So, since I am procrastinating a very painful vocal comp, I thought that I'd do a URS N Series EQ vs. Neve 1073 shootout. Here's a brief view of my methodology: I recorded pink noise at 48 khz / 24 bit through my Apogee AD-8000 to my Pro Tool Mix system, using version 6.2.3. I copied the audio onto another channel, which I then sent out of the Apogee into the line in of my 1073, which was set for 0 db gain. I came out of the 1073 back through the Apogee and into an aux channel which I had created to monitor the 1073. In the original channel, I simply used the URS plug-in. I ran signal from Pro Tools into an Audio Control SA-3050A 1/3 octave real time spectrum analyzer. It does not give the smoothest, most legible read out, but it was enough for me to use as a control in order to set identical frequency gain between the two EQs, and generally monitor the frequency response of the EQs.
First let me say that I am extremely impressed with the URS. Until now, the only plug-in EQ which I did not loathe was the Sony Oxford. It was the only digital EQ I had used which did not create serious phase anomalies. However, it is very sterile and lacks the character of a good analog EQ. I'm extremely skeptical about digital EQs, so while I thought it was worth a shot to check out the URS, my expectations were not the highest. How many times have you heard "It's sounds just like the real thing."?
The interface of the URS N Series EQ is sbased on the Neve 1084. There is a high shelf of 10khz, 12khz and 16khz. There is a mid freq EQ with the same parameters of the 1073: 7.2khz, 4.8khz, 32khz, 1.6khz, 0.7khz and 0.36khz, including a Hi-Q switch. The low shelf has 220hz, 110hz, 60hz and 35hz, with a hi pass filter of 360 hz, 160hz, 70hz, 45hz and a high pass of 18khz, 14khz, 10khz, 8khz and 6khz. It was using the common frequencies and settings of the 1073 that I did the testing.
A quick note about something different on the URS, the middle part of the concentric knob, controlling the gain, moves visually as though it has detents. There is a small icon above the knob while you move it which measures fully sweepable gain increments. Not a huge deal, but I wondered why they couldn't just make the thing move normally. I know that some 1073 modules have the detents, but I have rarely ever seen them. And while the red Marconi gain knob moves incrementally like it does on all 1073s, even though you gain sweep through the gain value, displayed numerically above the knob.
For reference, I listened to recordings of a female vocal, a male vocal, a 22" bass drum, an acoustic guitar and an electric bass. With each instrument, I a/b'd identical amounts of gain with the varying frequencies, eventually using the most extreme gain setting. The mid freqs were so similar sounding that it was quite scary. But when set the URS for a 12khz shelf, it sounded not at all the 1073. 10khz sounded a great deal more like it, however. The control test I did with pink noise and the RTSA made it appear that perhaps when I bought my 1073s 10 years ago, somebody had put the faceplate to a 1073 over a 1066, and that is why it would appear my high shelf is more consistent with 10khz, than 12khz. If that were the case, even at 10khz, there were audible differences when monitoring the pink noise, and the RTSA revealed a less steep shelf on the 1073 that at maximum gain, reached as low as 1khz. The URS, with equal gain at 10khz shelved down to only around 3khz with a maximum shelf peak at 12khz, as opposed to just under 10khz for analog version. So, even if my Neve module did happen to be a 1066 and not a 1073, there is still a noticeable difference in the hi shelf. I should note that of all the engineers who have come through my place, nobody has ever said to me, "Hey! This sounds like a 1066, not a 1073."
So far, the mid freq EQ was in the 10% ball park range. The hi freq shelf only differed in sound by 25% at most, in my estimation, visually and audibly, when comparing the 10khz shelf to what is allegedly 12khz on my Neve unit. However, the most audible difference between the URS and the 1073 was in the low freq shelf. What I was able to see visually once again while monitoring the pink noise was that as with the hi freq shelf, the slope of the shelf of the URS was steeper than that of the 1073. At 220hz, with 15db of gain to get the most exaggerated effect, the shelf bottomed out at 630hz, where with the 1073, the shelf extended to 1.25khz. The other thing that was audible when processing the instrument signals was that with the electric bass or the bass drum, the 1073 would seem to run out of headroom and I experienced what was a very pleasant warm distortion. It wasn't scratchy or unmusical at all. In fact, it was one of the great accidental design flaws of old discrete EQs. I was never able to achieve that sound with the URS. Instead of reaching a headroom limit with the bass frequencies which would in turn change the wave shape when adding more gain, I simply got more audible gain in that frequency. Although sonically different from the 1073, the URS did have a pleasant and useful sound in what it could achieve with the low frequencies.
Test results for gain reduction were conversely true for all frequencies, in terms of the URS unit differing from the 1073.
My conclusion is that the URS N Series EQ is a pretty good approximation of the Neve's characteristics. However, it did lack that magic sheen that the 1073 had, especially in the low end. Neve modules are not going to be obsolete any time soon. I don't know when they'll be able to write algorithms that can accurately reproduce the distortion associated with analog EQs, but this is absolutely the most musical EQ plug-in I have yet to use. It's going to be my first choice when using plug-in EQs. It's by no means going to replace the real thing, and it may make you long for using a real 1073, by being so close, but so far away from what an actual 1073 can do. But if you are in a situation where you are forced to mix 'in the box', this is your best bet. Forget Channel Strip, Waves, Filter Bank, the Bomb Factory Pultec, etc. At $299 for the VST/RTAS version, this is it. You'll get every penny's worth.
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Topic: Pepsi Challenge: URS N series EQ vs. Neve 1073 (Read 12242 times)