Mercenary Audio - Why Doesn't Mercenary Carry Focusrite Gear?

From: Brian
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 10:17 PM
To: questions@mercenary.com
Subject: Focusrite

Hello, I notice you guys don't carry Focusrite gear (even the blue or red ranges). I know you guys specialize in higher end stuff, and I'm sure you know your stuff. So, is there something I don't know about Focusrite? Are they not as good as their reputation boasts?

I would appreciate your professional opinion.

Thanks

Good question. I know you weren’t expecting a reply the length of a Stephen King novel, but that’s what you’ve got. Both Fletcher and I have extensive experience using the original Rupert Neve-built Focusrite stuff from the1980s. Are you familiar with it?

Focusrite began by building modules that would eventually end up in consoles, but were originally to the same size as the 1081/1064 Neve® module frame size with several of these modules becoming after-market installations in other large format consoles.

Due to the modular design and the Rupert Neve Pedigree 3 consoles were commissioned to be built. Due to factors unknown, it appears that the price of the consoles were either quoted too low or the overhead to build the consoles too high and the original "Focusrite" was placed into financial insolvency (bankrupt).

The company's assets, name included, were purchased by former owner of Soundcraft electronics from the courts, and the "second era" of Focusrite began.

After Rupert left and new ownership took over in 1989, Focusrite continued to make outboard gear, which at first maintained the high standards established by the original Focusrite and were pretty nice.

The ISA130 dynamics module, the ISA 110 input module as well as the ISA115 and ISA115 mic-pre/EQs continued to carry on the Focusrite reputation as a high-end British sound. It was expensive boutique gear used by pros only. In fact the ISA115, [as well as the ISA131 dynamics module] their first 19” rack-mount offerings, came with a separate power-supply, and cost around five grand.

Sometime during the early 1990’s Focusrite decided to go "MI" and be sold in stores like Guitar-Center. The RedRange wasn’t TOO bad, but it was overpriced, especially considering 30% of the buyer’s dollar was going to the VERY expensive cosmetics (faceplate and hand-polished knobs). So, it was average or maybe a little above average gear stuffed in to very costly, shiny boxes. The GREEN and PLATINUM ranges were absolute tripe right from the git-go. Trash! And the fact they were making this cheapo, surface-mount crap very quickly tarnished Focusrite’s reputation as a boutique pro-audio line.

Even the so-called BLUE range, a re-packaging of the previous ISA gear, seemed like a marketing ploy. Keep in mind Rupert Neve’s involvement in Focusrite ended in ’89, and he had no hand in designing anything after the ISA110. For a while the BlueRange was hand-built in England and was expensive, but then they came out with the ISA220 and the ISA428, both built in Asia. Sonically both those pieces are as boring as a box of sand.

At some point DigiDesign (or as we call them, ShitiDesign) worked out a product distribution and circuit/trademark licensing agreement with Focusrite. This enabled Digi to use the Focusrite name on basically anything they wanted, like the M-box mic-pres, or the pres on the Control-24. What? Are you kidding me? Talk about the total dumbing-down of a once great pro-audio name. I can just hear the sales guy at GC now: "Yeah dude, the C24 has FOCUSRITE mic pres in it!" And the guy probably doesn’t know Rupert Neve originally built the famous Focusrite consoles for legendary engineers like George Martin and Eddie Kramer back in the mid ‘80s. Those consoles were a million dollars each! In 1985 money!

There’s only one modern Focusrite piece that you see real pros using on a regular basis, and that’s the Red-3 compressor, which is a favorite on mix-bus due to its punchiness. Engineers who like the SSL 384 console compressor for mix also tend to like the Red-3. Some like it so much that they use it INSTEAD of the 384. For instance, he Lord-Alge brothers have been known to use the Red 3 on their mixes. But even that piece has been tainted, because about 5 or 6 years ago, The design of the Red-3 was changed, and whereas it once had a switched/detented output, now it has a regular swept pot. So the Red-3 lovers all insist on having the earlier version, and claim the newer ones don’t have the same pizzazz. Fortunately, for those that like the SSL 384 [also out of production] or the original RED-3 there is a new product from Dramastic Audio that is about to hit the market which will make both 384 and RED-3 users very happy campers.

In around 2001, when Focusrite "reissued" what they claimed to be the ISA110, the ORIGINAL channel-strip from those consoles in a 19" rack version, even I was sucked in. I have always loved those modules, but they are rare and expensive and need custom racking and power. So I bought a pair of the new ones. God was I disappointed. There was little sonic resemblance to those originals. And no soul! I sold them on EBay without hesitation.

So that’s how I’ll describe it: Focusrite stuff has no soul, and hasn’t for over a decade.

We steer as far clear of it as possible, and you should as well!

- Drew Townson

Fletcher’s Three Cents:

GreatRiver, Chandler, TAB Funkenwerk, API, Dramstic Audio, Alan Smart, the "Portico" series of products (designed by Mr. Rupert Neve) are names we believe in. Unfortunately our dedication to the craft of producing serious audio does not permit this company to handle crap like Focusrite. I know a lot of people have Focusrite gear and I'm sure some of them love it to death; then again there are several billion flies out there that like to eat shit... which I would guess means they find it tasty. At Mercenary we follow our own path, we listen to equipment and evaluate it's usefulness for a purpose in our recording studio [The Methods and Applications Laboratory] and make up our own mind as to whether a product is worthy of being handled by Mercenary Audio. Some are, most aren't, and Focusrite hasn't been even close to being on the Mercenary Audio radar for damn near 15 years at this point.

Focusrite Boss Phil Dudderidge responds:

The real Focusrite history 1989 - present.

Focusrite Ltd. was founded by Rupert Neve in 1985. Among his first contracts was a commission from George Martin to build extensions to three custom Neve consoles he had built at his former, eponymous company for Air Studios in London and Monserrat. For this project the ISA 110 (ISA stands for Input Signal Amplifier) was designed. This was then offered in a rack with integral power supply to house four or eight channels.

Along with the ISA 130 Dynamics Module these became the foundation of the new business. Subsequently Mr. Neve was persuaded to design a new “super-console” by Trevor Stride of Master Rock Studios in London and five other studios added their support, and orders, including Electric Lady in New York. Sadly this project overwhelmed the company financially and it folded in January 1989 after only these two studios received their consoles.

My background is rather different from Rupert’s. I am not an electronics engineer for a start. My career started in the late sixties, driving bands. In 1970 I became the sound man for Led Zeppelin, which was interesting! This inspired me to get into the business of developing touring sound systems, first with Hiwatt and then with a couple of partners on our own account. Two of us then split away to start Soundcraft in 1973. We sold that business to Harman in 1988 for a substantial sum. By this time I could reasonably claim to be a successful entrepreneur and sales and marketing expert in the professional audio industry. These were my qualifications to rescue and revive the Focusrite brand.

When I acquired the assets of Focusrite Ltd. in April 1989 I formed a new team to build on the foundation of the company’s designs and build a new business to perpetuate the brand values established by Rupert Neve. However, for his own reasons Mr Neve decided not to remain involved with the brand though he was very helpful in enabling us to re-establish the business, along with Trevor Stride (designer of the ISA 130 amongst other things) and other engineers from the original company whose services we employed.

Our first actions were to get the outboard products back into production using the same external manufacturing partner and the ISA 110, ISA 115, ISA 130 and remote-controlled mic-pre, the PP4 became once again available.

The Focusrite Forte console, as purchased by Electric Lady and Master Rock studios, was re-evaluated with the input of the people responsible for maintaining those consoles and our conclusion was not to perpetuate an over-complex, flawed design but design a new console based around the building block of the ISA 110 mic-pre and EQ module, keeping the signal path as short as possible. In the process we learned everything there was to know about these circuit blocks, discovering minor errors and correcting them. For us production quality, fidelity to the original circuit designs as well as, at a later date, an open-minded approach to innovation informed our product management policy.

This is not to say that the Forte was a bad console from the engineer’s perspective. I know that a lot of people loved working with the board; the problems were maintenance oriented and heat was a big problem, along with FET switching.

Following the development of the Focusrite Studio Console, as still used by Jack Joseph Puig at Ocean Way (a decade-long lockout which has to be a record), we turned our attention to the “outboard” product range.

The original library of designs offered us a transformer-coupled mic-pre, the Focusrite EQ, and the Dynamics Control of the ISA 130.

The market for the original vertical modules ISA 110 (mic-pre and EQ) and ISA 130 (Dynamics) declined in size. This was as a result of the recession experienced in the studio industry in the early 1990’s and the fact that seemingly almost every major facility had already bought them, especially for SSL rooms where the sound of the console was not generally well regarded for tracking. Also the ISA rack system was an expensive overhead.

However there was a big rise in the number of personal recording studios being established, fuelled by the arrival of the ADAT and later the DAW and people were looking for outboard mic-pre’s, EQ’s and compressors to improve on the facilities in a typical small mixer. This prompted the introduction of the Red Range, which simply took the original ISA designs and repackaged them in useful, attractive configurations. The ISA 215 was also introduced which was simply two channels of ISA 110 in 2U rack unit.

The RED 1 Pre is exactly the same mic-pre as that found in the ISA 110, with the addition of a handy little VU meter (x4). Of course it was (and remains) based on the Lundahl transformer originally specified by Rupert Neve, as are the mic-pres in the ISA 220 Session Pack and ISA 430 Producer Pack today.

The RED 2 (now discontinued) was, simply, two channels of the same EQ as in the ISA 110. The RED 3 Compressor was derived from the ISA 130. The RED 6 (discontinued) was essentially the same as the ISA 110 and the RED 7 is the ISA pre-amp followed by the ISA-derived compressor and gate. RED 8 is a 2-channel version of RED 1.

If there is any difference in the sound of REDs compared to the equivalent ISAs it can only be in the layout of the printed circuit boards or the lack of wire between potentiometers and the PCB. They measure identically. All Red Range products are made in the U.K. by hand and use through-hole components. After a couple of years of production a few changes were made to RED 3; threshold and ratio switches were replaced with potentiometers, which many people prefer as pots provide continuous control rather than stepped. The make-up gain was always continuously variable. The line input transformer (which contributed nothing to the sound of the unit – unlike the transformer in the mic-pre) was replaced with an electronic balanced circuit whilst the output transformer was retained for isolation benefits.

Certainly the gorgeous red anodised and stainless steel case is fairly expensive to make, as is the entire unit, but is not disproportionate to the cost of the internal components. The Red Range is loved by thousands of owners around the world and has been in production for about 15 years without change (apart from those mentioned) and had a huge influence on 19’’ front panel design in the following years. Look at dbx 160SL, Millennia Media, Prism Sound for examples of imitative design. Even the Pro Tools HD rack units imitate the curved front panel of the Red Range.

Therefore, I must rebut Fletcher’s suggestion that the Red Range is ”average, or little above average gear stuffed into very costly, shiny boxes”, to quote Drew. Costly and shiny as the boxes are, the “gear” is the same “expensive boutique gear used by pro’s only” as in the original ISA’s.

As the 1990’s progressed we became aware of a growing demand for similar products but at a lower price point, sub-$1,000 street-price. Thus the Green Range was conceived. Now I will be the first to admit that the industrial design was controversial. I had my own reservations about the front panel appearance but it was very robust (a one-piece cast aluminium case finished in durable crackle-black – nothing shiny about it!). But our approach to the electronics was completely professional. In order to hit the desired price points we had to choose lower cost (Alps) potentiometers and switches, surface mount electronics and design new circuits for pretty much the first time.

Rob Jenkins, Technical Director and Chief Engineer at Focusrite comments on the Green Range designs:

The Green Range was designed to be different to the ISA range in several ways. For example, a transparent Mic Pre design was chosen, rather than the ISA pre design that interacts with the microphone. In other ways we took parallels from those things that made the ISA’s reliable high quality and professional working design - here are some examples:-

The input and output transformers of the ISA range were replaced with new circuits. The Mic Pre was designed using audiophile opamps from Linear Technology in a configuration that gave great noise figures and CMRR, key requirements for a Pro mic pre. The output stages were radical new designs using ultra wide bandwidth discrete line drivers with the same power drive as those original Class A/B discrete transistor transformer outputs. These circuits could easily have been replaced by more cost effective circuits, however the choices we made in our design approach and the high quality components we used made a real difference to the end result and ultimately justified our approach.

Compressors: most of the sound we hear as the character of a compressor comes from the sidechain that creates the compression curve and its envelope, however the sound quality of a compressor also relies upon the quality of its VCA. The original balanced discrete Class A VCA design of the ISA130 was something we wanted to retain and after much research and testing we found that using a balanced Class A design from Analog Devices met our tough criteria. This device was, at the time, the best commercially available VCA with the greatest dynamic range and lowest distortion and of course it was Class A! In contrast almost all other solid-state products on the market were using the dbx derived VCA’s, a Class A/B design available at a very fair price. Our design was consequently a much more expensive approach, however we made the design decision in terms of following through with our philosophy and we consequently found other ways to save cost, we looked to add value where it counts, in the audio circuits.

The Green range parametric EQ stages share exactly the same state variable topology as the ISA, this is a high count op-amp circuit and there are many simpler circuits that in theory can do the same job, however our experience shows us that this circuit is the best way to make a stable EQ that is pleasing to the ears in terms of sound and functional control variation. So we took the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach.

Finally, to suggest surface mount components are fundamentally inferior to conventional through-hole components is simply apocryphal prejudice and there is no rational evidence to justify this. Surface mount components come in many shapes and sizes and are made from many different types of materials, just like conventional components. Surface mount resistors and caps are just components without legs and are chosen in terms of the job they have to do and the power, voltage and accuracy required for the particular circuit. Designing with surface mount components is like any other design approach; the quality of the circuit performance comes from choosing the correct devices. If a capacitor is in the audio circuit path then choose a good polyester cap, not a poor quality ceramic, to minimise distortion and to increase accuracy. It’s not really an art but simply the application of knowledge and experience to solve a problem.

A lot of thought and care went into the design of the Green Range and I’m personally very proud that every product then, and since, has always offered something new or unique - no one in my design team is sat on their backsides producing mediocre designs.

In summary, designing something exclusive and expensive is not the greatest challenge to my team. We also like to take time to design equipment that makes a difference and we look to design out cost, without undue compromise, so that our products are within the economic reach of as many music makers as possible.

Having said that we also enjoy designing high-end products like the Liquid Channel. The microphone preamp in Liquid Channel is probably the most expensive in the world (and successfully emulates any mic-pre ever designed, provided we have measured it with our patented dynamic convolution process).

For an impartial view of the Green Range go to: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/feb97/focusritefeb97.html

The Green 3 Voicebox was the most popular of this range. Quoting from the original literature:

“The Green 3 Voicebox, the ultimate microphone signal path to any recording medium. It featured a single channel with an ultra-high quality mic preamp identical to Green 1, three stages of EQ (Mid parametric with notch switch us low and high shelving), plus a multi-function dynamics section including compressor, de-esser and noise-reducing expander allowing the user to add controlled musical compression (and also to over-compress with the de-esser when excessive frequency-related level is apparent, e.g. sibilance).

The Noise Reducing Expander allows the user to subtract any noise that may have been added by compression and equalization, therefore avoiding noise build-up and modulation.

The three band, ultra-high quality EQ includes both variable high and low stage filters to tilt the overall frequency response plus a special bell- shaped filter to add presence. The bell filter can also be switched to notch mode to remove any excessive frequencies caused by vocal sibilance. With an addition of a true response VU bar-graph meter and output fader, the Voicebox is a complete microphone path to virtually any recording medium, allowing the user to bypass their existing desk and record with greater clarity and control.”

In the latter 1990’s the Green Range became perceived as too expensive for the expanding market which was becoming polarized with high-end, expensive products at one end and ever cheaper mass-market solutions at the other. For us the design-challenge bar had been raised: to design products at a significantly lower cost without unacceptable sonic compromise. Our design team rose to the challenge with the Platinum Range, which has been enormously successful over the years with products like the VoiceMaster, TrakMaster, Compounder, Octopre and MixMaster providing affordable solutions with excellent sonic performance for very affordable prices.

This does not invalidate the ISA and Red Range products; the much larger component budgets allow for Lundahl transformers, superior switches and potentiometers, etc. These are products designed without compromise. In the Green and Platinum ranges, sensible compromises have been made to bring great products to a much larger number of people who aspire to make great recordings. I make no apology for that. I am always reminded of Mark (Spike) Stent (Madonna etc.) who in addition to his ISA’S and Liquid Channels has a rack of the cheapest Platinum, the TrakMaster which he loves.

Drew Townson erroneously refers to The Blue Range. This consisted of a Mastering Compressor BLUE 330 and Mastering EQ, BLUE 315. Based on the ISA circuits but augmented for stereo mastering, using all switched resistor networks rather than potentiometers for precise, repeatable control in very small steps. These were a very limited edition and were discontinued some time ago as the analogue mastering market contracted to uneconomic proportions.

What Drew was referring to has also been called the Blue Range by some but are in fact simply the latest iterations of the ISA range using the usual Lundahl mic-pre transformer, circuit topologies with the same opamps and the same discrete component values using surface mount components instead of through-hole. Rather than simply “a marketing ploy” to quote Drew, the ISA 430 Producer Pack and ISA 220 Session Pack (a simplified version) these products bring together in a channel strip format all the elements of the original ISA design family, the ISA 110 Mic-pre and EQ with Dynamics and optional integrated A/D conversion. These have proved highly popular with Pro’s and indeed almost anyone who has tried them (not sure if Drew really has). We have sold many thousands.

Focusrite first collaborated with Digidesign in 1995 with an agreement to co-develop two plug-ins based on the RED 2 and RED 3. These are known as d2 and d3 and are probably the most widely used plug-ins for Pro Tools. Now say what you like about Pro Tools; it is the market-leading DAW by far, just like SSL was the most widely used large format studio console though it was not universally regarded as superior to e.g. Neve in sonic terms (which gave Rupert Neve, when he started Focusrite, the opportunity almost to create the market for outboard mic-pre and EQ). Sometimes people will choose functionality over sonic superiority in their primary system then seek to improve the sonic performance at the front end and / or back end with outboard devices. Life involves compromise! Personally I prefer the sound of tape (call me old fashioned). So tracking onto tape and transferring to Pro Tools HD is a great compromise.

Focusrite was subsequently asked to design the Control 24, Mbox and Command 8 for sale by Digidesign, which have proved very successful for Digidesign and Focusrite. So the co-branding refers to the entire design, not just the mic-pres. The Mbox mic-pre’s were a challenge as they had to run on USB bus power (as a requirement of the design specification). The Control 24 and Command 8 mic pre’s are taken from the Platinum Range and are very clean, not adding any particular character. Digidesign distributed Focusrite for a number of years but we moved on when we both anticipated a conflict of interest arising with our Firewire interfaces, the Saffire Range.

Drew and Fletcher are of course entitled to their opinion and we to ours. In my view there were originally commercial reasons why Mercenary did not any longer offer Focusrite products and this has been justified by ill-informed or simply untrue reasons. I take no issue with Mercenary’s support for the excellent brands and products they have pioneered and represent. Good for them!

When asked why Mercenary do not represent Focusrite I would suggest a better response would be simply to say “commercial differences” and leave it at that. Mercenary Audio like exclusive, or limited availability, products. We like our products to be widely available and competitively priced.

Wow!!, that was long!!! If you made it all the way here you're a better man than I am... my eyes glazed over somewhere around the part where they used cheaper components so they could make the face panel green... or something like that. The bottom line... where I guess Phil and I will have to agree to disagree is that the "Liquid Channel" is a piece of shit... and that the rest of the Focusrite line doesn't live up to our personal standards at Mercenary... no matter whose names are dropped as users, nor whose transformers are employed.

The only "commercial differences" is that Mercenary tries to avoid trafficking in crap [we choose to lose that commerce]... and while we sincerely wish Phil and Focusrite the best of luck and success with all they do, Mercenary just can not support the equipment. Believe it or not, I consider Phil a friend... he's a really great guy with a lovely family who I honestly believe feels is doing the right thing with the entry level stuff they spew... there is a difference of opinion... you've read our's, you've read their's, now you've read this crap... now how about you walk away from the computer and make some music.

Fletcher

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