- ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SERIAL NUMBER
- ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SOFTWARE
- ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SERIES
Naturally, no RS124 unit sounded exactly the same.
ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SERIAL NUMBER
It is believed only 25 units were ever created, and each serial number was hand-built by Abbey Road/EMI technical legends Bill Livy, Len Page and Mike Bachelor. The RS124 was actually an extensive in-house modification of the American Altec 436B compressor. Today, Grammy®-winning pop/R&B and hip hop engineer Tony Maserati consistently applies RS124 tones to his vocal tracks, including those of Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, to supplement their stunning voice qualities. The RS124 sound is especially famous for the thick, creamy bass tones it produced on Beatles classics such as “Rain” and “Come Together.” Abbey Road engineers would typically push the input of the RS124 deep into 15-20 dB of gain reduction, producing wonderfully lush results on numerous sources. RS124 was also a popular choice for mastering in Abbey Road’s cutting rooms. The custom-built RS124 compressors were the secret weapon of Abbey Road engineers during the ‘60s – favored by Geoff Emerick for punchy bass sounds by Ken Scott for lush guitar treatment by Norman Smith for lightly gluing the entire rhythm bus.
ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SOFTWARE
With two distinct flavors to choose from, this classic tube model is the only software emulation of the ultra-rare RS124s, approved by Abbey Road Studios.įew pieces of gear define music history as the RS124 does. Give your music the sound of silky-smooth Abbey Road RS124 compression – the legendary velvety tones heard on every Beatles recording made at Abbey Road. They don’t work on absolutely everything, but when applied with intent, they can add a distinct character and vibe that will set productions apart from the norm.Video of Introducing the Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Plugin In summary, I have found these tools as a great way to pay sonic tribute to the studio responsible for capturing some of my personal-favorite recording artists. I also really enjoy incorporating the J37 into a multi-buss approach, and am quite looking forward to demoing the brand new plate reverb. Automated Double Tracking was used heavily on Beatles Records, especially John’s voice, and I have to admit that this is one plugin that does what no others can. Waves Abbey Road Collectionĭefinitely the most comprehensive collection of Abbey Road-Inspired plugins, I admire waves for not settling on EQs and Compressors, and rather faithfully reproducing some of the stranger tools that the engineers at Abbey Road used, or even invented, including Reel ADT.
ABBEY ROAD PLUGINS COMPRESSOR SERIES
There were a series of compressors, which work extremely well at adding warmth or dramatic “pumpiness” to drums, and a mastering pack, which not only sounds extremely vibey, but also does a great job of emulating the look and functionality of the original hardware.ĪDVERTISEMENT 5. It’s hard to find existing information on this series of plugins that has since been discontinued, but I still find them to be very usable. I like using these for drum augmentation, using the kick, snare and rooms to add a spacious, sometimes explosive quality to my drums. Starting with the release of the 60s and 70s drums, Native Instruments has since sampled and released drum VSTs for virtually every era in recorded music production, allowing engineers to capture the drum sound that has found its way onto countless records from the 1950 to today. This refill includes the best mellotron samples I’ve come across. I have been using it for years, and even used it to replace an “overly MIDI-sounding piano” and for adding tubular bells on a recent mix.įor productions that need a vintage piano or keyboard sound, I look no further. Many do not know of this sample pack, but I find myself going to it time and time again. They can help on virtually any element in the proper context, but I really love them on acoustic guitar and bringing presence to vocals. The GUI is wonderfully retro, and I find that it adds what I like to call “pleasant harshness” to tracks, meaning it helps elements cut through emphatically, without becoming fatiguing. These are very simple and specialized tools that help bring clarity to higher frequencies.
Here’s a run down of the numerous plugins that are inspired by Abbey Road, including some of my lesser-known favorites. The studio has evolved with the times, and now in addition to serving as a world-class recording and production facility, it has collaborated with numerous software companies to develop products that allow today’s producers/engineers to emulate the unmistakable sound and vibe of this legendary studio. Abbey Road, “The most famous recording studio in the world” is celebrating its 85 th birthday this year.