Review by George Shilling
“Things can only get better” sang D:Ream in the 90s. A laudable sentiment, and a testament to the power of positive thinking. World politics aside, in the realms of music technology, there have been some remarkable advances since I first walked through a recording studio door in the mid 1980s. However, when it comes to plugin development, there is an enduring appeal of nostalgia which has catapulted many developers into the mainstream. Think of all the emulations of Ureis, Fairchilds, Neves and EMI processors and consoles. We love them! There are also of course some unusual and creative uses of technology that don’t look back to vintage gear. But in terms of overall sonic advancement, it’s not uncommon to hear mutterings that instead of things only getting better, recordings from the 50s and 60s can often sound superior to what can be achieved with any of the latest gear and tech.
So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star
In pursuit of that mythical past, KIT Plugins have partnered with Norman Petty Studios. Norman Petty (1927-1984) is considered as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. After his own successful recording career he built a studio and produced landmark records including artists like Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and The Champs (featuring Glen Campbell). He even came over from the States to the UK and Belgium and produced artists like Brian Poole and The Tremeloes. But he is most known for his work with Buddy Holly, becoming his manager after “That’ll Be The Day” broke big. Today, his studio is preserved as a working museum, claiming to be the most authentic vintage recording studio in the world, unchanged since 1969. The NP A67 is the first in what is planned to be a series of plugins and virtual instruments inspired by the heritage of this remarkable studio from the renowned KIT Plugins.
The Altec 1567A Tube Mixer Preamp was designed as a radio station preamp, but Petty repurposed three examples in his late 1950s console for L/C/R stereo paths. These were heavily modified with discrete solid state circuitry. This plugin recreation features authentic tube saturation and drive, vintage style treble and bass EQ (plus a modern mid-band), Pultec-style High and Low Pass filters, and optional authentic ‘hum’.
I Need To Know
Opening the plugin for the first time opens an enormous window. Which turns out to be the Middle setting of three possible preset sizes! However, it is easily resized by dragging the bottom right corner. You can even opt to make all instances default to a chosen setting in the Options window. There’s a conventional proprietary presets system at the top with A/B settings, Undo/Redo etc., although my beta version had no presets provided yet.
Any Way You Want It
In an ostensibly neutral and flat configuration, there is some dulling of the high frequencies, a slight midrange emphasis and a little bit of bass roll off. Turning the (fixed frequency) Treble up to about 4 (on a scale of +/-10 but not labelled as dB) subjectively restores some of the top end. The Bass knob seems to influence frequencies from around 300Hz so it’s more what I’d think of as a low-mid boost/cut. The Mid control is labelled with +/-12dB and sweeps from 200Hz to 2.5kHz, with quite a focussed bell-curve. Driving the input adds wonderfully ‘biscuity’ crunch. It’s never nasty, just a bit grainy. It’s wonderful on drums, bringing up room ambience and just smoothing off the transients a bit. The Mix control comes in handy here.
You Wreck Me
A touch of drive on vocals sounds fab, helping cut through a busy mix, or adding a bit of vibe to a soulful performance. The EQ is eminently usable, nicely shaping things. Perhaps because there is no completely neutral ‘flat’ setting, you feel uninhibited when sweeping around with the knobs to find what works. There’s not a huge amount of treble excitement available, but there are plenty of other ways to achieve that. The NP A67 is more about warming things up and adding mid-range interest.
Hum has three level settings – and Off. I’m not usually a fan of plugin-generated noise, but this feels like authentic gentle hiss, and actually there is no hum, so I rather like it!
All Mixed Up
As a mix buss or mastering tool this also has plenty of mileage, bringing about some extra juice and excitement if that’s what the track needs. The gentle tone shaping with the EQ can be a real boon. The Mix knob is your friend here.
I Feel A Whole Lot Better
I absolutely love this plugin. There are plenty of tube emulations and harmonic tools with way more flexibility and myriad processing options, but there’s something loveable about the KIT NP A67; it just tends to sound great and has the magic! Some ‘drive’ plugins are too subtle or too dramatic; this seems to have a range of adjustment that is ‘just right’! I don’t know how sonically authentic this is compared to the Altecs in Norman Petty’s studio, but I don’t really care too much – getting a great sound is easy. The developers have done a remarkable job in designing the interface and making it do nice things. So perhaps more pertinent than the D:Ream lyric is Ian Dury’s song: “There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards”!
