Jason LaRocca’s music recording and score mixing can be heard in the movies Ruby Sparks and The Mechanic and TV shows including Once Upon a Time, Beauty and the Beast, and Crash. LaRocca reports that he uses a Manley Variable MU Stereo Limiter Compressor in his work.
“I use the Variable MU all the time on all the TV shows, films, and records I work on,” LaRocca says. “It just sounds great. I have the Mastering version with the High-Pass Side Chain mod and T-Bar mod. Most people use it for mixing and mastering, and I do that, too, but I use it even more to compress instruments on the way in during tracking.
“True, [that approach] is old school,” LaRocca continues, “but I know what I want to hear, and the Variable MU is such a musical sounding box that I don’t need to wait. If you know what you’re going for, you can go ahead and compress on the way in. In fact, after compressing with the Variable MU, the tracks are recorded so well that they feel done before I mix in my DAW. They sound great. And when I do mix, I use the Variable MU on the 2-track.
“Plug-ins are really good now, and few things are worth spending a lot of money on,” LaRocca adds, “but the Manley Variable MU is always useful, and I always like what it does. It holds the mix together. In soundtracks and when recording orchestras, there isn’t a lot of room for color; you’re trying to capture the music in its purest state. But the Variable MU lets me add a bit of color in a musical way.”
Find information about the Manley Variable MU Stereo Limiter Compressor at www.manley.com/mslc.php.
Jason LaRocca’s Website is www.jasonlarocca.com.
