Classic British sound and versatility
The British Channel was modeled after one of the most widely used and acknowledged pieces of hardware in the music history. Countless hit records around the world have been produced on this large format British mixing console since the 80's making it a true staple of the music production technology for its ultimate flexibility and trademark sound. Many of these consoles are still in active use today in the control rooms of countless studios around the world.
The signal path of this channel strip was closely modeled from top to bottom, in order to achieve such flexibility and control, so each gain stage and section switching option is matched, and this can be clearly heard in the British Channel precise and “forward” sound.
Nonetheless, we decided to add a few further enhancements to its already powerful design: selectable black/brown EQ mode allows the user to tap into the two EQ circuits that were peculiar of the console's different versions (with the low shelf knob color showing which one is selected).
This means that the dramatic frequency shifts and boost/cut ranges are available at the flick of a switch for instantaneous tone shaping possibilities, where the black mode has more inherent gain and sharper Qs, giving a more pronounced “EQ” effect.
I/O level controls were added to precisely drive the dynamics section from subtle compression to true squashing, still maintaining the razor sharp precision of the EQ and the channel's overall sound faithful to the original. When the Input gain is set to drive more signal level into the unit the compressor will react with more gain reduction and distortion, adding wonderful analog saturation to the track. The overall level can be compensated by lowering the output knob. The added filters section, which can be either used on its own or within the side-chaining mode, rounds out the set of handy features.
This channel strip is sounding so good and is so versatile that it can be used on practically any source; kick, snare, toms, over heads, bass, guitars, you name it: the British Channel is at home on whatever track you are mixing; being derived from a console's channel it can become your "go to", self-contained solution to address EQ and dynamics needs in a single plug-in.