much program dependent. Instead the user is given full control, since even if some settings will not be suitable for a specific material, often they are perfect for a different situation.

This is often the case in hardware vintage and modern equipment, and has resulted in the 925s’ very broad range of compression characteristics, esp. suited for main-mix applications but also buss-mix or multiple separate channels.