Stereo hw eqs

Ok. The Avalon 2055 has been mentioned a few times. As I have and like the eq on the 737, just wondering if they are similar at all. And if you don’t tell anyone I will also admit to being ok with the pre on the 737. Its maybe a bit soft or something. And I even came to terms with the comp when I realized its never gonna be an 1176. Instead of trying to run it at its fastest settings, go the other way. No, it isn’t always gonna work but I dont think it’s the piece of junk its made out to be. But I’m also not getting another just to have a stereo pair.

Cheers,
Geoff

We have a live-to-2 assignment for exactly this reason!

Not really similar, though they both do the 'soft' Avalon thing. Don't know any details about the circuit or whatever, but in use, the 2055 is just kinda "it", while the 737 eq always sounded to me like a (very!) nice console eq. There's something so tight and precise-sounding about the 2055, and the way it works clean and transparent but still has such a distinctive sound. It's weird.

The 737 eq doesn't have that; it's like somehow more transparent but less clean. I don't know...we're dancing about architecture in here rn.

You can tell they come from the same manufacturer, but the 737 is a lightweight. The 2055 is fancier, richer, spendier, more flexible if it needs to be. It's the true high end of the Avalon line.

I try. For the most part, they're not interested (or rather, they're not willing to try). The attitude around the essential function of a recording studio is much, much different for your average 20-year-old than it was for us. There's far less reverence for purpose-built recording facilities; so much of the music they care about doesn't require that, and plus, because of the myriad DAW and affordable plugin options, they've got WAAAAAY more experience doing music production at their age than we did. Totally different world. I have students who are 20 who've been using a DAW for almost 10 years. These kids start working in Ableton or Logic before they are teenagers.

In a given class of 8 students, maybe one or two will heed my advice and ultimately 'get it', but the thing is, their work will actually suffer as a result in comparison to that of their peers. I always make the point that this is to be expected: they're trying a new approach and there is indeed a learning curve, but it will serve them in the long run. Check back with me in five years to see if any of them stuck it out 🤣

Tdr gives away slick eq and kotelnikov and… there’s no way in hell most 20 year olds would have any idea how to use them. Or the variety of sound guy gives away crazy stuff for windows users. And this stuff works and is excellent.

Do the kids know how to use a gate?

Try telling to make a record where all you have is a dbx 160, symmetrix, blockfish, maybe a speck eq, live eq, or rnc or drawmer piece if you were lucky (and your daw wouldn’t compensate for it so you needed delays), and what comes in the daw and it cannot just be releasable by today’s popular music standards, it has to be good by any standard including what was mixed in purpose built studios and you have… junk. Yet many older producers and mixers did that by starting with decent recordings recorded in purpose built studios and not being able to bring anything good home or afford even good utilitarian plugins like waves ren maxx or the Sony Oxford six pack 15 years ago. I and many others reamped stuff through junk like simulanalog and what came with the daw and stuff off the internet and they sounded nothing like it once we were done with it but it worked. I remember having to use still well event horizon to limit ice pick peaks because none of the “fancy” digital limiters I could afford were capable of it and the affordable analog ones sounded like well… the junk they were made of. Now people defend that junk, defend prosumer circuitry worse than better 80s cd players, defend behringer, defend their awful analog and digital ersatzes, defend their lazy production practices, defend recordings just based off of commercial appeal (nobody does this just for the money). We are in a bizarro industry where the incompetent and the most conformist still reign supreme like everything that happened to release interesting and novel music from post ww2 to the present is no longer commercially relevant. The labels sign based on social media followings and bigger indies will manufacture new artists to conform to sub genre conventions instead of just letting them do their thing. The sea of ignorant voices has drowned out the knowledgeable ones.

I’ve had to explain to guys in their early 20s online and in real life just how good of musicians some of these guys are and to not piss them off and all you can do as an engineer is fit it into the track and if you make it sound cooler, you’ll often make it worse, degrade it, and they won’t come back and no amount of money can make up for ego and incompetence because they do not do it for the money. They have other gigs to feed themselves. I have had many great millennial musicians I know personally quit the recording and touring music industry after awful experiences in bands, with producers, live sound guys, and studio engineers, and label guys. And almost none of them were in it for the money if they were under 40 or so. Many of them got to experience the dying breath of gear and plugins as tools to make music with and not toys. Now younger people want to play around with toys and the toys are expected to save their awful music and recordings.

Have several here ATM.


GML - My favorite. It does what it should/is expected. Great air and bottom, flexible mids.

Massive Passive - This is a weird box. Definitely take some time looking at the curves (in the software below), because the labels on the front don't mean much. Sometimes a 20db boost is only 6db. Super wide and interactive. Once you understand how it works, you can the reach for the knobs and get them to do what you're hearing in your head.

Curvebender - Very nice, not the most flexible, but great sound.

API 5500 - Surprised me. Built great, excellent matched controls, flexible and sounds great.



PS, Definitely grab one of the EQ analyzers like the Free/donation Bertram, EQ analyzers, or plug in Dr. not only are they very useful to learn the curves of some weirder EQ's (like the MP), but they are fantastic for taking non-stepped eq's and matching the stereo settings... BTW, both the GML and Manley were very closely matched if you just match the numbers on the front.

I really like my API 5500. The top bands can be a bit aggressive for mix bus, but it sounds good on just about anything and is very flexible. Easy to recall, too!

The bottom end on it is really tight, which can be a good or bad thing. Sometimes on the mix it can come off as hard and aggressive.

I finally got around to checking out the High Voltage one. Definitely sounded good in their Youtube clip. But maybe louder than when in bypass. Anyhow the price is right but with such limited frequency options, not sure I would want it as my only stereo eq.

The Api is intriguing, as is the Iron Age.. No votes for the Great River NV?

Cheers,Geoff

I wouldn't want the High Voltage as my only EQ, but on a mix it can be really great. While I usually prefer to make adjustments to individual tracks, but what makes it's a great EQ is when you feel like a mix is done and you toss it on and just what a .5dB boost or cut at a certain frequency does is just the ticket. I use the Louder than Liftoff Silver Bullet plug-in in this way as well...when I feel like I'm done with a mix I'll pop it on the master and just see if one click of air or one of the other bands makes it feel more finished.

I don't have any experience with the Great River but I'm sure it's great, it's just been out awhile and isn't the "new kid on the block" anymore.

They are out of production, but Avalon still services them.  I've got a 2055 that I'm almost certainly going to let go early next year if anyone is interested, but yeah, they are pricey.  And for a reason.  Built like a tank.  Sounds like heaven.