In this video for Production Expert, Mike Thorne provides an in-depth look at denise's new compressor plug-in, Dragon Fire. Mike shows us features and how to use the plug-in on drums, piano, and a cello.

Dragon Fire is a new compressor plugin that developer denise claim is a “new and easier way to colour and tame dynamics”. denise call this “tonal compression”.

Before using Dragon Fire, I hadn’t heard of tonal compression. I assumed it referred to yet another automated EQ and compression process, many of which I’ve tried in the past with varying results.

However, watching the videos on denise’s website piqued my interest - the sounds they’ve produced with the plugin are fantastic - and I was wrong: Dragon Fire is a deep plugin that rewards investing time using it. It’s also anything but automated! Here’s a brief overview.

The plugin signal flow is a 6-band EQ, followed by a compressor, that feeds into another 6 -band EQ.

Along the way there are several good sounding effects and settings, including a clipper (which can be pre or post make-up gain), a distortion slider (the distortion sound is based on the amount of gain reduction), a peak/RMS slider and a curve slider which changes the release curve of the compressor from very fast to something smoother (think LA2A/3A).

denise clearly love all things Pultec (a vintage and very sweet sounding EQ) as they have created EQ curves that interact in a similar way to the Pultec cut/boost trick (watch the video for an explanation).

These "Putlec style” EQ curves are the secret to how the pre and post-compression EQs interact with each other using a unique “Pull” control.

In use, this means you can add copious amounts of low end to a snare drum, before compression, driving this into the compressor to tame any resonances, and then add back in some of that EQ, post compression, but in a cool way that interacts with the pre-compression EQ, to give you something that’s tighter sounding but also fatter. Yep, I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. I’m still searching for a better way to describe it. Again the video helps!

I do wish that denise included a decent manual, or signal flow diagram. Hopefully they will rectify this as I have a feeling it may be a barrier for some users.

I’ve been enjoying using Dragon Fire on drums, piano, cello and vocals. It’s really versatile and worth investing time getting to know it.

For full details of denise’s Dragon Fire and to download a free trial, head over to denise’s website.