Focusrite has been around for over 25 years, with associations with many industry giants. The the ISA 110 microphone preamp has been a favorite with professional engineers worldwide. The Focusrite ISA 110 pre amp is used in all of the Red Range and ISA Range preamps. The origins of the Focusrite brand go back to 1982 when producer George Martin asked Rupert Neve to increase the number of channels on the vintage Neve console at Air studios. The input module that Neve designed for this project was called the Focusrite ISA110 Mic Preamplifier and Equaliser. Neve went on to create a number of products under the Focusrite brand name including a dual Mic Pre/Equaliser 19" module (ISA 115) and a single channel dynamics module (ISA131). In 1989 Phil Dudderidge (co-founder of Soundcraft) purchased Neve's Focusrite designs and founded Focusrite Audio Engineering.
The three main elements which have always driven our designs are:-
# - Sound quality
# - Style
# - Ease of use
Sound Quality - Every design is auditioned for audio performance and sound quality. Circuits which measure OK for distortion, noise and frequency performance do not always sound good in practice, or maybe just leave you cold. All our circuits perform well technically but most of all they have some positive affect on the music passing through them. The key is to listen.
Style - Owning a Focusrite unit should be something to be proud of. Our products are styled to look unique and interesting, making them a pleasure to use.
Ease of use - The most important issue to the end user is 'how can I get a good sound?' so, every unit is designed to allow the front panel to be easily understood, and controls to have good sensitivity and feel. Electronically each knob should have a good distribution of control to allow the sound or effect required to be easily found and set. Again listening and using the equipment during the design process is the key to adjusting each design to give the maximum performance required.
The first console designed by Focusrite was the Forte Series. Two of these were installed in 1988/89 at Electric Lady Studios in New York and Master Rock Studios in London. This was a very large and highly specified recording and mixing console. Both locations are still in use.
The second design of Focusrite console was the Studio console series of which there were 10 installed between 1990 and 1996 at the following locations, in chronological order:-
# Metropolis London
# Conway Studios LA
# Jive Studios Tokyo
# Oceanway Studios LA
# Bop Studios Bophuthatswana SA
# Musicmill Nashville
# Sound Design Tokyo
# Crescente 1 Tokyo
# Beartracks New York
# Crescente 2 Tokyo
All are still in intensive use today creating top selling CD's around the world.
The Red range was launched in 1992. The modules are all hand-built and use the same circuit topology as the console and the ISA modules but with improved electronic performance, mechanical integrity and control layout. With the growing trend towards project studios and the explosion in modular digital multitracks, the emphasis of Focusrite's business turned towards the growing demand for analogue direct recording modules and in 1994 and 1995 the Red range expanded to 8 modules:
# Red 1 Quad Mic Pre
# Red 2 Dual Equaliser
# Red 3 Dual Compressor/Limiter
# Red 4 Preamplifier (no longer in production)
# Red 5 Power Amplifier (no longer in production)
# Red 6 Mono Mic-pre & Equaliser
# Red 7 Mono Mic-pre & Dynamics
# Red 8 Stereo Mic Pre
The success of the range was confirmed at the 99th AES convention when the Red 3 Compressor won a TEC award for outstanding signal processing. This was reconfirmed at the 101st convention when the Red 7 won a TEC award in a new category for outstanding Mic Preamplifier technology.
The Blue range is a line of modules designed to form an integrated hardware solution for mastering studios, comprising the following models:
Blue 315 Isomorphic Mastering Equaliser Blue 330 Mastering Compressor/Limiter Blue 230 Broadcast Compressor/Limiter Blue 260 20-bit D-A Converter Blue 245 20-bit A-D Converter Blue 300 Mastering Controller
As a general principle, the Blue range uses the original circuitry from the Red range and console but configured for specialist applications - principally Mastering and Broadcast. So for example the Blue 315 offers the renowned smoothness and musicality of the Focusrite EQ in a form optimised for the mastering suite. All the EQ stages are based on circuit topologies employed in the Focusrite Studio Console, but with the added sensitivity, accuracy and control required for mastering applications. The Blue 330 employs the same unique Focusrite single-VCA circuit design as the Red 3, but with all rotary controls featured as multi-position precision switches, allowing accurate recall of previous settings.
The Red Mic Pre design uses expensive transformer technology as the microphone input interface - one of the key factors in the perceived 'warmth' of the Red sound, and represents Rupert's view of discrete circuit design at the time. It's hard to say if the Red design is better or worse than his more recent non-transformer designs as this becomes a subjective judgement - we'd rather say "listen with your ears and make your own judgement"-hundreds of hits are engineered each month using classic RED technology.
The sound of a Red module is usually described as 'warm'. Two elements contribute to this: 1. Transformers on input and output connections. 2. Circuit topology and op-amp choice which determines the amount and type of distortion which occurs.
The ISA 215 uses two of the original PCB's from the console EQ modules, the boards are simply laid flat in the 2U case and connected to an internal PSU. Therefore they have all the sound characteristics of the original Focusrite consoles, warm and clean. One key feature of the front panel which has always been a real positive for users of the 215 are the large EQ knobs which give increased sensitivity when tweaking EQ settings.
The major aim of the Green project was to expand the Focusrite product range by creating a range of products to appeal to professional working musicians, project studio owners, live engineers and others who had not previously considered a Focusrite product. Key features included an advanced single piece aluminium cast 1U casing and surface mounted manufacturing techniques. Launched in March 1996 at Frankfurt Musikmesse, the Green range received widespread acclaim from both the recording world and the Pro audio press.
The Platinum Range is intended to supersede the Green Range as our entry-level Focusrite product line. The Green Range proved that the market for direct recording signal processing was a hugely important one, and the Platinum Range will take the ideas explored in the Green Range even further.
The mission of Focusrite is to be the manufacturer of the best audio products in each of the market price ranges that we address. We do this by concentrating the design costs into the areas that count the most for the customer - in the circuit definition, the quality of the audio components used (for performance and long life reliability) and on the front panel user interface. When designing a new product, major energy is spent on designing the product for manufacture, to minimise labour costs which make the unit more expensive to the end customer. The Green range designs take elements from the Red range, repackaged for higher volume manufacture to make them more competitive and offer features that are in tune with the market of the late 90's. The Platinum range brings us right up to date and reflects a whole new design philosphy that is right in line with the needs of the emerging market of Desktop Audio - still delivering the Focusrite sound and quality of performance, but at a price point reflecting the needs of the customers of today. To use a business term, they are "value engineered" and this is how we get to the price point - not compromising on the audio path. If you're not convinced by now, then take a test drive at your local dealer and you can email me direct if you're not stunned by the performance!
The Platinum Range currently consists of the VoiceMaster, a recording channel optimised for voice, and the ToneFactory, a recording channel designed especially for instrument recording. Each unit has a wide range of features designed specifically for the intended purpose - for example the VoiceMaster has a voice-optimised EQ and the Tone Factory has a 'tone controller' which is essentially a guitar amp simulator. These modules are in some ways descendants of certain Green Range modules (the Green 3 Voicebox and the Green 5 Channel Strip), but with extra features to provide an even more complete solution for direct recording and of course are really easy to use. Watch out for the new Platinums coming soon!
We have a number of digital projects planned for this year that will keep us at the forefront of the market as it develops. Don't forget,we are already in this market with the d2 (6-band EQ) and d3 (compressor/limiter) plug-ins for best selling Digidesign ProTools platform. Indeed, ours are the best selling plug-ins on the ProTools platform and our design team worked very closely with the guys at Digidesign to ensure that the d2/d3 plug-ins sound as good as the analogue boxes on which they are based...and they do!
A new Platinum unit, the Compounder, will be on show. This is a dual Compressor/Limiter/Gate using a Discrete Class A VCA design which sounds very smooth. One feature that will be very welcome to the dance music market is the Bass Expander which uses a large wire wound inductor design to expand and generate large amounts of bowel moving bass.
The site at the moment contains an overview of our various product ranges, links to reviews in the pro-audio media, along with general information about the company. It also incorporates a form for submitting requests for product literature. We are currently working on several additions to the website which will be launched within the next couple of months, including a Q&A forum and articles about some of the principles of compression, EQ and so on. We are always keen to hear what people need and would find useful, so we'd be happy for people to email us direct and let us know what they'd like to see on the site.
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