REVIEW: Abbey Road Plug-ins Brilliance Pack
I’ll admit two things right away: First, I wasn’t overly excited about the Brilliance Pack. Second, I don’t care for The Beatles. To me they were a boy band and I don’t care for boy bands. Thankfully, some other talents were recorded at Abbey Road so I don’t have to be reminded of these yesterdays Backstreet Boys when mixing with these plug-ins.
Legacy
Whenever Abbey Road comes up, Beatles comes up. So does Pink Floyd and their killer album ‘Dark side of the moon’. Chandler has made some rather pricey hardware to replicate the old Abbey Road gear. If it’s a little to steep for you these plug-ins might be your cup of tea. If you’re interested in the history of these plug-ins you can read a little about them here and here on the Abbey Road Plug-ins website.
RS127 Rack
The reason why I wasn’t very excited about these plug-ins had nothing to do with the previous Abbey Road plug-ins, in fact, I hadn’t even tried them when I gave the Brilliance Pack it’s first run. I’ll spit it right out: I found the idea of selling 1-band plug-ins with a pretty vintage look and character rather ugly. Two of which on top of that were supposedly the same, just a racked and a boxed version. I had read very good reviews on them, but I didn’t care. When I downloaded them I thought to myself that it was at least cool they decided to emulate something new instead of another damn Neve.
Old crap is the new black
Was I kicked in the head or what?!
You betcha brother. My first use was the RS127 Rack on a guitar bus. Bam! 2 dBs up and the guitars got new life. I’m not exaggerating. With that they simply sounded like a unity. Heck, I gave them another 2 dB boost. My reaction was “åh-åh-hå” (think: sound of old pervert in Swedish). I was completely floored.
RS127 Box
That was it. Now I’m hooked like a junkie. You can find me in the gutter outside Abbey Road every now and then muttering “I wonder how it will sound on violin”. Or when things get real bad I’m painted like a clown, knocking on the window screaming for the hardware. Because that’s what happens. You start asking yourself with every track “I wonder what a little brilliance will do to it”. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You’d be surprised how often it does work when you think of the extremely limited frequency range.
Details, details…
OK, I’ll bore you with the details: The pack consists of RS127 Rack, RS127 Box and RS135. Besides having ridculous names like all old hardware has, the RS127’s has only one band which can be set to three frequencies and boost or cut 10 dB. The RS135 doesn’t even have a frequency knob, it’s locked at 8 kHz. They’re CPU friendly. That’s all there is to say about specs.
RS135
My initial reaction is still somewhat present: you’re buying 1-band EQ’s for hundreds of dollars. The difference now is that these simply are different 1-banders then what you already have. They simply don’t act or sound like any other EQ I have ever encountered. Oh, and the Rack and Box version of the RS127 are in fact different sounding. Personally I prefer the Rack, in fact, the Box gets little use.
These are quite possibly my new favorite EQ’s. I can’t say if they just happened to fall into my lap at the very right time or not. I’m currently in a phase where I do very little with my mixes and these just work wonderful for that kind of approach. I just add a little brilliance and be done with it. For my next project I’m going to make a template and simply use them as channel EQ’s on every track.
Conclusion
If you got the money you must try the Abbey Road Brilliance Pack. If you’re broke, don’t bother, you’ll ball your eyes out when you realize how wonderful they sound. OK, calm down now stiff, I understand that the color might not fit everyone. I’m just saying, if you don’t appreciate the color I don’t think I can respect you anymore. Quite possibly my new favorite EQ’s.
Hey - would it be possible for you to attache the specific sound bites so we can hear exactly what YOU*RE writing about?
Like the guitar-test.
By Kenneth Lund ~ November 20, 2008 kl 2:24 am
Great review Stiff, you managed to even make me excited ….and I AM broke!
By Leadfinger ~ November 20, 2008 kl 8:03 am
The Beatles = “yesterday’s Backstreet Boys”?
Nah, son.
The Beatles = some of the most important music of the 20th century.
- c
By Chad ~ November 20, 2008 kl 2:39 pm
Kenneth: Sorry, can’t do that. It’s for a project that will be released later.
Chad: Doesn’t really contradict each other, does it? Backstreet Boys was also important for the development in music, I still don’t care for them.
By stiff ~ November 20, 2008 kl 5:24 pm
umm, stiff? if you really think that the “Backstreet Boys w(ere) also important for the development in music” then, well, you’re plain wrong and mis-informed.
whether you like the beatles or not, they are the single most important musical force/influence of the 20th century. it is not even debatable. so, i suggest we talk more about plug-ins or something…
By kj ~ November 20, 2008 kl 7:37 pm
your fucking crazy if you can’t get into the beatles. best pop music of the 20th century. stands the test of time.
By sivartsound ~ November 20, 2008 kl 9:29 pm
If you can’t use clips from the project, pull some guitar or synth out of somewhere, record it yourself, ask people to send in clips or whatever!
What’s being asked is not an impossible task here man, let us hear! Let us hear!
By Corey ~ November 21, 2008 kl 4:12 am
>> umm, stiff? if you really think that the “Backstreet Boys w(ere) also important for the development in music” then, well, you’re plain wrong and mis-informed.
No, they were of big importance for the horrible boyband era.
>>whether you like the beatles or not, they are the single most important musical force/influence of the 20th century. it is not even debatable. so, i suggest we talk more about plug-ins or something…
Yes it is debatable. No one argues they weren’t important, but pointing to a “single most important” music act is debatable. There are quite a few of other very important musicians/producers/bands that deserves a mention, from blues guys, to early rock & roll, to heavy metal bands. I refuse to count one single band as THE most important, because ultimately it’s too hard, if not impossible to measure.
But kj, I’ll clarify, I generally don’t like the Beatles, but I understand their importance. I’m not without music history knowledge man
By stiff ~ November 21, 2008 kl 5:25 am
>> your fucking crazy if you can’t get into the beatles.
No one argues with that
By stiff ~ November 21, 2008 kl 5:26 am
>> What’s being asked is not an impossible task here man, let us hear! Let us hear!
Point taken. I’m going away today, will see if I’m able to pull it off later this weekend. Stay tuned!
By stiff ~ November 21, 2008 kl 5:26 am
Tomorrow Never Knows, Stiff!
By Yoko ~ November 21, 2008 kl 7:09 am
Wow, Mr. Stiff - you’re going to set a record for comments with this post!!!
Give him a break folks… if everyone liked the same stuff, it would be a boring world (and there would only be 20 songs on iTunes…)
As for the “boy band” comment, I respectfully submit “Helter Skelter”.
By MC ~ November 21, 2008 kl 11:11 am
Try to imagine a parallel universe where the Beatles didn’t happen.
I mean, almost every aspect of world culture — not just music — would be different.
But the thing is you can’t actually picture it, right?
Yeah, me either.
- c
By Chad ~ November 21, 2008 kl 1:44 pm
>> Wow, Mr. Stiff - you’re going to set a record for comments with this post!!!
I don’t think so, for some reason a post about Roland digital drums have an insane amount of comments! That’s cool of course, I just don’t understand how all drum interested folks found their way here
Chad, that would be the 40’s right?
Seriously, a parallel universe without Frank Sinatra, Sam Phillips, Sex Pistols, Michael Jackson and all the early hiphop and electronic guys would be pretty hard to imagine as well.
By stiff ~ November 22, 2008 kl 6:36 pm
At what point do we stop thanking the Beatles for changing music, creating rock and roll, being the forefathers of any music since 1960, curing polio, and creating peace in the Balkans.
As for the review - it might be helpful if you described ut it changed the sound. What makes it different from a +2 boost in the 3-5k range with a parametric EQ (the range shown on the screen shot)? Or, how did it ‘wow’ you on guitars?
By James ~ November 25, 2008 kl 9:32 pm
Sorry dude. Get real already… Sgt. Peppers was hardly the product of a “boy band”.
By JPV ~ May 20, 2009 kl 8:48 pm