RECORDING November 2024 - 34

-Review by David Blascoe
KIT Plugins
BB F66/67 Compressor
A legendary singer's
legendary compressor
When talking about dream pieces of recording gear
the Fairchild 660 or 670 is usually at the top of the list.
But with vintage models hitting prices of $40,000 and up,
owning an original unit is out of reach for most of us. While
many plugin companies have released a steady stream of
well-modeled recreations over the years, KIT Plugins has
decided upon a more model-specific approach. Like many
of its plugin offerings, the BB F66/67 not only comes from
the collection of Nashville's Blackbird Studio, this one is
modeled after Martina McBride's personal Fairchild 660.
Martina's 660
Fairchild compressors are beloved for their ability to add
warmth and smooth out peaks in a way that still feels incredibly
natural. The Fairchild 660 is renowned for many studio compression
tasks thanks to its ability to control dynamics without ever
sounding harsh and the rich harmonic complexity it can add,
even when barely " moving the needles. "
The KIT BB F66/67 brings this Blackbird-specific 660 to your
DAW, allowing you to replicate Martina's secret weapon for
vocal compression or whatever task you choose. Fairchild 660
(mono) and 670 (stereo) units are revered on vocals, bass, drums,
orchestral content, piano, horn sections, full stereo mixes, vinyl
mastering and much more. All of the standard and minimal controls
are present-input gain, threshold and the legendary six time
constants (fixed attack and release settings).
34 RECORDING November 2024
Martina's..670...?
Unlike many stereo Fairchild 670 plugin emulations, the 670
included here is not a true 1:1 model of a stereo hardware 670-
to put it bluntly, Martina does not use a stereo 670. Keeping with
this plugin's hardware-specific theme, you will not find a model
of the 670 circuit.
The BB F66/670 offers two stereo options. In scenario one,
you can insert the BB F66 plugin on a stereo track and virtually
get Martina's Fairchild 660 in stereo with linked controls. The BB
F67 takes things a step further. The 67 plugin operates in stereo
with independent controls for each channel, allowing you to finetune
how each side responds. The BB F67 also offers a Mid-Side
option (Lat/Vert on the hardware), allowing you to process the
center and sides of your stereo field separately.
But, Wait! There's More!
One of the modern and incredibly useful additions to the BB F66/67,
absent from the original hardware, is a dry/wet blend knob. This feature
makes it effortless to dial in parallel compression. I loved using this
feature to push that warm Fairchild sound to an extreme and then blend
it back in with the dry signal, especially on drums.
Another new feature is a variable frequency-driven sidechain.
This allows you to compress only frequencies above 500 Hz or
as low as 20 Hz, all with a simple twist of a knob. This is especially
useful for avoiding aggressive compression of bass-forward
sources that tend to squash and kill the low-end or induce an exaggerated
pumping effect.
RECORDING November 2024

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