Recording - July 2014 - 28

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Focusrite Red 1 500 Series
Microphone Preamp
The famed Red Range sound
finds its way into a very tiny package
This year Focusrite turns 25. With a
product line ranging from computer interfaces to digital converters, audio networking, processor modeling, plug-ins and
recording channels, it's easy to forget that
this pioneering British firm started life way
back when as a console company!
Once upon a time Sir George Martin
(yes, that George Martin) commissioned
Rupert Neve (yes, that Rupert Neve) to
design and build a series of expansion
modules for one of his Neve consoles at
his Montserrat-based AIR studios.
That original mic preamp and EQ
design, dubbed the ISA 110 (short for Input
Signal Amplifier), eventually grew into a
full-blown console known as the Forte. Only
two were built before Mr. Neve sold the
company to Phil Dudderidge, formerly of
Soundcraft, in 1989. And thus Focusrite
Engineering Ltd was born.
Cue the motion picture
After some tweaks and a redesign, the company built an additional ten mixing desks now
simply known as the Focusrite Studio Consoles.
Seven of these desks survive today, and have
recently been the subject of a documentary
film, which you can now watch online at
http://is.gd/FocusriteConsoleFilm (and watch
for our Editor's name in the Thank Yous at the
end!). If you are wondering how this story boils
down into a review of a 500 Series microphone preamp, read on.
Simultaneous to the the Studio Console,
Focusrite continued to manufacture modular
versions of the ISA components, and by
1993 the popular and longstanding Red
Range was launched. Keep in mind, in 1993
you couldn't run down to your local music
store and have a choice of 50 different flavors of preamps, EQs and channel strips! The
Red Range offered some of the first standalone mic preamps, compressors and EQs
on the market in a standard 19" rack format.
The Red Range used the same circuitry
found in the ISA modules and had one of
the most distinct looks and designs to ever
28

RECORDING July 2014

grace the audio world. Each unit was
built with a vibrant red milled aluminum
front panel with bright glowing VU meters
and large white circular scribble strips.
Over the years the line would include 2-,
4-, and 8-channel mic preamp configurations, EQ and channel strip variations, and
a very special compressor known as the
Red 3 that is coveted and hoarded by
recording and mastering engineers to this
day. Sadly, like the Forte and Studio
Console before it, eventually the Red Range
ceased production.
The big news of this review is the Red
Range lives again, now in the API 500
Series modular format. Not to spoil the
surprise, but it is the same in almost every
way as its now-vintage namesake.
Bright and shiny on the outside
The Red 1 500 has the same controls and
features as the original. It starts with a silver
capped, gold-plated military-grade Grayhill
gain switch that is stepped in 6 dB increments
from -6 dB (Labeled Pad) up to +60 dB. Next
is a red backlit 48V phantom power button
and a yellow backlit phase button.
The unit also retains its circular amber tinted porthole-style VU meter, although in a
miniaturized form from the original. Actually
it appears to be the same size as the circular scribble strip found on the vintage Red 1,
which is the only feature that did not make
the cut in the 500 Series version.
All of this, of course, is nestled within a
proper Red Range milled aluminum faceplate; while it is about half the thickness of
those on the Red 1 500's vintage predecessors, once it's racked it looks nearly identical.
Vintage yummy on the inside
Internally the Red 1 500 uses the same
circuit design as the original, including
the Lundahl LL1538 input transformer.
This transformer is the heart of the
Focusrite sound and can also be found in
most of the company's vintage and current ISA models. The new module also

uses the same toroidal Carnhill output
transformer as its predecessor.
Its signal path uses a shared gain structure that, according to Focusrite, offers
"14 dB from the transformer and up to 46
dB from the amplifier". It also features the
same 10 Hz to 140 kHz bandwidth of
the original, and has great common
mode rejection, high headroom, and a
very low noise floor.
In use
Before even running signal through the
unit, my first thought was how classy and
beautiful it looked in my 500 Series rack (a
Radial Engineering Workhorse). In my opinion this may be one of the sexiest looking
500 Series modules ever-it literally glows!
I remember demoing and lusting over the
original Red Range when I first started my
studio journey back in the mid-'90s. It was
a significant step up from the budget mixers
of the day and sadly, at the time, out of my
financial reach. I wish I could tell you that
the new one sounds exactly like I remember, but my memory is not that good!
Luckily I did have a chance to get more
familiar with the Focusrite sound a few years
back when I took the then-new ISA One for

http://www.is.gd/FocusriteConsoleFilm

Recording - July 2014

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