Before Blackmagic Design acquired the assets, Fairlight was one of the originators of the digital audio workstation. Thanks to its modern integration within DaVinci Resolve, Fairlight has added pro-level audio performance to this all-in-one application. When it comes to recording and mixing real musicians, as well as all levels of audio-for-film/video, Fairlight brings needed competition to the market. There are audio restoration tools, a built-in sound effects library, and advanced features including Dolby Atmos.
As a mixing application, Fairlight uses the traditional track/mixer/meter bridge configuration. Each track has a corresponding channel strip complete with fader, EQ, and gate/compressor/limiter, plus inserts for other plugin effects. The user interface is optimized for single and multi-display arrangements, but also accommodates Fairlight control surfaces with their own integrated screens.
Blackmagic Design offers a broad ecosystem of native hardware accessories to expand the system, similar to those offered by Avid for Pro Tools. This includes several console/control surface options, an Audio Editor panel, and PCIe cards for multi-channel i/o and audio effects acceleration. Put all of this in play and, according to Blackmagic Design, the system is capable of realtime playback with effects for up to 2,000 tracks.
The analog vibe
This makes Fairlight a nice digital audio workstation, with emphasis on the word digital. What it lacks is the harmonic color and character typical of native analog-style plug-ins available in Pro Tools, Luna, Logic Pro, and other DAWs. Furthermore, the presets are focused on film and TV mixing, but not music. For example, there is no suggested “kick drum” preset for the compressor. If you mix music in Fairlight and want those analog benefits, then that’s where third-party plugin effects enter the picture.
Typical “vintage” plugins emulate classic British and American consoles and outboard equipment from the 1970s. The goal is to duplicate the character of the hardware, such as their unique EQ curves, which would be hard to derive with most digital tools. But, the actual sonic character of these plugins is highly dependent on what was used to model the software, which is usually something you wouldn’t know as the user.
KIT Plugins Blackbird Bundle
KIT Plugins, which is a relatively new plugin developer based in Nashville, made their Blackbird Bundle available to me for this review. Blackbird Studio, one of the premier music studios in town, owns a huge collection of vintage gear, including iconic Neve and API consoles. Some of this hardware was used by KIT Plugins to model their software products. Since Blackbird Studio has its name on these products, nothing gets out the door until studio founder/mixer John McBride has put his stamp of approval on it. As a result, the software tools in the Blackbird-branded plugins match the sound and character of the actual hardware at Blackbird Studio.
The Blackbird Bundle includes six analog-style EQs as part of four plugin effects. Licensing is via a free iLok account. Through the iLok application, you can activate any of these licenses to the iLok Cloud or to an iLok USB dongle (generation 2 or 3). Dongles are popular with freelance mixers, because they are transportable between gigs ($45 for USB-A and $55 for USB-C at Sweetwater). If you opt for cloud activation (free), then you’ll need a working internet connection during your session. Activation to the local computer isn’t supported.
Applying the American and British sound
KIT Plugins’ BB A5 Channel Strip emulates classic API (Automated Processes, Inc) hardware from the API 500 modular series for that “American” sound. This plugin includes a 3-band (55A), a 4-band (55L), and a 10-band graphic (56L) EQ. The key to the character of the 3-band and 4-band EQs is an API innovation called “Proportional Q.” The filter bandwidth stays wide when the gain change is small. It narrows and becomes more surgical as the setting is increased in either direction. KIT Plugins duplicated this feature, which isn’t always the case with other API emulations on the market. Like the hardware, these EQs use stepped frequency values to quickly dial in a sound. However, the gain controls can be switched between stepped or variable.
The BB A5 interface sports a modern look. Frequency and level knobs are separate and not concentric like on the hardware. Separation makes more sense with mouse control, while concentric works when you can actually place fingers on a physical knob. There are some faux scratches on these interfaces to evoke “vintage.” Fortunately the designers didn’t go overboard with those.
The two Neve emulations (BB N73 and BB N105) give you the classic “British” sound. N105 is based on Blackbird’s highly modified Neve 8078 console. The Neve emulations look more faithful to the hardware with concentric knobs. The N73 uses the familiar 1073 design, but adds an output section modeled after the output bus of Blackbird’s Neve 8058 console. When you enable this function, it adds subtle additional harmonics and compression, depending on how hard you drive it. This master bus feature is also on the BB A5.
The last in this bundle is the MO-Q, which is based on a boutique equalizer built by the Motown engineers. McBride owns one of these in his personal collection, which was the basis for KIT’s modeling. It features seven fixed bands at musical frequencies.
On the tech side, these plugins are built with KIT’s proprietary Full Range Modeling that has been sampled from 10 Hz to 96 kHz. There’s oversampling and a ton of presets. The API and Neve models include auto gain and continuous gain. There’s a a function called Analog Hum, which applies 60 Hz (approx.) noise to the signal with three level settings. It remains barely audible even at the full settings with the speaker volume cranked. The term “Hum” has a negative connotation, so don’t let that scare you. I didn’t really hear what would be considered traditional hum, but rather very subtle white noise. I think it helps some mixes, but regardless, its use is optional.
The Fairlight mix
I imported 20 source tracks from a studio recording session into DaVinci Resolve. The tracks included a female singer, background vocals, and the band. Each channel got an instance of BB A5, which effectively turned the Fairlight mixer into a virtual API console. Pre-amp and EQ control was handled through the Blackbird effect. The channels were routed to the stereo output bus without any additional instrument grouping/busing.
These plugins come with an extensive array of instrument presets from KIT, Blackbird, and several contributing mix engineers. While I normally treat presets as merely a suggestion or starting point, I decided to leave these pretty much the way they were set up. Pull up a different preset for each track – the kick drum, snare drum, vocals, etc. After some minor tweaking, plus level and panning adjustments, the mix was quickly in a really good place. Granted, it still needed some automation for punch here and there, but the mix was already presentable without it. The only other effects used in this mix were the native Fairlight compressor on the kick drum track, as well as the BB N73 and the native compressor/limiter on the stereo output.
One cool feature that’s usually not seen in other plugins is the Link function. If you have multiple instances of these plugins in the mix – as I did by placing BB A5 on each channel – then you can link the oversampling status, UI size, and hum setting. With link enabled, the setting for one instance will then be matched on all the others. That’s really useful when setting up 20 instances of the same plugin across all channels.
Some could argue that the difference between Fairlight’s native digital effects and using analog emulation is too subtle to worry about. You may or may not agree. But, using plugins like those in the Blackbird Bundle also let you get to a mix more quickly and reduce the amount of time lost to the indecision often caused by a plethora of digital options.
These benefits also apply to any film/TV/social media project. That’s why editors using DaVinci Resolve owe it to themselves to get comfortable with the Fairlight page. Once your project extends past a few tracks, then you’ll get a better mix using Fairlight than simply staying in the Edit page. Plugins, whether native Fairlight or third-party analog emulations, will make your mix sound more polished. I’ve used a number of brands and those in KIT’s Blackbird Bundle are high-quality and easy to use. Given the Grammy-winning pedigree behind the software, it’s a great way to add analog mojo to your digital mix.
Photos courtesy of Blackmagic Design and Blackbird Studio.