T-Racks 3 Singles Product Spotlight: Vintage Compressor Model 670
By Mark Hornsby
The Vintage Compressor Model 670 is a processor based upon the Fairchild Model 670 Compressor Limiter.
About the Fairchild 670 Tube Compressor Limiter:
The Fairchild 670 is often referred to as the "holy grail" of outboard devices for its rarity, value and usefulness in a wide variety of studio applications. Not to mention that the hand wired stereo unit is an total monster: 20 vacuum tubes, 14 transformers and a 65-pound chassis.
The origins of the 670 can be traced back to a man named Rein Narma. In the post-war years, he was a soviet refugee worked for the U.S. Army as a broadcast/recording tech during the Nuremberg trials before later immigrating New York and taking a job at Gotham Recording. Eventually, Narma and several others came together and formed Gotham Audio Developments. Les Paul (the father of multitrack recording) first hired him to modify his first 8-track machine. Later on, he asked Narma to build a limiter. Sherman Fairchild soon got word of this, licensed the design and hired on Narma as the company's chief engineer.
The Fairchild limiter was available in two versions: the monophonic single channel unit, the Model 660, and the unique stereo version, the Model 670, which was able to process the stereo field in both L-R and M-S modes. This would help control horizontal and vertical oscillations in vinyl cutting applications. The design used a single push-pull stage of amplification using precious 6383 "control triode" vacuum tubes, in a variable-mu design. This helped extend the dynamic range quite a bit even by today's standards. These 6386 tubes were running at extremely high plate voltages, close to their absolute limits. The result was a unit that didn't produce any audible or observable artifacts and had an extremely low distortion and noise floor. IK Multimedia's unique analog-modeling experience and exclusive DSM™ (Dynamic Saturation Modeling) technology pushed this model to the limit, so IK developed a new proprietary method dubbed SCC™ (Sonic Character Cloning). It took a very long time, but was well worth the effort. This is one of the few 670 digital recreations that treats music like the original.
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In this example, you will hear the beginning of a rock song without without any processing. Download the file and listen in your own studio. |
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In this example, you will hear the same section using the T-Racks Vintage Compressor 670 "1dB 670 Magic" preset. Download the file and listen in your own studio. |
Notice high the soundstage became slightly tighter but without other distracting artifacts? The song is now punchier without sounding smashed or over compressed. It has also added a subtle "shining" effect on the midrange and has made certain elements of the mix sound more 3D. These characteristics are part of what make the original units so desirable.
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In this example, you'll hear the same section processed with the "Smooth!!" preset. Download the file and listen in your own studio. |
Now the left and right guitars and vocals are punchier and a bit brighter in the top end but with out sounding thin or shrill.
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In this example, listen to the same section processed with the "Warm 670" preset. Download the file and listen in your own studio. |
Hear how the bottom end has become a lot more forward in the mix? With a simple adjustment to the time constant, it has changed what elements of the song are being manipulated. Since you can't actually change the attack time on the 670, the time constant control switches between 6 different shapes and length of the compressor's release time, with 1, 2, 3 and 4 going from faster to slower with fixed time and 5, 6 being program dependent. Hence, the "Warm 670" preset sounds bigger and warmer because of the increased input control. This makes the unit apply slightly more tube sounding distortion because of the increased input level.
The Vintage Compressor Model 670 has the desirable punch and all the same flexibilities of the original unit that made it so great. Whether you're wanting certain aspects of the top end to be pulled back or the entire bottom end to be pushed forward, the Model 670 delivers, all the while recreating the analog punch we so often desire. Next month we'll be looking at the Intelligent Brickwall limiter and what it can do for a mix. Until then...
Mark Hornsby is a Producer/Engineer in Nashville, TN. In addition to working with recording artists around the world, he is a certified Pro Tools Expert by Digidesign, contributing writer for Recording Magazine and guest lecturer at numerous universities across the United States.
For more information, check out: www.markhornsby.com
Song "This Time" by Leticia Wolf copyright 2009 EchoXS Entertainment, LLC. used by permission.
Check out www.leticiawolf.com for more information.
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