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EQ Controls
There are five frequency controls or bands on the VT-4. Gain control knobs are intuitively located directly below each frequency control. Exact frequency selection is different on the VT-4 than all other EQs and contributes to its unique sound. I found myself looking at frequency choice a little differently and making slightly different judgments and decisions throughout the session. These were decisions and judgments I was very happy with the next day! Douglas Fearn said he arrived at his frequency choices by mostly listening in a musical and subjective way. I’ll bet some good old trial and error and a few clip leads went into it as well!
Low frequencies are handled by shelving Low Boost and Low Cut controls. The selectable frequency positions for Low Boost are 20, 40, 60 and 140 Hz, while the Low Cut control can be set to 30, 40, 100 or 400 Hz. These sets of overlapping frequencies make for interesting equalizer “stylings,” which were different from conventional EQs or even multiband parametrics. Perhaps it’s idiosyncratic—like an old Pultec EQP-1—but you can boost and cut in the same frequency ranges! Typically, boosting low frequencies by large amounts will cause muddiness or boominess. However, using the VT-4 to boost 60 Hz—while cutting the octave down at 30 Hz—gave me more bottom with much less boominess.
The next control is the unique bell-shaped Mid Cut. Midrange frequencies available for attenuation are 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 Hz. You can cut up to 16 dB in 2dB steps. This is a progressive Q equalizer: As the Mid Cut control is advanced, the Q becomes sharper. This huge range is quite a sound change, and I wondered if Doug played electric guitar, because I liked this feature for “scooping” out midrange from guitar tracks. My only wish here was for a 1.5kHz position in the frequency range selection. As such, the VT-4 does not have a dedicated midrange boost control, although the next section, High Boost, does go down to 2 kHz.
High Boost is a bell-shaped equalizer with 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 16kHz frequency selection positions. You can boost up to 14 dB in 2dB steps. I would like to see a 1kHz position here: Then the equalizer would have complete overlapping frequency range selection. High Boost includes a Q or bandwidth control that goes from a broad 0.6 to 1.7 at the sharpest. I found this section just perfect for brightening vocals, guitars or drums. I never heard any stridency or harshness, no matter how much I cranked the High Boost.
High Cut, the last control, is a shelving EQ, and its frequencies are 1.7, 4, 10 or 28 kHz. Twenty-eight kHz? The 28kHz setting is just the ticket for rolling off digital artifacts you pick up sometimes. I brightened a guitar track (recorded in Pro Tools) with the High Boost section and then rolled off at 28 kHz to lose some aliasing artifacts I started to hear. As with Low Boost and Cut, using both High Boost and High Cut at the same frequencies produces a whole other equalizer sound with interesting effects.
All There!
A great-sounding equalizer with more tone-shaping possibilities than most other tube EQs, the VT-4 is crafted and built to last, like a Rolls Royce made for the U.S. Government. The D.W. Fearn VT-4, at $3,900 MSRP, makes a fine investment for any recording and mixing studio. Thanks go to producer David Gamson for use of his studio and helping me with my evaluation of the VT-4.
D.W. Fearn, 182 Bragg Hill Road, West Chester, PA 19382; 610/793-2526; fax 610/793-1479; www.dwfearn.com.
Barry Rudolph is an L.A.-based recording engineer. Visit his Website at www.barryrudolph.com.
Reprinted with permission from
Magazine, April, 2001© 2000, Intertec Publishing, A Primedia Company All Rights Reserved
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