UnFairchild 670M User Manual v.1.0
Contents
1. mix or a final stereo mix If you are compressing a drum mix that has a lot of kick drum heavy compression can cause the level of the kick drum to get reduced significantly in that blend However by equalizing the side chain signal you can then heavily compress the drum mix while preserving the balance of the kick drum in the blend When using the UnFairchild on vocals you can boost higher frequencies on the side chain sig nal and make the compressor more sensitive to the higher frequencies This creates a de esser like result There are many different applications of manipulating the side chain signal Experiment It is an extraordinarily powerful feature that has never been available on a Fairchild compressor before SPLITTING THE SOURCE Feed Back vs Feed Forward In this configuration you would mult or split the source signal and send it to both the IN PUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT inputs as well as the RETURN LEFT RETURN RIGHT inputs Then engage the side chain by switching the SIDE CHAIN INSERT toggle switches to the UP or IN position This configuration gives you some interesting options The first significant difference is that it changes the UnFairchild from a Feed Back type compressor to Feed Forward type compressor Feed Forward type compression is more common in modern compressor de signs and it will grab harder than Feed Back type compression 10 You can then equalize the mult d or split signal same as you2. tiple peaks 3 s for individual peaks 10 s for mul tiple peaks and 25 s for consistently high program level 8 EXAMPLE SETTINGS Here are some example Time Constant presets which producer Eric Valentine finds useful in different musical applications Compression settings in general can be very subjective but these examples are a good place to start while you get familiar with your UnFairchild You must experiment and find settings that work for you DRUMS There are a lot of cool applications for the UnFairchild with drums The UnFairchild 670M is literally the tube compressor had been looking for for 20 years had never found a tube compressor that had the right combination of the smoothness inherent in tube circuitry and the flexibility and aggressiveness need for making modern records The 670M has become one of my very favorite go to compressors for drums It works great on individual mics as well as the entire drum mix have found that the slower at tack times 7 11 are great for individual drum mics These settings can accentuate the tran sient attack of the drum hit bring out more detail in the performance and manufacture a more modern hard hitting quality Particularly settings 9 and 11 which have slower attack times with faster releases will make close mics sound more aggressive and thicker because of the fast release 17 BASS If you are looking for a more vintage Fairchild type sound settings 1
3. a clicking sound coming out of the speakers headphones 6 Adjust the Channel A BAL trim pot 73 on the lower front panel see page 5 to achieve the quietest possible clicking sound The clicking sound will never entirely disappear If you are hearing a significant difference between the loudest setting and the quietest setting then things are working properly However if there is not a significant difference or the quietest setting is only achieved at either end of the BAL trim pot adjustment a poorly matched set of 6BC8 tubes may be installed in that channel If this is the case the tubes are not properly matched or one of the tubes may need to be replaced We strongly recommend getting prop erly matched 6BC8 tubes from UTA for more information on acquiring matched 6BC8 tubes see the Maintenance section on page 15 You can also simply balance the UnFairchild by ear We have found that in some cases the best balance setting can be dependent on the source material time constant setting or the amount of compression For example when heavily compressing drums with a slower attack time you can adjust the balance while listening to the drums being compressed Sometimes you will find a setting that is more musical for that specific application than the setting derived from the balancing mode CALIBRATING THE AUDIO LEVELS Calibrating the audio levels on the UnFairchild is very straight forward The audio level calibra
4. tion should be done BEFORE you calibrate the Zero for the meters Changes to the GAIN TRIM control WILL change the calibration of the meter The GAIN TRIM controls will give you approximately 1 dB of adjustment Here is the step by step procedure 1 Power on the UnFairchild and let it warm up for 20 30 minutes 2 Send a sine wave audio signal typically 1 kHz at 4 dB into the input of the channel you are calibrating 3 Set the BYPASS BALANCING control 6 on the upper front panel see page 5 to the IN or 12 o clock position 4 Set the INPUT GAIN CONTROL 8 on the upper front panel see page 5 to 20 5 Connect the OUTPUT of the channel being calibrated to an audio device that provides ac curate metering ie the main mix meters on a console or a DAW input that displays 1 dB resolution 6 The level coming out of the UnFairchild OUTPUT should be within 1 dB of the level being sent to the INPUT of that same channel 7 Adjust the GAIN TRIM control 13 on the lower panel see page 5 so that the level coming out of the UnFairchild is the same as the level being sent to the UnFairchild This will give you Unity Gain at a setting of 20 on the INPUT GAIN CONTROL 8 Repeat steps 2 7 for the next channel NOTE There is one potential issue with this calibration procedure Occasionally there will be a set of tubes that are out of range of calibration for achieving Unity Gain c
5. would when using the loop ap proach You will notice that with this configuration the UnFairchild will compress more than when it is Using The Loop or not using the side chain at all This is because the side chain send signal is padded 3 5 dB internally to optimize the performance of the side chain circuit There is no problem with the side chain return seeing a higher input signal you simply have to adjust for it by turning down the THRESHOLD control There is a cool trick you can do with an XLR splitter cable this can be purchased from UTA or from almost any pro audio vender Use the splitter cable to send the incoming signal to both the INPUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT input jacks as well as the RETURN LEFT RETURN RIGHT input jacks on the back of the UnFairchild This transforms the SIDE CHAIN INSERT toggle switches into Feed Back vs Feed Forward mode switches When the toggle switches are in the DOWN or OUT position the UnFairchild will be in its normal Feed Back mode When the toggle switches are in the UP or IN position the UnFairchild will be in Feed Forward mode This is not a subtle difference The Feed Forward mode massively alters the character of the UnFairchild compression It will suddenly sound more like a vacuum tube version of a DBX 160 or an SSL bus compressor Very useful SIDE CHAIN COMPRESSION EFFECTS A common modern application of the side chain feature is to send a different instrume
6. 2 or 3 are great for get ting a more Beatle esque drum sound It is important to mention that when I use the UnFairchild on a drum mix it is almost always in conjunction with the side chain feature The addition of the side chain makes the UnFairchild infinitely more flexible By EQ ing the side chain you can have individual control over how much the kick snare or cymbals are being compressed Typically low end is removed from the side chain to let more of the kick drum through or the mid range is boosted to add more com pression to the snare relative to the kick drum You can boost specific high frequencies to help keep the cymbals from getting too loud when compressed The side chain really makes a huge difference in how effective the UnFairchild is on an overall drum mix The Feed Forward mode see Splitting the Source Feed Back vs Feed Forward on page 10 is particularly hard hitting and aggressive sounding for drums This is somewhat of a new discovery for me so I will supplement this manual in the future with specific applications which find useful Bass is one of the instruments that has always taken kindly to being compressed by the original Fairchild You will find that settings 1 2 or 3 feel very similar to an original 660 or 670 Settings 4 5 and 6 in my opinion always had too slow of a release for bass guitar The same is true on the UnFairchild The new presets 7 11 offer cool options for a punchi
7. ALANCING control 6 on the upper front panel see page 5 to the OUT or counter clockwise position 4 Set the SIDE CHAIN INSERT toggle switches 72 on the lower front panel see page 5 to the OUT or DOWN position 5 Use a small screw driver to adjust the ZERO trim pots 5 on the upper front panel see page 5 so the VU needles line up exactly with the O dB mark VU meter scales A few words about the Gain Reduction Meter Scale The scale on the UnFairchild VU is not intended to be a literal indication of dB gain reduction If you send a sine wave to the input and turn up the threshold so the Gain Reduction Meter is showing 3 dB of reduction you will NOT see the output level drop by exactly 3 dB The reading is close but it would never be exact with every set of tubes The reality is doing gain reduction with any type of Vari Mu tube is not an exact science We felt it would be best to have the Gain Reduction meters be a general indica tion of the amount of compression With use over time the behavior of the Gain Reduction Metering will become more meaningful as you have more opportunities to correlate what you are seeing with what you are hearing 6 USING THE SIDE CHAIN There are many ways to make use of the side chain feature on the UnFairchild In this manual we will discuss three common approaches USING THE LOOP In this application the SEND LEFT and SEND RIGHT outputs send signal to an extern
8. Fairchild between Dual Mono Mode and Stereo Linked Mode When set to CHAN A CHAN B the two channels will compress indepen dently from one other as if they were two mono units When set to LEFT RIGHT the 2 channels will be linked together for stereo compression However you will still need to match the settings of the TIME CONSTANTS THRESHOLD and DC THRESHOLD on both channels for the best possible stereo linking accuracy 11 TIME CONSTANT The TIME CONSTANT rotary switch allows you to select the 12 available Attack Release combinations The first 6 presets are identical to the original Fairchild Presets 7 12 are new Attack Release combinations available only on the UnFairchild These settings typically have a slower attack with a faster release time These combinations tend to be more useful for modern compression methods For more details see Time Constant Presets table on page 12 12 SIDE CHAIN INSERT These toggle switches engage the compressor s side chain circuit When the switches are in the UP position the gain reduction circuit will respond to the signal plugged into the side chain inputs RETURN LEFT RIGHT jacks While in the DOWN position the gain reduction circuit will not respond to the side chain signal only the original signal plugged into the INPUT LEFT RIGHT jacks 13 GAIN TRIM Trim pots for fine adjustment of the Left and Right output level 14 DC THRESHOLD This adjustment does 2 thing
9. UTA UnderToneAudio UnFairchild 670M User Manual v 1 0 T INTRODUC HON em 2 PA POWERING UP e n 3 3 REAR CONNECTIONS vissssssssssscesscsssscsisssescccessedsssssssssntssosdssssssessseonte 4 4 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS iii ssee esee bheu FEE Fein bab REY babe e RR PE eEU Ea 5 6 5 CALIBRATING PROCEDURES Balanci sarr enen dab PY FR RAFRRE APER REXARNEYERN NEIN PES KE EN HE RA EV ERE YER 7 Calibrating The Audio Levels eee eee verno eerta eo ep aea n a rena nu 8 Calibrating The MOtelrsossvinvssies sera PERNFIXME NR Roo EE FR PASE VE M PEREEUS 9 6 USING THE SIDE CHAIN Using thie EODD ek UP EROUWREMEREER IEEE E VENE EEURRE NS EXMERER AP C OKEE 10 Splitting the Source Feed back vs Feed Forward 10 SIGS Chaim ENS cts iov ERE EEEE REN n a EVA PHAR EFEA PERI EROXS 11 7 TIME CONSTANT PRESET Sssccsssvcssedsvcscssscssseacssnsasesasassessencvicsseesasss 12 8 EXAMPLE SETTINGS Danai E 12 5 AATE I E 13 GUM E E O A 13 dba E E E E O E NN 14 WOGGIS O 14 UDbSUuIELT 14 9 MAINTENANGE ui iii enisi e kER ANDR CUR ERAXEERAEXEYAR FER ARAB E CVM EE NY O ERES PEE VEE 15 TO SPECIFICATIONS vos eitesseek kk eee Ek pt ME CPWEREERUEEEEREE X ERR EE FORCE AI HUE ERa 15 1 INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the mythical UnFairchild The classic Fairchild circuit now exists at an affordable price We worked very hard to preserv
10. a ladder stepped attenuator that raises the input load impedance to 6000 Ohms This higher input imped ance will match up better with a wider variety of both modern and vintage equipment We ve also used an alternate method for balancing the tubes in the compressor When in the CAL mode the unit will create an audible signal which will clearly indicate when the tubes are balanced Additionally we ve lowered the plate voltage going to the 6BC8s to improve reliability and ex tend the life of the tubes The original Fairchild ran a very high plate voltage so high that the original manual recommended the tubes be replaced every 6 months Considering 6386 tubes can cost anywhere from 120 500 a piece and each unit uses 8 of them it can be quite expen sive to keep an original Fairchild up and running Best case you d be looking at 1000 every 6 months to keep it up to specification This is a big reason why many of these older units sound so different from each other and why some of them sound so bad It is also quite possible that few or none of the original 670s in operation today have tubes in them with less than 6 months of run time They are all in effect experiencing some degree of dysfunction With a lower plate voltage the UnFairchild will run comfortably and reliably for many years on a good set of tubes Finally we ve added a wider range of controls one would expect to find on a modern compres sor This includes more time cons
11. al pro cessing device typically an equalizer The signal can be equalized to emphasize or remove portions of the frequency spectrum This signal would then be fed back in to the UnFairchild via the RETURN LEFT and RETURN RIGHT inputs on the back panel The gain reduction circuit will respond to the equalized signal when the SIDE CHAIN INSERT toggle switches are in the UP or IN position It is important to know that the level of the side chain signal being sent from the SEND LEFT SEND RIGHT outputs is reduced 3 5 dB to optimize the performance of the side chain send circuitry When the INPUT GAIN control is set to 207 the level sent from the SEND LEFT SEND RIGHT outputs will be 3 5 dB lower than the signal being sent to the INPUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT The level being sent from the SEND LEFT SEND RIGHT outputs will increase as the INPUT GAIN is increased If the INPUT GAIN is set to 10 the level being sent from the SEND LEFT SEND RIGHT outputs will be 6 5 dB higher than the signal being sent to the INPUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT inputs Equalizing the SIDE CHAIN signal gives you specific control over which frequencies the UnFair child is compressing The most common application is to remove low frequencies The com pression will then be triggered less by low frequencies in the source material This is especially useful when you are compressing material that has the full spectrum represented ie a drum
12. alibration UTA will always try to install a set of tubes that will allow unity gain calibration However some sets of tubes will not allow this In this case the Left A and Right B sides can be matched to each other but will not give exactly the same level coming out at the 20 setting on the INPUT GAIN CONTROL If the level is too low you can turn the INPUT GAIN CONTROL clockwise one notch and use position 19 for unity gain calibration Sometimes the level might be a tiny bit high anywhere from 1 dB 5 dB In most cases this is not a problem If this becomes an issue let us know and we will help you find a set of tubes that will achieve a Unity Gain calibration CALIBRATING THE METERS Calibration of the Meters should be done AFTER you calibrate the Audio Levels Changes to the GAIN TRIM control WILL change the calibration of the meter The meter calibration will drift as the UnFairchild warms up and will typically look low when first turned on Be patient If everything has been calibrated properly the meters will typically fall back into place once the unit has fully warmed up That being said calibration may not be necessary if the unit is simply warming up Here is the step by step meter calibration process 1 Power on the UnFairchild and let it warm up for 20 30 minutes 2 Be sure you have completed any necessary Audio Level Calibration See CALIBRATING THE AUDIO LEVELS on page 8 3 Set the BYPASS B
13. e the sonic characteristics of the original Fairchild while improving the reliability functionality and affordability of this extraor dinary sounding compressor We hope you find the result as useful and exciting as we have The first thing you should know about the UnFairchild is that THERE ARE DEADLY HIGH VOLTAGES INSIDE THIS DEVICE DO NOT OPEN THE UNIT OR TOUCH ANY OF THE CIRCUIT RY INSIDE EVER There are 300 Volts DC inside the UnFairchild enough to kill an Elephant If you experience any technical problems simply contact Undertone Audio and we will ar range to resolve any issues What makes the UnFairchild 670M different from the original Fairchild 670 There are a few main differences that set the two units apart First we ve used a 6BC8 tube instead of the original 6386 for the main audio path The 6BC8 is the same tube found in the original UA 175 176 as well as the early Altec Compressor Limiters It is a great sounding vari mu type tube and is significantly less expensive than the 6386 It has a slightly more aggressive character which we have found to be appealing and in certain applications more useful than the original We ve also redesigned the side chain amplifier to be more efficient This enabled us to achieve the same performance and stability with less output power while using components that are both more available and affordable The original INPUT GAIN control 600 Ohm bridged T attenuator was replaced with
14. er bass sound If am working with a particular bass that is not to clacky or bright ind the slower attack times are really great for bringing out punch and detail in the performance really like setting 11 for either electric bass played with fingers or acoustic upright bass played with fingers The faster attack times 7 and 8 seem best for electric bass played with a pick Again this is another situation where the side chain feature can make a big difference If you boost the 2 5 kHz range on the side chain signal then the compressor will grab the occasional clack sound that happens when the bass player bounces the string off of the fret board or pick up You can also remove sub frequencies in the side chain to help balance out a bass sound that is over emphasizing the higher notes GUITAR The UnFairchild has yielded great results for both electric and acoustic guitar For electric guitar like the slower attack times paired with a slower release time 8 10 and 12 These settings seem to create a more eventful entrance every time a distorted guitar starts playing and then holds it in place so it sits better in the mix have found the faster attack times 1 2 6 or 7 to be good on clean electric guitar The Unfairchild sounds exceptionally good on acoustic guitar When am trying to get a really aggressive sound la Polythene Pam or Space Oddity settings 9 or 11 work really well can play with the overall gain vers
15. he installed set of 6BC8 tubes see balancing under the CALIBRATING PROCEDURES section on page 7 for more details 7 BALANCE TRIM POT This trim pot is used to balance the circuit for optimum performance based on the particular set of tubes installed see balancing under the CALIBRATING PROCEDURES section on page 7 for more details 8 INPUT GAIN CONTROL These rotary switches control the amount of input gain added to the UnFairchild circuitry Typically when these controls are set to 20 meaning 20 dB of padding before the active input stage the active circuitry should be at unity gain the same level going into the device will be sent out of the device Sometimes it is impossible to achieve this based on the particular set of 6BC8 tubes installed However UTA ap proved tubes will read within 1 dB of unity When the Input Gain Controls are turned clockwise they will add gain in 1 dB steps to the input of the active circuitry This will affect the overall level passing through the unit as well as the amount of compression imparted on the signal assuming the threshold controls are turned up 9 THRESHOLD The Threshold knob controls the sensitivity of the gain reduction circuit When turned fully counter clockwise the UnFairchild will not compress the signal As the threshold control is turned clockwise the amount of compression will increase 10 AGC Automatic Gain Control The Automatic Gain Control knob switches the Un
16. ild see Figure 2 These inputs are used for both A and B dual mono operation and Left Right stereo operation To find more information on applications for the side chain fea ture see the USING THE SIDE CHAIN section on pages 10 amp 11 Figure 2 4 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS CHANNEL A BYPASS BAL CHANNEL A INPUT GAIN CHANNEL A THRESHOLD CHANNEL A TIME CONSTANT N 5 6 7 54 d be 6 o 5 1 o o eo ai e ao j e j j ND 9 2 91 7 9 lt e P o b Oe O o Ov AGC CHAN A CHANB N 2 K 11 CHANNEL B CHANNEL B CHANNEL IB Y BYPASS BAL INPUT GAIN THRESHOLD o 10 o 5 n AL 2 b 6 CHANNEL B oA xa s K e ES TIME CONSTANT PS A 7 i 6 7 3 2 bs J e f SATIS Pj LAG l LU p e O gt O CHANNEL B GAIN TRIM o g N m o j Jo a N vb 4 0 ov ev wx V MODEL 670M CHANNEL A SIDE CHAIN INSERT CHANNEL B SIDE CHAIN INSERT CHANNEL A GAIN TRIM CHANNEL A DC THRESHOLD CHANNEL B DC THRESHOLD 5 gt vw o o i M 7 a i y 4 Ww IN IN 12 13 14 DESCRIPTION OF FRONT PANEL CONTROLS 1 POWER SWITCH Use this switch to turn the UnFairchild on and off Push the switch up to the ON posi tion to power on the unit and push the switch down to turn it OFF 2 POWER LIGHT This light will illuminate when the unit is powered up properly If this light does not ill
17. ing it off at night We recommend leaving the unit powered on if you are going to be using it again the next day and turning it off if you won t be using it again for a couple days or more The trade off to consider is the stress on the tubes caused by powering up down vs leaving the tubes on racking up unnecessary hours Either way we won t know for sure which is best until these units have been around long enough for people to start reporting back to us with their results The second issue is the eventual replacement of 6BC8 tubes Tubes shipped with the unit should last a long time under normal circumstances but there is always the possibility of a tube getting smashed or failing prematurely due to its age or condition The matching of the 6BC8 tubes is very important We strongly recommend getting replacement tubes from UTA All of the tubes are marked by us with a two number code ex 1 2 or 9 1 etc These numbers let us know what tubes will match up best with ones installed in your unit You can either get an entire replacement set of four or get individual tubes picked out to work with a set already installed If you feel confident in your tech skills are handy with a multimeter and would like to try matching tubes on your own send us an e mail or give us a call and we will provide you with information about our tube matching process 10 SPECIFICATIONS Input Impedance eese 6000 O Output Impeda
18. nce ss 600 Q Side Chain Send Impedance 1200 0 Side Chain Return Impedance 6000 O Output CY Cl senintitencd nies cd iris 4 dB 0 VU 428 dB Clipping Point CI RENE TENTORIA 20 dB in 1 dB steps Frequency Response cessere 40 Hz 15 kHz 1 dB Me ABIT t 70 dB Harmonic Distortion eere 1 96 at 27 dB no limiting 15
19. nt to the compressors side chain s input This is the pumping effect commonly heard in electronic dance music In this application the instruments or sounds you want to apply the pumping effect to are sent to the INPUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT jacks on the back panel and returned to your mixer or DAW via the OUTPUT LEFT OUTPUT RIGHT jacks on the back panel The instru ment that you want to have trigger the compression effect typically the kick drum is sent to the RETURN LEFT RETURN RIGHT jacks Every time the kick hits it triggers the compression circuit and turns down the signal being sent to the INPUT LEFT INPUT RIGHT jacks It is im portant to know that when using this type of configuration the compression will always be in Feed Forward mode To simplify the setup you can have a stereo signal being sent to both channels on the Un Fairchild and have them both compressed by a single mono side chain signal Simply put the UnFairchild in the Stereo Linked mode by switching the AGC control to the clockwise LEFT RIGHT position and connect your mono side chain trigger signal to either of the LEFT RETURN or RIGHT RETURN input jacks on the back panel There is something very appealing about using this modern compression technique with a de vice that was originally conceived almost 50 years ago I 7 TIME CONSTANT PRESETS 3 2m 8s 3 ams Ps 4 sms Q0 5s 5 4 ms 2 s for individual peaks 10 s for mul
20. s it changes the range of volume that the Threshold control is sensitive to as well as changing the Ratio or Knee of the compression In the fully counter clockwise position the UnFairchild will be sensitive to the lowest range of input levels and have the softest knee or lowest possible ratio As the control is turned clockwise the knee gets harder the ratio gets higher and the threshold becomes less sensitive requiring a higher Threshold setting to maintain the same amount of compression 6 5 CALIBRATION PROCEDURES BALANCING In the simplest of terms balancing is the process of matching the current going to the two sides of the 6BC8 push pull circuit Balancing is important for the overall performance of the UnFair child It is easy to do and should be performed whenever any of the 6BC8 tubes are replaced Here is the step by step process 1 Power on the UnFairchild and let it warm up for 20 30 minutes 2 Plug the output of the UnFairchild into an audio device that allows you to listen to the out puts on either soeakers or headphones 3 Make sure your monitoring level is set to a moderate or quiet volume 4 Turn the THRESHOLD 9 on the upper front panel see page 5 control to the fully counter clockwise position 5 Switch Channel A to the BALANCING mode by turning the BYPASS BALANCE control 6 on the upper front panel see page 5 to the fully clockwise or BAL position You will hear
21. tant presets a user adjustable DC Threshold which functions similar to a Ratio control access to the side chain signal a true bypass Feed Back vs Feed Forward modes and a fine trim adjustment for precise level matching of the left and right chan nels A 2 POWERING UP Be sure the unit is plugged into a properly grounded outlet before powering on The UnFairchild requires a 110 V 120 V 60 Hz AC power source However it can be setup for 220 V 240 V opera tion upon request If you purchased the UnFairchild without the optional ten space 19 rack be sure to leave space above and below the UnFairchild in whatever rack you ve mounted it in There are important ventilation holes on the top and bottom of the chassis that help keep the unit cool and will ultimately extend the life of the internal components We do not recommend using the unit while taking a bath near a swimming pool on a bicycle or for any type of accordion record ing Make sure the power switch is in the OFF or DOWN position Plug the supplied IEC AC power cable into the 115 V 60 Hz AC power receptacle on the back of the unit Plug the other end into an appropriate AC outlet Then simply flip the power switch on the front panel to the ON or UP position It will take 5 to 10 seconds for the electronics to power up and the meters to come to their normal operating position near 0 dB on gain scale The Zero calibration of the meters will drift for
22. the first 20 30 minutes after power up They will typically read low at first and slowly rise as the unit warms up to their calibrated position It is generally unhealthy to quickly turn the UnFairchild or any electronic equipment off and on If you turn the UnFairchild off it is best to wait at least 2 minutes before turning it back on 3 REAR CONNECTIONS INPUT LEFT AUDIO INPUTS OUTPUTS You are now ready to plug cables into to the back of the unit All audio connections on the UnFairchild are XLR Plug the source signals you want to be processed by the UnFairchild into the INPUT LEFT and INPUT RIGHT XLR Input jacks on the back see Figure 1 These inputs are used for both A and B dual mono operation and Left Right stereo operation Plug the OUTPUT LEFT and OUTPUT RIGHT signal from the UnFairchild into the inputs of the device that will be either recording or monitoring the processed signal These outputs are used for both A and B dual mono operation and Left Right stereo operation Figure 1 SEND LEFT SIDE CHAIN CONNECTIONS e Plug the signal from the UnFairchild SEND LEFT and SEND RIGHT to the input of an external processing device typically an equalizer These outputs are used for both A and B dual mono operation and Left Right stereo opera tion e Plug the signal from an external source or processing device into the RETURN LEFT and RETURN RIGHT inputs on the back of the UnFairch
23. u minate when the unit is plugged in and the power switch is in the up or ON position it is likely the fuse has blown 3 AC MAINS FUSE Receptacle for the main fuse A 3 Amp Fast Blow fuse should be installed for proper pro tection of the unit 4 GAIN REDUCTION METERS These meters will give an approximate reading of the amount of gain reduc tion in dB 5 METER ZERO These trim pots are used to calibrate the meters to 0 dB while there is no signal present Make sure these are calibrated after the unit has been properly warmed up 20 30 minutes The meter cali bration will appear to be off when the unit is first powered on they will typically fall below the 0 dB mark Be patient As the unit warms up the calibration will fall back into place and should not need to be re calibrated 6 BYPASS BALANCE SWITCH This switch sets the unit to either the Bypassed OUT mode Process IN mode or the Balancing BAL mode When set to the Bypassed OUT mode the signal plugged into to the input jacks will be sent di rectly to the output jacks bypassing all of the active electronics When set to the Process IN mode the signal plugged into the input jacks will be sent to the active electronics of the UnFairchild and the processed signal will be sent out of the output jacks When set to the Balancing BAL mode the unit is put into a special mode used for balancing the circuitry for optimal performance with t
24. und big ger in the track MIX BUSS There are two ways to go with the UnFairchild on the mix buss If all of the individual tracks in the mix have already been compressed to taste then the slower attack times 7 11 will work best These setting are slow enough not to alter the attack of the drums in the mix while still adding some glue additional pumping and presence to the overall mix Filtering out low fre quencies in the side chain can help maintain a bigger bottom end in the mix The other approach is to compress the individual elements less or not at all and rely more on the mix buss compression In this context I like using the faster attack settings 2 or 8 These do an amazing job of glueing everything together while getting some really cool pumping on the low end and maintaining a real vintage quality Again the side chain feature makes a big difference It allows you to control which elements in the mix are being compressed by the Un Fairchild This can be very important when you re trying to get all of the compression on a mix from one device If you are ever in a situation where you need to get a more finished sounding mix quickly and don t have time to address individual tracks with compression these settings present a pretty incredible mix be good button 14 9 MAINTENANCE There are only a couple of topics for discussion with regards to general maintenance on the UnFairchild First the issue of leaving it on or turn
25. us the threshold to get the right balance of compression versus grit distortion Because of the longer release time setting 12 can be really good for some over all levelling without really sounding compressed All of my original Fairchild favorites for acous tic guitar 1 2 3 or 6 feel very much the same on the UnFairchild 15 PIANO Setting 12 was added specifically for piano Several different people had opportunities to use the UnFairchild and reported back with settings they found useful for various instruments Ev eryone gravitated to a similar conclusion when using the UnFairchild for piano A longer Attack time with a longer Release time gave the best results for a big open natural piano sound while still being compressed Setting 12 achieves this result For a more effected piano sound the faster attack times work really well Settings 1 2 and 7 will more aggressively flatten out the dynamics and add a cool crunchier attack sound to the piano VOCALS My favorite setting on the UnFairchild for vocals is definitely good old setting 1 The very fast attack and release times even out the dynamics while pulling the vocal forward for a very in your face vocal sound The really fast attack release times also cause additional harmonic col oration When you really push both the level and compression with this setting the vocals get thicker and fuzzier in a really great way It always seems to make the singer s voice so
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