Manley Variable Mu Stereo Compressor Limiter Reviews

My recording background was collecting hand-me-down gear from friends and The Recycler through the '90s (one friend gave me four Roland S-760s for free!). Writing/recording was always my passion but not my job. I was a session guitarist and did record through iconic gear but never put my hands on them. Then the home computer plug-in craze came and I was hooked for about fifteen years. My ears weren't good enough to know the difference. Neither were my clients because I did begin a career as a composer who did his own engineering and mixing. About 5 years in, my computer broke down and to hit a deadline, I dusted off my old reel-to-reel machine and Lexicon PCM-90. I was shocked at how much better it sounded than my digital platform. That became the birth of my true ears: hearing depth. Next came the decision to pay $ for a microphone (U87). Couldn't be worth it, right? Well, it was. Made mixing 20 times easier. It already tracked with the sound I was looking for. Forward to 2023 Black Friday. Even though I use an analog 500 series master comp, I dug deep and bought the Manley. Wow! I A/B'd my 500 series and the Manley. It sounded like a completely different mix. Stereo definition was massive. And the depth, even deeper. Sheen like I've only heard on an SSL board. There's truly no bad setting on this thing. Even floored sounds usable. So my lesson: If you can afford it, Go big. Get the tried and true classics. You won't regret it.

I had no opinion about the Manley Varu Mu Limiter/Compressor (mastering version) until I went to Abbey Road Studios and had their mastering experts use it in conjunction with their legendary Fairchild 670s. These legendary mastering engineers (I will not name) used it quite extensively during my mastering sessions. I got a first-hand master class on how to use this piece of gear. It has it's own feel and responds very much like their Fairchilds.

...What is good enough for Abbey Road Studios is good enough for me.

When I got this product, I was mainly planning on just getting my mix as loud possible for cd. My mix sounded incredibly louder and more pleasing to my ears. With plug ins, i tend to lose the drums if the limiting was too much. The Vari Mu made it easy to maintain my mix and get the volume I wanted.

Years ago, I was introduced to this wonderful piece of kit at a studio I was hired to play keys. I had no knowledge of what a Manley Vari Mu was. The projects singer started singing some Jackson Brown to show off. I can remember the expression on the drummers face as we looked at each other with amazement. We couldn"t believe the sound coming out of the tiny little genelecs and a sub. Then we were let in on this secret sauce machine. It turned into the single most important piece of gear I"ve lusted after for years.

Like many landmark moments in a person's life, I remember the first time I heard a Vari-Mu. It was right around the turn of the century and a studio client brought one in to my humble little 48-track analog studio with his favorite preamps and mics. We had one of those well-known British consoles with a built-in buss compressor (really, not a bad one at all). You know the one, with the clunky automation. LOL. So the client says, "hey can we bypass that buss compressor and insert my Manley Vari-Mu on the stereo mix instead?"

I'd been mixing music for about 15 years at this point and I thought I'd heard it all. Wow, was I wrong! Immediately on first listendown, it was like I had reached Nirvana (the metaphysical state, not the band). Everything in the mix just became "better." The highs were elevated in the most musical luscious way, I'd ever heard, the mids were pushed out front and center with an immediacy and a "snap" that just reached out of the speakers and gently caressed your eardrum, and the lows pushed me back in my chair, becoming the bold anchor of each track. Everything sit perfectly where it belonged, where I had *intended* it to belong, almost as if the Vari-Mu was reading my musical mind and it knew just what to do. There's only one way to describe that: Magic. Pure magic.

Sell your car if you have to, but buy one of these. Buy it now.

Bought the Vari Mu several years ago. It was one of the first high-end hardware pieces I ever purchased. I love it. Some hardware is sold with the rationalization that there is a cumulative effect as gear is introduced into the signal path. The Manley Vari Mu is NOTICEABLE by itself. I've been stymied trying to understand why a mix wasn't sounding good only to find that I left the Vari Mu out of the hardware chain. I actually phoned EveAnna Manley to say thanks & send my compliments on the Vari Mu. It's the best piece of audio hardware I've ever purchased (really).

I was first introduced to the Vari Mu at a high end studio in Chicago with an SSL that we used to mix on. We'd run the stereo output to the Manley before printing the mixes. Always got amazing results and we able to get that extra bit of buss compression and glue, not to mentioned the nice beefy low end bump that these things are known for. A great piece of gear to use coming out of your DAW and warming it up.

The Manley Variable Mu is Outstanding! It's more than just a compressor. It's a shaping tool. I love it on the mixing bus. I also use it to texture vocals & drums. I track keys and guitar with it ... almost everything I record goes through it. The thing I really like as an Engineer is that I can control how much of the tube I put on tracks. For instance: If I take a vocal and really bring out the highs on it with eq, I can smooth it out with the Variable Mu depending how much I adjust the input gain on the Mu. Sometimes no compression is needed just that wonderful tube sound. I get that silky smoothness! Plus it sits the vocal in the track perfectly. I love it.
On bass it rocks! I can get that smooth sustain punch & clarity from the bass. The Variable Mu is very musical. Like I said earlier, I use it to shape an instrument or vocal in a track. I wish I had 6 of them.
If you're looking for that extra Mojo from your track, this is a Must Have piece of gear. It really makes a big difference in your music. That's probably why almost every major Recording Studio has one. Get a Variable Mu. I promise you won't regret it!

The Vari-mu does compression in a way that is different than the vast majority of compressors I"ve heard... it"s ultra smooth... even if you try to get it to pump, it"s still somehow compresses in a pleasing way. Because of this, it"s actually difficult to make something sound bad... and it"s fantastic at making something sounds good :-)

As far as the tone and the sound of the circuit itself, it"s ultra hi-fi. It does add a certain warmth to things, but there is no grunginess or garbage... The signal never really gets grungy or crappy - it"s days fantastically clear, only it just sounds better. The sound of tubes and transformers is just a pleasing sound, and this thing has it in spades... it enhances in a very pleasing way. It"s no wonder at all that this thing is a stable in mixing and mastering studios around the world. It"s my favorite compressor that I own currently - although I"m thinking of buying the mastering version for switchable settings that are more easily recallable. Anyway, if this thing gets an A+ in my book - it really doesn"t get much better than this.

In 1994 I was having a project mastered at Disc Mastering Inc in Nashville and heard my first Manley Vari-MU compressor. At that time I had been recording for 25 years and did not really believe in magic boxes, but simply going through the Vari-MU made my mixes sound better to me! Randy Kling was the engineer and seconded my opinion, and after that session I bought a Manley Vari-MU to use on all my mixes. By 1998 Manley had made some improvements, and I wanted to talk to Eveanna Manley about a side chain LF rolloff. They experimented and I really liked the results, and now it's a feature. My 1998 Manley Vari-MU served me on every record I mixed after that and is still being used today. Bullet-proof reliability and muscular sonics. One of my favorite pieces of equipment, period.

My name is Jerry Leal, owner of Pyramid Recording and Mastering in Fresno Ca. I have owned the Manley Vari -Mu compressor for about 10 years now.
My first impression was that is was some what of a mild unit and I used it primarily as a master buss compressor. At first I found it to be of greater use for rock or blues rather than dance or hip hop music. Over the years however I have used it as my go to for stereo overheads and other stereo sources. I have found that as I keep using it in different configurations such as a parallel compressor in mastering and push the settings beyond the norm it continues to impress my clients with the added warmth, harmonics and depth that Manley is famous for. Although I want to, I have not yet done any of the popular mods yet. such as the T-bar mod or the side chain mod because I cannot be with out my unit for a single day. Thank You Manley!

For tracking or mixing, and always on my masterbuss is a must have piece of gear.

Had an amazing experience working
Its was definitely my go to on the last album o jave worked on.
Very smooth and easy to use

Ed, my sales engineer, sold this unit to me, and I am grateful. This is such a beautiful piece of equipment. The dual input knob is great for dialing in the right amount of mojo on a mix. This unit can be used for heavy lifting or light compression. It can be clean or thick. It is an awesome compressor. Do not hesitate to pick one up.

Tracking, Mixing and Mastering the Vari-Mu is all over every project I've done over the last 12 years. From music to voice-over work, it's the one piece in my rack that gets used daily. Something always needs to be compressed and for me it's the first one I grab.

It helps me take my "in-the-box" mixes out of the box!

I'm a long-time console guy and I never attempted finished, professional sounding mixes at home before, but my Vari-Mu is a big part of my ability to do so. The sonic qualities of my mixes have improved in a big way once I started using the Manley as a program compressor. I little goes a long way and I love this thing! It's a Manley... it's going to sound great!

Essential to my studio. Perfect for recording, mixing and mastering. Can't recommend it enough!

I don`t own the Vari Mu but I have had the extreme pleasure of working with it. This is the desert island compressor we all would want. Just one listen and you`ll know why. The Vari Mu works beautifully on the overall mix but it really shines on anything. What impresses me the most about this box is how much you don`t hear it. Its so good you will swear its not working but you know it sounds better. The first time I used it I pretty much slammed the ratio as hard as I could just to hear some compression. The ratio was something like 20:1. I know its insane but thats my point!