Analogue Console
Emulation Plugins
F
or many yesteryears, the old school analog studios
had large format consoles style mixing, hardware
compressor, equalisers, gates/expanders and reverb
units. There used to be plenty of knobs switches etc. to
tweak and create that magic in the mixing and mastering
of a song. Or I can say crafting the song! Today we are all
living in pure digital age and computer technology fully
dependent on our DAW software. The main reason is the
cost and space. Now most of the plugin manufacturing
companies have tied up with lots of the audio legend
companies like the API, NEVE, SSL, REDD etc.
But these plugins do wonderful and does the emulation
of your favourite console in your DAW. Let’s start now.
Whatever console taste you like, today we can just drag
and drop in our each channel or your Master Buss and get
great sounding result in seconds. Remember, these console
style plugins has the emulation algorithm to create that
old style classic sound in your modern digital tracks which
we are all lacking in today’s modern music technology.
A for API – This is called Automated Process Inc.,
known as API which was invented in the year 1969. They
were the first to introduce the modular system of 500
series units in the year 1970 if I am right! This company
was very famous of the 512c mic pre-giving high class
musically rich sounding tone in your recordings. Later
they manufactured the 550A and 550B EQ’s in their
500 series module system. Then they released the 525
Compressor and limiter with a unique feature called
THRUST which is patented by API for an Insert of HPF
(High pass Filter) before the Detector circuit. Then
they released the 2500 master buss compressor, which
gives a rock-solid sound in your sessions. Waves and
Universal audio has taken the rights to develop this
as the plugin emulation of these hardware boxes and
now we can have this in our favorite DAW sessions.
N for NEVE – This legend England company founded
by Rupert Neve designs, is famous for its classic 1970’s
sound and thousands of hit records have been produced
during this time using the famous 1073 mic pre by Neve.
It has its own top end high-frequency sound at 12Khz
which is fixed in their mic pre with an HPF built in
that. This sounds great on any source for recording.
Later they modified their 1073 into the 1083 with more
wider frequency shelf providing 4 bands of EQ. This is
also modeled by the Grammy award legend “Andrew
Scheps” and named the plugin as SCHEPS 73! Now,
if you want to get that classic NEVE 1073 sound on
your DAW, then this is the solution! These are also
emulated by Slate Digital and Universal Audio.
S for SSL – Another popular and widely used console is
the British's Solid State Logic console, SSL 4000 E Series
in the year 1979. Later they released their G series console.
These consoles provide rock-solid punchy sounds in your
sessions having a fully parametric EQ with a Bell curve
on High and Low to pop your sound in your mix. They also
have the Dynamic module in their Channel strip making
a complete module design which very famous in the early
80’s records. Also, it is very famous for its SSL 4000 Master
buss Compressor on their console in the Master section.
When all the tracks are assigned through this, it produces
a magic in your Song which sounds so fat and punchy
to create great sounding records. Waves and Universal
audio and recently Plugin Alliance has also done the
Emulation of the SSL channel Strip and the Master buss
compressor which is now available to be used in our DAW
to get that Classic SSL tone in your Mix or your Sessions.
Photo Credit: Digi Sound Studio
Author: Baba.L.Prasad. He is the owner and chief Sound/Mix and Mastering Engineer at Digi Sound Studio. He also teaches Sound
Engineering and Music Production courses. For more details, visit www.digisoundacademy.com
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