Outboard Gear Compressor that passes Phantom Power

Usually compressors are an "insert" patch, meaning they get patched in at line level after the mic preamp. Most soundboards have an insert jack on each channel. This is a patch point that is after the preamp but before the EQ, volume, and other sends. When nothing is plugged into the jack, then it just bypasses the signal. When you patch in a TRS 1/4 jack, you loop out on the tip and loop back on the ring (check your documentation.) So, you would make up a patch cable with a TRS jack on one end and whatever the input and output jacks are on the compressor, and you would patch that into the channel you want the compressor on.
 
Thats the issue, I'm not working with a mixer, I'm working with a PC box, a PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL to be exact so no inserts to speak of.
 
That does throw a wrench into the works!
I won't say there isn't a product out there because every time I look, there is new stuff on the market, but from a practical "off the shelf" standpoint, here's what I would do:
Get a simple one or two channel mixer with phantom power, like - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...oduct_id=802&gclid=CICKhfuzndECFdxKDQodD-cBrg
Use it as your preamp and feed the output into your compressor and the output of that into a line level input on the PreSonus. Kind of roundabout way, but it will get the job done.
 
Can't vouch for it as I never used it, but such things apparently do now exist! Looks to support phantom.
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=612
proxy.php
 
If for some reason compression in the software via your Audiobox isn't an option and you need to go analog outboard the easiest option with the most flexibility is to get an inexpensive single channel preamp and put that in line between your mic and compressor so you can get the signal up to line-level. Output the compressor into your Audiobox. There are a few combined preamp/compressor units out there, though they are far from common.
 
Can't vouch for it as I never used it, but such things apparently do now exist! Looks to support phantom.
http://www.rdlnet.com/product.php?page=612
proxy.php
I've never seen this before, but I can vouch, that it does not have any adjustments, and is probably fixed at "speed metal recorded on vinyl" level, so it is crap. This is really designed to be used for PA announcements in a school gym, and it probably works okay for that, but it will be completely unacceptable for any type of musical performance.

@DuckJordan, Can you explain your setup, and what the end goal is supposed to be? How do the studio and live environment need to work together?
 
A compressor won't do anything without a pre-amp in front of it. You have to have a rather hot signal in order to drive a compressor so it does its job. What small mixer do you have now? What software are you recording onto?
 
So it goes from the AT2020 into the Presonus Audiobox 44vsl and straight into an online broadcaster PC using OBS studio. As far as a pre-amp the audiobox 44vsl takes care of that @Footer. My hope with the compressor is to level out the volume between the loud outbursts and the standard talking level the broadcaster is doing. I can only set the gain so high before he clips it and the level of speech is much too quiet to be heard at the level it doesn't quite clip when the guy is loud. Part of the reason the show is popular-ish is due to the outbursts and telling him to keep them down would limit the entertainment value.
 
A dbx 286s would fill the bill. It has a preamp, with phantom power, along with a compressor, de-essor, and gate, in a 1 RU box. It's intended as a broadcast mic processor, but it would do this job just fine.
Considering the dbx is only $30 more than the EZmpc1, you can't go wrong buying the DBX!
 
So it goes from the AT2020 into the Presonus Audiobox 44vsl and straight into an online broadcaster PC using OBS studio. As far as a pre-amp the audiobox 44vsl takes care of that @Footer. My hope with the compressor is to level out the volume between the loud outbursts and the standard talking level the broadcaster is doing. I can only set the gain so high before he clips it and the level of speech is much too quiet to be heard at the level it doesn't quite clip when the guy is loud. Part of the reason the show is popular-ish is due to the outbursts and telling him to keep them down would limit the entertainment value.

Yes, you have a pre-amp there but the preamp has to be the first thing the signal hits. Because you want processing before your A to D interface you now need another pre-amp. The DBX unit above will do it. With that too, you are going to get a much better pre-amp. I have never been impressed with the range on most "recording interfaces". I always feel like they go from nothing to peaking way to fast... and when the get pushed they really sound thin.
 

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