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Description
The Digidesign Bomb Factory BF76 plugin brings the iconic sound of the classic 1176 Limiting Amplifier to your digital audio workstation. A staple in studios worldwide, the BF76 delivers the punchy, fast-attack compression that has been cherished by engineers and producers for decades. Whether you're looking to add warmth to vocals or inject energy into drum tracks, this plugin is a versatile tool that faithfully emulates the analog nuances of its hardware counterpart.
Designed for ease of use, the BF76 features a straightforward interface, making it accessible for both beginners and seasoned professionals. Its all-buttons-in mode is a standout feature, allowing users to explore creative compression techniques that produce distinct harmonic distortion and sustain. The plugin is compatible with a wide range of DAWs, ensuring seamless integration into your workflow.
With the BF76, you can achieve everything from subtle dynamic control to aggressive squashing, all while maintaining the clarity and character of your original sound. This plugin is particularly effective in mixing scenarios where precision and musicality are required, giving your tracks the professional polish they deserve.
Key Features:
- Faithful emulation of the classic 1176 Limiting Amplifier
- All-buttons-in mode for creative compression effects
- Fast attack times for tight, controlled dynamics
- Intuitive user interface for ease of use
- Compatible with most major DAWs
- Suitable for a wide range of audio applications including vocals, drums, and more
Videos
SampleKings
Pro Tools LE 8 Compressing Vocals with BF76 samplekings.com
Reviews
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Digidesign Bomb Factory BF76.
Comparisons
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The BF76 is appreciated for its simplicity and minimal DSP usage, making it useful for secondary tracks, unlike more complex 1176 emulations.
Source
Features and functionality
Use cases and applications
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Despite its age, BF76 is favored for lead vocals by some professionals, highlighting its continued relevance in certain applications.
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Used on Sheeran's vocals for Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself", as stated by Purpose mix engineers Josh Gudwin and Andrew Wuepper in this May 2016 Sound on Sound interview about the mixing of the title track and others.
“Below the trumpet section are Ed’s vocals, on which I have the [Avid] BF76 compressor and a channel strip, and at the top is his vocal bus, on which I have the FabFilter Pro-2 EQ. I also had the Bricasti on Ed’s voice, as well as a UAD LA2."
Used on the vocals for "Take Me to Church", as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.
- Vocals: Bomb Factory 1176, Focusrite Red EQ, SoundToys Echo Boy, Line 6 Echo Farm, Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer, Waves Renaissance Compressor, Avid Trim & Audio Ease Altiverb.
“The two ‘tele’ voices at the top are backing vocals. I think they were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ that came from the demo. They don’t sound like telephone voices at all, so I’m not sure why they’re called that. Instead they almost sound like church voices. Below are two aux tracks for those vocals, with Bomb Factory compression, Focusrite EQ and an Echo Boy delay. The backing vocals below that — ‘BV1–4’ — are the ones with the signature Leslie effect on them, and they again have some Focusrite EQ and Bomb Factory compression, and I gave them some Echo Farm slap delay to add depth to the reverb.
“The next tracks are the verse lead vocals from his Logic session, called ‘Male Creamy Lead Vocals’, on which I put some Renaissance compression and a Trim, and ‘Vox Verb’ is the Moisturizer track, plus two Trim plug–ins, one being +1dB and the other –0.5dB. I hate automating in Pro Tools, so I will often use the Trim to bypass it. Writing automation is a tedious task. Below this are the chorus vocals, called ‘New Vocal’, so we obviously recorded these again at my studio. In order to make them sound like the demo vocal I stuck them through the same chain and EQ’d them heavily. ‘Vox Plate’ is the Altiverb, and there’s a delay track below it which again has the Echo Farm, on a delay setting. Finally there are several more double–tracked chorus vocals, and they also have the Renaissance and Focusrite, and the Moisturizer and Echo Farm aux tracks below them.”
Producer Declan Gaffney stated that "Bono's voice sounds really good (...) with the Bomb Factory 1176."
"I use this particular compressor because it seems to bring my productions to life and really adds a punch to the sound. This compressor works great on vocals as well as drums but can also be used on the entire mix if used correctly."
Used on "Sex on Fire", as stated by Only by the Night producer Jacquire King in this December 2008 Sound on Sound interview.
- Drums: Massenburg DesignWorks EQ, Bomb Factory BF76, Digidesign Lo–fi, Quad 8 EQ, Chandler TG1, Sontec EQ, Audio Ease Altiverb
"I cut the kick around 255Hz to get rid of some honkiness, and added some 11k on the snare, both with the Massenburg DesignWorks. I also cut a tiny bit around 263Hz on the overheads, and sent them through a Bomb Factory BF76, which is a plug–in version of the 1176, just to control the snare transients a little bit in the overhead picture. I also EQed the toms to roll back some of the tubbiness on them. There's a Lo–fi plug-in on Room 1, to take the cymbal wash down and dirty it up; when you reduce the sample rate and bit depth you also lose high frequencies. I cut everything below 206Hz with the Massenburg on the Simmons drums to clean up any unwanted frequencies. For the rest, there's nothing dramatic on the drums, just some specific shaping with digital EQs and opening up the top and bottom with outboard or the Quad 8 EQ. All the drums were bussed and sent to an outboard compressor, the Chandler TG1, for parallel bus compression. I also had a Sontec EQ on the drum bus. The Altiverb works primarily on the snare, kick and toms, just to give them a little bit more space. I set it to a room at Ocean Way Studios, so it's not a big splashy reverb."
Mentioned in this March 2009 Mix Online article about the Hello Katy Tour.
Both front-of-house engineer Fern Alvarez Jr. (who is also production manager) and monitor engineer Dave “Supa” Rupsch are working on Digidesign Profile consoles. For effects, Alvarez relies on a Bomb Factory BF76 compressor and a Franklin d2 EQ for Perry's vocals; Smack on background vocals; Purple Audio comp for bass guitar; Joemeek comp for acoustics; ReVibe reverb on Perry and background vocals; and Reverb one for all instruments. (...) According to monitor engineer Dave “Supa” Rupsch, “It is not a very plug-in-intensive setup. I use Impact for kick and snare compression, and Bomb Factory compressors for bass DI and Katy's acoustic.
Used for vocals on "Say So", as stated by mix engineer Clint Gibbs in this July 2020 Sound on Sound interview. An image of the settings can be found here.
"All vocal audio tracks have the same signal path: Metric Halo Channel Strip 3, Avid Bomb Factory BF-76, Avid Dyn-3 De-Esser and in the case of the lead vocals, the FabFilter Pro‑Q 3, all on the inserts, plus sends to the quarter- and eighth–note delays and reverb. These are all part of the recording template, and came from Kalani. I am familiar with the settings, because I worked on them, so I didn't change them. The Metric Halo is doing a high-pass, the BF-76 has all buttons in to give it that pop vocal sound. I added the Q 3, cutting 1dB at 279Hz and at 740Hz. I like to do tons of minimal EQ cuts with many plug‑ins.
"The lead vocal audio tracks also have a send called Voc SC, which goes to the side-chain input of the Waves F6 on the Keys bus. It helps make a little extra pocket for the vocal. It creates dynamic dips in the 900Hz and 2kHz range when she is singing. I also have this F6 on the 808 bus of the remix, doing the same thing. All lead vocal audio tracks go to the LD Vocal aux, which has another instance of the Q 3, taking out quite a bit of low end to make space for the bass, and the McDSP AE600 dynamic EQ, taking out problem areas only when they occur. I do a lot of vocal riding on the lead vocal bus, pushing up specific syllables.
"There's also a track called Echo FX Clean. When I have to mute a word, I will take the word before it and will delay it with some reverb to fill the empty space. The additional plug‑in by Vengeance, the VPS philta XL filter, is doing a high and a low cut to give it more of that radio sound. The other vocal tracks are treated in similar ways as the lead vocals, though the BG2 bus has the Valhalla Vintage Verb, with a 2.4s reverb, Mix at 18 percent. I think that came from Kalani, but I added the FabFilter Pro‑DS, because I wanted to take the 's' frequency out of the reverb. All vocals go to the Vocals bus, which has the UAD 1176, switched off, and the JSTClip for some level boosting. The Vocal Rear track is the parallel, with -20dB compression on the 1176. This is where I get my vocal loudness from.
Used for Minaj's feature on Doja Cat's "Say So" remix, as stated by mix engineer Clint Gibbs in this July 2020 Sound on Sound interview.
"All vocal audio tracks have the same signal path: Metric Halo Channel Strip 3, Avid Bomb Factory BF-76, Avid Dyn-3 De-Esser and in the case of the lead vocals, the FabFilter Pro‑Q 3, all on the inserts, plus sends to the quarter- and eighth–note delays and reverb. These are all part of the recording template, and came from Kalani. I am familiar with the settings, because I worked on them, so I didn't change them. The Metric Halo is doing a high-pass, the BF-76 has all buttons in to give it that pop vocal sound. I added the Q 3, cutting 1dB at 279Hz and at 740Hz. I like to do tons of minimal EQ cuts with many plug‑ins.
"The lead vocal audio tracks also have a send called Voc SC, which goes to the side-chain input of the Waves F6 on the Keys bus. It helps make a little extra pocket for the vocal. It creates dynamic dips in the 900Hz and 2kHz range when she is singing. I also have this F6 on the 808 bus of the remix, doing the same thing. All lead vocal audio tracks go to the LD Vocal aux, which has another instance of the Q 3, taking out quite a bit of low end to make space for the bass, and the McDSP AE600 dynamic EQ, taking out problem areas only when they occur. I do a lot of vocal riding on the lead vocal bus, pushing up specific syllables.
"There's also a track called Echo FX Clean. When I have to mute a word, I will take the word before it and will delay it with some reverb to fill the empty space. The additional plug‑in by Vengeance, the VPS philta XL filter, is doing a high and a low cut to give it more of that radio sound. The other vocal tracks are treated in similar ways as the lead vocals, though the BG2 bus has the Valhalla Vintage Verb, with a 2.4s reverb, Mix at 18 percent. I think that came from Kalani, but I added the FabFilter Pro‑DS, because I wanted to take the 's' frequency out of the reverb. All vocals go to the Vocals bus, which has the UAD 1176, switched off, and the JSTClip for some level boosting. The Vocal Rear track is the parallel, with -20dB compression on the 1176. This is where I get my vocal loudness from.
(...) "The Nicki Minaj remix happened very last minute. I got a text from her engineer, Aubry 'Big Juice' Delaine, saying, 'Here's a link for Nicki's vocals.' I opened it up and realised they were for 'Say So'. So I hit up the label and they confirmed that we were doing a remix. As I was mixing, I was getting updated versions of the vocals, verses, and so on. We did the mix, got it mastered, it was all approved, and the day before the remix was supposed to come out, someone wanted to change the beat underneath her vocals. All of a sudden there was an emergency!
"I got an email from Tyson Trax, saying: 'Here are the new beat stems for Nicki.' Among other things they contained some heavy 808s. I had an hour to mix in these new beat stems, because the remix was supposed to be released in Australia a few hours later. I pasted these new beats in just above the vocal VCA of the original session, and in Nicki Minaj's first verse I deactivated the clips from the original beat files for this section. But because the original did not have 808s, they killed my mix bus. I had to automate a new limiter during this part of the remix.
"I put Nicki's vocal at the bottom of the session, and just needed to pair them with the track. I added all plug‑ins on her vocals that you see in the session, but I did not need to do much, because the processed stems Big Juice sent me sounded great! The SoundToys Little Radiator adds a little warmth, and the Metric Halo Channel Strip boosts some top end while also cutting some low end. There are two Waves C6 plug‑ins dynamically suppressing 177Hz and 700Hz, with a -6dB range. There was some build-up in those frequencies that didn't work with the mix. On the inserts of the individual vocal tracks there also is a Waves Q8 doing two sharp 4-6 dB cuts at 10kHz and 11kHz, which was to tame some 's' harshness.
"One of the 808 audio tracks has the FabFilter Pro‑Q 2, with a high pass at 20Hz and a cut around 40Hz, and the Oeksound Soothe on a 'melodic bass control' setting. On the 808s aux bus and 808 parallel bus I have the FabFilter Saturn, Timeless, and the Waves F6. These 808 buses obviously were added for the remix. My approach with them was similar to that of the bass aux. The Saturn is only active on the parallel track, and is a bit dirtier on the 808 than on the bass. The F6 is side-chained to the vocal to suppress the mids of the 808 while Nicki is rapping. The Timeless also is only active on the parallel track, and adds a light chorus that spreads the 808 out slightly."
Album Usage
The Digidesign Bomb Factory BF76 has been featured on the following albums:
Genre Usage
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