There are plenty of software emulations of some of the most widely-used hardware compressors, like the 1176, LA-2A and dbx 160. It seems like a new version of one of these comes out every week. What we don’t see many of are emulations of the Fairchild 660/670, mostly because the hardware is so rare, and even if you find one to model, it might not be in great shape. John McBride, owner of Nashville’s famous Blackbird Studios and producer/engineer for country star Martina McBride, has a large collection of the some of the best sounding models to go along with an ear for what a good one actually sounds like. That’s why the new BB F66/67 from KIT Plugins might be the closest plugin to the real version that you’ll find.
The BB F66/67 is actually two plugins. The mono F66, which models the Fairchild 660 mono compressor made famous on various Beatle recordings, and the the F67 which models the stereo 670. Originally designed and built in the 50s, the original 670 was a 20 tube, 14 transformer, 67 pound behemoth specifically design for disc cutting.
Like the original models, it features an Input Gain control, Threshold control, and the unique Time Constant selector with the same six positions that select the six different attack and release settings. Like the original, the first four positions select dedicated attack and release settings while positions 5 and 6 are program dependent, with position 5 being the faster of the two.
On the bottom panel there’s also a Sidechain input that goes from Off to 500Hz, a Mix control and a Make Up Gain control. The F67 stereo version also has three modes: Stereo, Linked and Mid/Side. Add the VU meter emulation which can be set to input, output and gain reduction, and you’ve got the entire package.
The BB F66/67 also has an A/B comparison function and more than 80 presets curated by some of the best engineers in the business.
Keep in mind that the BB F66/67 doesn’t exactly replicate all of the controls of the original hardware unit, leaving off the AGC and separate Sidechain level controls for each channel as on the 670. What you basically have is stereo version of the 660, which in real life works just fine because the controls that are included are the ones that most engineers want and keeps the plugin simple and streamlined to use.
It’s now available for an introductory price of just $69 (normally $99) and a 14 day free trial is available. Yes, it will work on a Mac or PC, and with any plugin format.
You can find out more here.
