URS Everyhting EQ Bundle Version 5 Issue 48

REVIEW URS EVERYTHING EQ BUNDLE VERSION 5 A plug-in bundle of classic EQs that sounds great and interfaces with the user via a desirable array of knobs and sliders is an attractive proposition. Text: Calum Orr I don’t know if it’s just me but when I’m equalising things The Fulltec offers full- blown Pultec emulation. ‘inside the box’ I get pretty sick and tired of the ‘coloured balls and drawable line’ approach offered by most plug-in EQ designers. It does, of course, allow for a great degree of control over the most necessary EQ options (namely: frequency, ‘Q’ and cut/boost) but more often than not I’ve recently found myself turning to the URS Everything EQ Bundle plug-ins for their old-school, no-frills, ‘analogue- styled’ EQ. The URS ‘analogue controls’ and sound have been carefully The A-Series sporting the programmed to emulate the highly-acclaimed analogue familiar API knobbage. circuits of Pultec, Neve, API and SSL. For copyright reasons (presumably) they’re renamed Fulltec, N-, A- and S- series but visually they’re hard to mistake, with the GUI of each plug-in easily identifiable with its harware counterpart. URS head honcho Bobby Nathan has spent quite a lot of time getting the modelling just right and consequently The N-Series offers some the tone of these plug-ins is very, very authentic. Bobby Neve-like EQ action. apparently wanted to design some plug-ins to complement the amazing analogue equipment that fits out his world- famous Unique Recording Studios in Times Square, New York. (Just to give you a heads up on Bobby’s heritage, the studio has seen the likes of The Beastie Boys, Chaka Khan, The S-Series offers EQ Aerosmith, The Velvet Underground just to name a few.) reminiscent of SSL’s G Series. Anyway, back to the plug-ins. The Fulltec is a Pultec emulation that’s just about as harmonically enriching as the original hardware device. It certainly has that three- dimensional enhancement factor that feels like you’re putting a fur coat over what was once a cold, feeble, skeleton of a sound. Might I just say that it’s helped save quite a few badly recorded instruments at the mix stage during the time I’ve had it. I own both the UAD Pultec Pro and the Bomb Factory Pultec and have used both countless times The unit has input and output trim (generally only an and this tops the heap, I reckon. The top-end is really sweet ouput trim is provided by other plug-in manufacturers) while the bottom end packs that ‘oomph’ that can really which really assists in the setup of optimum levels, as does make your tracks feel solid. URS also provides the BLT, the easy-to-read metering that sits atop the main controls. which isn’t a plug-in that emulates the sound of a person Rounding out the EQ are low- and high-frequency shelves devouring a sandwich, but rather an economical, stripped with cut and boost controls, a phase switch and an in/out back emulation of a Pultec, with just basic treble and bass bypass switch. controls. It too is suprisingly good and doesn’t use as many precious CPU cycles as its big brother, the Fulltec. CHARACTER PART So, how does it sound? Well it has all the grunt and The A- and N-series EQs comprise two separate plug-ins forward delivery that is synonymous with API equipment. each: both the A- and N-series have a parametric console- It sounded particularly good on guitars but it can really help style EQ and graphic EQ. The API parametric is a direct a dull and lifeless recording come to life, such as woolly- software replica of the 550B four-band EQ with dual- sounding backing vocals or a listless kick drum. Generally concentric controls for the parametric section, providing speaking, the A-series parametric is a class act with plenty of cut/boost controls of up to ±12dB via the inner knob and character and a variety of uses. a frequency selector on the outer. The two parametric EQ selectors cover 75Hz to 1kHz on the low-mid control and The A-series graphic EQ follows in the same vein. It has 800Hz to 12.5kHz on the mid-high control. There are input and output attenuation pots and metering. There five steps in the EQ range between the aforementioned are 10 bands to cut or boost ranging from 31Hz to 16kHz. frequencies making seven selectable frequencies in all. Both I used the A-series graphic on bass guitars and synths the mid-range sections have a narrow or wide ‘Q’ switch. extensively but I even used it across the mix bus with great AT 110 results – even on extreme settings. I particularly liked the 250Hz cut for pulling some ‘mud’ out of the mix and the 16kHz boost for added ‘air’. The N-series parametric has the same kind of dual- concentric controls as its hardware counterpart, the Neve 1081. The N-series parametric is fantastic on anything that requires a solid foundation. ‘Boof’ on kick drums, ‘thwack’ on snares, ‘I mean it’ in a vocal, some drive in a guitar sound; literally any sound can do with a bit of the N-series parametric. It’s incredibly versatile even though it’s a set-frequency device. On sounds that need some surgery I usually set the tone with the N-series parametric (placed first in the chain) and then use something like the URS S-series EQ or UAD Cambridge for notch removal of sibilance or to passify the dreaded 4k signature of harsh digital jitters. NEED TO KNOW The N-series graphic EQ is similar to the A-series graphic Price except that it has 12 bands controlling frequencies between TDM: US$2299; 30Hz and 12kHz. The N-series graphic has a mellower, Native: US$1149 more rounded tone than the A-series graphic and, of course, Contact doesn’t have that 16kHz ‘air’ band of the A-series. When www.ursplugins.com you need to use a graphic EQ, my advice would be to use Pros Classy emulations of some very your ears and choose what suits the program material. Both sought after hardware of these graphics do a good job, albeit with different tonal Great graphical representation. characteristics. Relatively cheap for a bundle of this magnitude. The S-series EQ is a four-band device with low- and Cons high-pass filters. The low and high frequency sections cover The controls on the A- and N-series parametric take some 30Hz to 450Hz and 1.5kHz to 18kHz respectively. There’s a getting used to. button labelled ‘BEL’ on the LF and HF sections to enable a Some may miss the ‘balls and bell setting as opposed to the default shelf. The low-mid and line’ approach (poor sods). high-mid sections both cover the 200Hz to 7.5kHz and have Summary A highly desirably bundle of a variable ‘Q’ control of between 3.0 and 0.25. Obviously ‘classic’ plug-in EQs. there’s a large degree of frequency overlap, which allows a great degree of control and shaping. A very handy polarity switch is also provided. The S-series is smooth and has a sheen to it that’s reminiscent of the G-series SSL EQ. Added to the Mix EQ bundle in version 5 are the A-mix and N-mix EQs (S-mix EQ was part of v4). All have seven bands: variable high and low shelves as well as fully- parametric low, low-mid, mid, high-mid and high bands. These five bands have ‘Q’ control and a great degree of overlap for creative or corrective equalisation. The units all have the same control layouts but are easily distinguishable from each other via different background and knob colour and different tonal characteristics. URS has made the controls in these EQs correlate directly with the Digidesign Icon console master section. They have also instigated a new mouse wheel control system that operates by hovering over any of the knobs and using the scroll wheel to control parameters – nifty! SMOOTH These plug-ins are smooth, accurate and easy to use especially given the control over input and output gain and metering. These plugs sound damn fine on the output bus. I obtained the best results when the mixes only required subtle EQ, although having said that, some mixes brought to me were positively ‘saved’ from the re-mix list by the careful use of these equalisers. The URS Everything EQ Bundle is laden with quality. You’d be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive EQ bundle on the market that sports high quality emulations of some of the most sought after hardware EQs. And the bundle also represents good value – you could easily buy a handful of lesser individual plugs and pay quite a bit more. AT 111.

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