|
 | | | | Feb28Written by:Pete Leoni
Sunday, February 28, 1999 6:00 PM  I can hear it now.
"What do you wanna do tonight honey?"
"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"
"Why don't we design the best compressor in the world for under $1500?"
"OK, dear. That sounds like fun"
Not your ordinary domestic conversation, but the couple who designed and market the RNC (for Really Nice Compressor) aren't your ordinary couple. They are of course, both electronics engineers. Unsatisfied with the way that most compressors sounded, and in need of a high-quality compressor themselves, they simply designed their own unit.
Well, one thing led to another and before long word got around that something special was happening in a little shop in Austin Texas. FMR Audio was born.
Don't like to shop around and compare? Need a compressor? Don't have about two grand or so to spend?
Save yourself some time and don't even bother to look at any thing else. This has got to be the all around best sounding compressor at anywhere near it's price and many hundreds of dollars above. I was simply astounded the first time I heard one, and I was even more astounded that it cost less than $200 directly from FMR (http://www.fmraudio.com), or a small handful of distributors.
If you haven't heard of FMR or the RNC it is probably because the unit up to now has not mass merchandised. If it were, perhaps it would be more well known but advertising expenses would undoubtedly bring the cost up many times. So much the better. Madison Avenue's loss is our great gain!
The unit is a tiny 1/3 rack space module in a gray metal case with a white face and black/blue knobs that somehow seems to project the businesslike image of precision medical equipment. An eight segment LED registers gain reduction and the five smooth feeling knobs control threshold, comp ratio (1:1 TO 25:1) attack in msec from .2 to 200, release time in seconds from .5 to 5.0, and gain from 15 to +15.
Two buttons with on/off LED indicators control bypass and give you the choice between a standard one element stereo compressor, and the famous "Super Nice" mode. On the rear panel you will find 5 jacks: 2 for left I/O, 2 for right I/O, as well as the usual sidechain jack.
One Really Nice Thing is that the RNC can be wired in two ways: using TRS or TS cables. TRS cables allow you to connect the RNC directly to mixer inserts with one cable per channel, a feature that I found to be very useful and tidy, and regular TS cables for standard patchbay connections. The sidechain uses a TRS connection, so you must use an adapter to break it out for standard I/O, or use an insert cable to connect it to a normalled patchbay.
The connectors, while convenient, might upset people looking for balanced inputs and outputs. You will have to use adapters to use this unit in a balanced signal path. For myself, I feel this is an extremely small price to pay for the super high quality and low price of this remarkable piece of equipment, furthermore the use of balanced TRS connectors would have precluded the 'one cable insert" trick that I have found to be so handy.
The "Super Nice" Mode
Everyone who has ever recorded vocals or solo instruments has had to deal with the what I will term "rogue dynamics". It goes some thing like this:
You get the compression ratio set just right. Say a 3 or 4 to one ratio happening at about a -6dB threshold, things are looking good and Bam! Along comes a transient peak or maybe just a plain old rock and roll shout that pegs the meters. Splat! goes the preamp, or even worse your digital recorder goes into the "over" range. The only thing you can do is dial in a higher ratio, or maybe a lower threshold, and it's time for another take.
So far so good. This time, you don't go into the red and things seem to be going OK. You play the take back and you begin to notice that the whole track has just a bit too much of that overly compressed sound, and aren't those breaths getting just a little overbearing? Well, that won't do either, so you gently suggest that the performers go out and get a cup of coffee while you chain up a compressor to smooth out the dynamics, followed by a hard limiter to tame those errant, yet oh-so-tasteful screams.
Finally we've got something that works right? Well, all except for the fact that we have now added the noise from two different devices, and two different power supplies to our vocal channel and either somebody left the water running in the bathroom or you've got hiss, baby! Maybe it's not that much, but the vocal or solo instrument is definitely not the place to be adding those extra stages of gain - and noise. (You always reserve those extra stages of gain and noise for those Marshall stacks turned up to "12" right ?).
The solution to all of this is the RNC "Super Nice" Mode. The Super Nice mode actually chains three compressors in a row each gently and incrementally reduces the gain in such a way that it is musically transparent. You really have to use some radical settings to get this thing to sound anything but sweet. It completely solves all of the above mentioned compression woes - and all without adding extraneous noise.
Without the "Super Nice" mode, the RNC would just be a great stereo compressor. WITH the "Super Nice" mode, however, it achieves superstar status as one of the best vocal compressors money can buy. It must be heard to be believed.
Did I mention this is a quiet unit? The signal path of the RNC is completely analog, but the controls themselves are digital. Somehow all of this adds up to an extremely quiet and smooth sounding device, even with the three compressors chained together in the Super Nice mode.
For you guitar players out there who like the sound of compression attack, all you have to do is use the regular (non Supernice) compression mode, and let me tell you this little box is capable of putting some real snappy twang in a Stratocaster, only without all of the inherent noise the usual guitar stompbox or effects unit. It is quite at home on all kinds of tracks from guitars to bass ("Super Nice" is great on bass) to drums.
There isn't much more to say about this little box, except that it very well may be the last compressor you will ever need to buy. You simply can't go wrong. You will have to get in line to buy it though, cause with this kind of quality and performance, at this price, there is about a two week waiting list
PS: Did you hear these guys are working on an equalizer? The DNE for Damn Nice EQ? And a preamp - the KAP - Kick-Ass Preamp? Maybe. Let's keep hoping…
Tags: | | | | | | | |
|
|
| | | |
| | | | | | | |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
|