OverTone FC-70 Review - Fairchild 670, Really?

[lacandon]

Great review i really enjoyed it ! keep up the great work !

[Aiynzahev]

I'll have to test the DYN500 more. So far I'm not really sure one way or the other. The pultec style Eq though is just perfect and the price is really great.

He needs to make more compressors of this quality and at this price.

[jens]

We have a proud heritage in professional audio, with DSP developed by a former Solid State Logic (SSL) design engineer of over 20 years experience, and product testing and feedback from professional recording engineers.

Interesting....

[Aiynzahev]

Another one for you guys. Vocal

http://soundcloud.com/aiyn-zahev/vocal- ... ne/s-FHxGJ

Stupid amounts of compression, 20db+

First dry, then IK then Overtone. I have to say Overtone is so much nicer here, it neatly smooths out and covers up the flaws in this recording whereas IK actually accentuates them.

I encourage you to download the 320kb MP3 and have a quick listen, for me the test can be quite simple, which one is more listenable? Which one disrupts listening more with artifacts?

The lovely reverb is Phoenix. The vocal is from BT and Jes something or other.

[Brother Charles]

Great review i really enjoyed it ! keep up the great work !

Thanks a million. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I have to say Overtone is so much nicer here, it neatly smooths out and covers up the flaws in this recording whereas IK actually accentuates them.

I disagree here. What I'm hearing is a shrill, bright (in a bad way) vocal. The IK adds some weight at the bottom and softens the highs in a nice way. The Overtone seems to accentuate the brightness.

Note: I'm focussing on overall tone vs. compression behavior, but I rate the IK version higher in this example.

[scalawag]

There is no such thing as 2 equally sounding Fairchild.
I'm sure they didn't model the same unit....

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

There is no such thing as 2 equally sounding Fairchild.
I'm sure they didn't model the same unit....

While you hear people say that all the time, whenever I've gone into the studio and seen a Blackface 1176, it's sounded like a Blackface 1176. Same for LA-2A's. Sure, there might be some slight differences if I was A/B'ing between the units if I was A/B'ing them right next to each other like we are here, but they all otherwise work and sound roughly the same.

Frankly, I think the whole "no two units ever sound the same" thing is a little overblown. Not just with effects either, it happens with softsynths too. The only Minimoogs I've ever played all sounded like Minimoogs.

Now, I believe that all goes out the window when dealing with things like vintage microphones, guitar pickups (example: no uniform number of winds, or pattern), physical instruments (example: pianos, electronic pianos), etc., where there's a lot of other significant factors at play.

My point: these two sound way different in terms of frequency, and don't even appear to compress the same way. In the drum example, the Overtone version kills the IK one on the transients and compression characteristics. On the vocal example, and the ones in Brother Charles' video, I found the Overtone version to be a lot brighter, which I didn't like at all in some examples.

[bmanic]

With tube equipment, especially something as complex as the Fairchild, two different units will most definitely sound and behave quite differently depending on the condition. Not to mention how many things there are to calibrate in them! The IK version includes the bias screws whereas the FC70 is set to "factory defaults".. or so they claim. Perhaps they tweaked it to their own preferences around the factory default suggestion?

It is probably possible to calibrate two units to be very closely matched but that would take some serious dedication.

As for other units, one 1176 Revision E does indeed usually sound like another Revision E (I've worked in studios where there are several) but it does NOT sound like the 1176 Revision H (aka the silver face) due to the missing transformer. Sometimes these things aren't even properly labelled.. so you might think you have a Revision E but might not know it for sure until you open it up (in case the engineers forgot the marking on the end plate or some previous user has replaced it).

So yeah, it depends on the equipment type and complexity. The simpler it is, the more likely it is that there are no real differences but as soon as you add age and usage to the equation it really does matter.

The various tolerances of components. No electronic components are ever "the same" unless you take a HUGE batch of them and start measuring each and every one of them and make sure you narrow down .ones that match.. and you need to do this for all of them. Caps, resistors, tubes, transformers (many of the old ones which are wound by hand, so there you have your guitar pickup analogy). It's a very known fact that complex analogue equipment can not be built exactly to spec every time. Then you have the fact that each component ages differently, even if you started out with virtually identical tolerances and specs.

This is very evident in analogue synthesizers too.

Cheers!
bManic

[Aiynzahev]

bmanic do you think you'd use this in a mastering context? If so when and why?

[scalawag]

bmanic do you think you'd use this in a mastering context? If so when and why?

I've seen a lot of mastering houses using the real thing (or at least clones).
We use IK 670 on some situations and it delivers!

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[bmanic]

bmanic do you think you'd use this in a mastering context? If so when and why?

I might, if the track called for it. But in these cases I'd use it only very lightly and probably wouldn't hit it hard at all (average levels at less than -20dBFS). I'd have the gain reduction meters basically not moving at all.

I'd use anything for mastering if I think it fits the track.. I have no automatic go-to compressors (hardware included) when it comes to mastering. Each and every project needs to be carefully evaluated for what works and what doesn't.

If something was very spikey and nasty and needed some transient taming/rounding then I'd definitely consider the FC70 as a very good option. I've yet to try it out at higher sampling rates though (I work at 96kHz due to the outboard chain having some digital equipment that I feel works best at 96).

Cheers!
bManic

[bmanic]

Hmm not for me IMO.. as in not for mastering.. busses and tracks, YEP, absolutely. I guess i like control with mastering.

Yeah, pretty much the control issue for me too. I'd probably recognize situations where the FC70 would be a perfect fit, once I get a bit more familiar with the plugin, but it's definitely more of a "one trick pony" in a mastering context. It has a very distinct sound/behavior that probably only fits a minority of projects.

Lately I've been using very little compressors in mastering and when I do I either use some of my own compressors or the sintefex which is extremely flexible.. and then it's mostly for groove enhancement (which the Fairchild doesn't seem to do). There's no point really in taming peaks any more as most clients want stuff extremely loud so it gets squashed to death at least once, most of the time twice (first by clipping the DA converter and then with a limiter).
The most common chain mainly comprises of flavor stuff like Nebula EQ/tube model thing and basic equalization. Sometimes very troublesome projects need to be manhandled and bruteforced. In these projects I end up with a huge plugin chain with complex plugins and some sweetening hardware (when available). The most rescuing relying heavily on tools like Melda Productions Dynamic EQ or Dynamic Spectrum Mapper.. or Voxengo Soniformer.

The more experience I've gathered the less processors I apply.

Cheers!
bManic

[mandolarian]

The more experience I've gathered the less processors I apply.

Cheers!
bManic

Careful. You could get banned with that sort of statement. There's a whole ecosystem of developers that we're here to support. We are required to purchase early, often and upgrade frequently. Don't be bringing that less-is-more philosophy into our insecure consumer spending reinforcement group. What's next? Mixing with ears instead of eyes?!!