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Analogue Tube AT-101. The Fairchild 670 Recreation.
| June 17th, 2010 | 23 Comments | « Previous | Episode 19 | Next » |
I do not mean to make you jealous but I just spent a week playing with the Analogue Tube AT-101 compressor, trying to answer the question: Could one ever justify spending $19,000 on a stereo compressor. The AT-101 is designed as a faithful recreation of the Fairchild 670 variable bias compressor, made famous on classic recordings by the Who and the Beatles and many others. Sorry gang, my review is typically long winded. Big thanks to producer, Bruno Fornazza, from Brazil for helping with some of the testing.
Other compressors I mention in this episode are the Manley Variable-Mu (Vari-Mu), The Signal Audio Workshop Gain Rider and the A Designs Nail.
Audio Samples without the compressor ++++ Audio Samples with AT-101
The audio samples contain clips of: Jibilian/Setar + Tay zonday + Terry Bozzio + Kathleen Blackwell
Download the M4v version for your ipod or ipad
June 17th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Yet another great episode – well done!
June 17th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hey Ronan! Your new hair-style looks amazing: “Beautiful & Gorgeous!” Wink. Oh yeah, that’s not what I was here for… rather, “WOW… Great Show! Fantabulous!” Kathleen
June 17th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Awesome show!! I always look forward to them!
How do you feel about the UAD Fairchild emulation? I’m considering getting it, I’d love to get some of that low-mid saturation on my tracks – just don’t have 17k to drop at the moment…
June 17th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
hey Ronan! great video !!! that trully is a amazing piece of gear!! it was really fun to test it!! best wishes to you my friend! cheers!
June 17th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Hey Dan, I really want to try the UAD fairchild emulation one of these days (also really curious about the new Manley Massive Passive emulation they do), but I do not have a UAD card so I will have to find some other way to check them out.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Great video! There’s a world of difference between the bypassed audio samples and the one that went thru this compressor. I was able to discern all the individual instruments and all the low level sounds were brought to life! There was also an “airiness” that wasn’t present in the bypassed samples. If only the rest of us mere mortals could afford it…
June 18th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Wow, what a fantastic review! Thanks Ronan!
Robert McCormick/Analoguetube AT-101
June 19th, 2010 at 4:41 am
Well that’s an amazing difference between processed and unprocessed tracks. .Warm tight low mids and lows and a very pleasing slight revision of the relative levels. I’ll take 4 of these please!
Got to do some catching up on episodes missed. Great stuff Ronan
June 19th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Great feature here. I haven’t used a 670 either, but I have enjoyed the TRacks emulation (based on its own merits of course.)
I liked what the AT-101 did here until the last track. It gets too grabby on the kick and makes things sound very compressed. I don’t use the TRacks clone on the master buss, and while that’s not a direct comparison to a (nicer-sounding and more expensive) hardware version, it does have that spongy quality to it. Bass, vocals, and drums however – like in the preceding examples – show a distinct flavor which I enjoyed a lot.
Thanks for another great show Ronan.
June 20th, 2010 at 8:54 am
WOW, thats expensive. Still, as “beautiful” as it must have been, You can buy 10 channels of other “beautiful” compressors for the same$
June 20th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
hi – thx for mentioning the gainrider. .
June 21st, 2010 at 4:23 am
Another great show Ronan WTG. I think you figured out what warm means
Table for four Cartwright… darn I hate when that happens.
June 24th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Nice review of a great product!!
June 29th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Variable-Mu doesn’t mean variable compression ratio! It’s the technical name of a circuit topology for a variable gain amplifier which has existed for more than 50 years.
June 29th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Dave, Thanks for clarifying.
June 30th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Interesting! I wonder what’s goin’ on having the AT 101 and the Studer C37 working together … mmmm …
June 30th, 2010 at 4:45 am
Why would you buy this when you can build you own for a fraction of the cost?…even getting a tech to build one for you would come under a third the cost of this.
July 1st, 2010 at 7:37 am
I own two UAD cards in my studio, and I have the UAD 670 emulation plugin. If you would somebody to do a video review of it, I would be happy to do it. Also, if you had any specific features that you would like me to test to compare against the AT-101, I would be interested in that as well.
Also, great episode. I know that Alan Sides has a real 670, and the AT-101 looks like home run!!
July 31st, 2010 at 5:29 am
drewll….
i’m loving the coloring on the low end, but the cutting on the hi end… i’m not so sure if that can be brought back with some simple eq-ing
but still, i’m searching for napkin’s here,
awesome unit. great review
August 21st, 2010 at 11:45 am
Ronan– wondering if you have worked with the Pendulum ES8. Specifically I would be curious how it compares to the AT 101
August 21st, 2010 at 11:53 am
I have not used any of the Pendulum stuff yet, but I would love to try it!!! I have heard really good things.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:21 pm
The Pendulum ES8 is a variable mu type of compressor/limiter that has preset attach/release including multistage release. It is my understanding that it was inspired by the Fairchild!! I would certainly encourage you to get your hands on one and put it through the paces. The variable mu certainly does something unique. I have no point of comparison as I have never heard a Fairchild, Manley Vari Mu, AT 101.
August 30th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Doh! Poor Ronan, there’s a now a void in his like and his control room.