HotPressor
Compress a live vocal hard without riding feedback, stage bleed, or an empty mic.
Heavy live vocal compression with safeguards for feedback, bleed and open microphones.
Squash a vocal with an ordinary compressor at a gig and the makeup gain raises everything: it chases feedback toward the ring, lifts wedges, drums and crowd into the vocal channel, and when the vocalist steps off the mic it slams full gain into an open, empty microphone. That's why nobody dares compress hard live: not because hard compression sounds bad, but because the tools are unsafe.
HotPressor knows what the vocal is supposed to look like. Feedback Guard sits first in the chain with a bank of adaptive notches, and the compressor keys off the cleaned signal so it never rides a ringing tone. Bleed Guard keeps the stage out of the channel between phrases. And the gain ride freezes: never adds gain: the moment the singer comes off the mic. A Max Squash budget backs the whole plugin off, slowly and without pumping, if you lean harder than the room can take.
It's two products on one engine. HotPressor FOH goes for maximum polish, with a feedback-safe Style saturation stage and the Collapse dip-and-bloom from Slursh. HotPressor Monitor runs at near-zero latency, squashes more gently (singers need dynamics to pitch), and errs open: a dropout in someone's ears is fatal. They're separate plugins on purpose, so a monitor rig can never accidentally sit in FOH mode. One purchase unlocks both.
The interface, explained.
Two gain stages and a set of guards. Response controls replace raw attack and release settings.
The grab
A sub-millisecond peak catcher with a program-adaptive release. Catches plosives and shouts so the leveler never sees them. Response scales how fast it thinks, not what it protects.
The ride
A slow gain ride toward a target vocal level, like a hand on the fader. It can cut deeply but limits upward gain, then freezes when the singer steps off the mic.
Avoid riding a ring
Adaptive notches sit before the detector so the compressor is less likely to mistake a ringing tone for the vocal and ride it louder.
The stage stays out
A soft downward expander that keeps wedges, drums and crowd out of the vocal channel between phrases. Opens fast, closes slow, and errs open on the Monitor variant.
The safety budget
A slow average of total gain reduction. Stay over the budget for too long and the plugin gradually backs itself off.
FOH character, safely
Style is mid-band saturation built so drive can never raise loop gain. Collapse is a bounded dip-and-bloom that makes a slammed vocal hit. Lock disables the destructive buttons so a mid-show mis-click can't kill the vocal.
VENUE loads 64-bit AAX DSP plug-ins only: it will not load this native build, or any other, at all. There's a separate HotPressor built for the console's own DSP chips, and it's on sale now. One purchase covers both formats, on the console and in your DAW.
HotPressor, answered.
What is HotPressor?
A live vocal compressor and the first plugin in the BruceJames Live line. It is designed for heavy vocal compression while limiting feedback chasing, stage bleed and upward gain into an empty mic.
What's the difference between HotPressor FOH and HotPressor Monitor?
FOH allows a few milliseconds of lookahead and goes for maximum polish, with Style saturation and the Collapse stage. Monitor runs at near-zero latency so singers hear themselves, compresses more moderately, and errs open so in-ears never drop out. One purchase unlocks both.
Why not just use a studio compressor live?
Heavy compression often requires makeup gain. Live, that can raise feedback, stage bleed and the open channel when the singer steps away. HotPressor adds safeguards for those cases.
Can I run it on an Avid VENUE console?
Yes. There is a separate 64-bit AAX DSP build that runs on the console's own DSP chips, because VENUE does not load native or AAX Native plug-ins at all. It is finished and on sale now, and one purchase covers both it and this DAW build.
Is the DAW build available now?
Yes. Version 1.0.1 is out for Windows, macOS and Linux, as VST3, AU, CLAP and AAX. One purchase of $59.99 covers it and the Avid VENUE console build, because both formats read the same licence.
Put it on a live vocal.
The demo is the full plugin, so you can find out how hard you can squash a vocal before anything fights back. Mixing on an Avid VENUE console? The AAX DSP build inserts on the channel itself, and one purchase covers both.