TELEFUNKEN’s Toni Fishman Reignites Legendary Fairchild 670
Toni Fishman, founder and CEO of microphone designer/manufacturer TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, has launched a new company, Fairchild Recording Equipment LLC. After five years of extensive R&D and precision testing, the authentic recreation of the legendary Fairchild 670 vacuum tube compressor is now available in very limited numbers.
Toni Fishman is pictured with the new Fairchild 670 vacuum tube compressor.
Photo by Nick Sonsini.
Unlike other attempted Fairchild 670 recreations, Fishman’s new 670 utilizes the same tubes, custom-wound transformers and is built to the original specs. The architecture, point-to-point soldering and turret-style construction make this the only authentic recreation of the original 670 designed and built by Rein Narma at the request of recording innovator Les Paul in 1959.
Fishman and his Fairchild team recently completed a nationwide tour with initial demonstrations at top SoCal recording studios, including The Village, Steakhouse Studios, After Hours and Music Box. Following demonstrations took place throughout the Midwest and East Coast with an extended presentation at Blackbird Studio and the purchase of the new 670 for the famed Nashville studio.
Los Angeles-based producer/mixer/engineer Rafa Sardina, an 18-time Grammy(r) & Latin Grammy(r) Award-winner, commented, “It is so commendable what Toni Fishman has done – nobody else has had the guts to do it this way. Other attempts that I’ve heard lack that real Fairchild gain structure and tonal balance. Many original vintage 670s don’t sound right because of age and bad servicing. I’ve worked with this new Fairchild 670 in my studio with my own recordings and I really pushed it. I did A-B comparisons and the stereo was perfectly matched left and right, no artifacts at all.”
The original Fairchild 670 has a reputation as the best sounding and most versatile compressor ever made. Used on countless hit recordings over the years, its unique combination of tube driven amplification and gain reduction gives the 670 a wide range of compression effects, from subtle and transparent to heavy and pumping.
Fishman’s new vacuum tube Fairchild 670 compressor is faithfully recreated to provide modern producers and audio engineers with the classic sound of the first intelligent automatic volume control limiter. With its dual-channel design and unique compression characteristics, the Fairchild 670 is capable of adding warmth, depth, and character to virtually any audio signal. The vacuum tube technology used in the 670 adds a natural, organic quality to the compressed signal, providing that distinctive classic analog sound to both digital and analog productions.
Key Features: Dual mono operation, six selectable time constants, threshold, compression, makeup gain controls, VU metering, hand-wired point-to-point construction, custom-designed transformers, tube-driven amplification.
Applications: vocals, drums, bass, guitars, strings, piano, brass, orchestral instruments, mix buss/mastering.
Sweetwater Sound, Inc. and Vintage King Audio have been named initial domestic dealers. European dealers include Klemm in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; Funky Junk in France, Italy and Spain; Cyber Farm in Denmark and Sweden; SX Pro in the UK. Asian dealers include MID in Japan; Gearlounge in South Korea, and Budee in China.
Learn more about Fairchild Recording Equipment LLC: www.fairchildusa.com
Tel: 860-882-5916 ext 26
