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Waves Audio & Abbey Road Studios Unveil RS56 Passive EQ Plug-In

Faithfully recreates the RS56 Universal Tone Control, used for years at Abbey Road Studios

Waves Audio and long-term collaborators, London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios, have introduced the new RS56 passive EQ plug-in, based on the original RS56 Universal Tone Control utilized on a multitude of classic recordings.

A passive equalizer with powerful sound-shaping capabilities, the RS56 Universal Tone Control was originally introduced in the early 1950s and used at Abbey Road Studios to prepare recordings for the record-lathe, as part of the process we now know as “mastering.”

Later, Abbey Road’s pop engineers began using the RS56 for studio recordings because of its abilities to dramatically manipulate sound – unlike the basic treble and bass EQs found on the mixing consoles at the time. This earned it the nickname “The Curve Bender.”

Waves and Abbey Road Studios have faithfully recreated the unique magic of the RS56, using advanced circuit modeling techniques based on the original schematics.

Like its hardware predecessor, the Waves Abbey Road RS56 passive EQ plug-in features three bands with four selectable center frequencies for each and six different filter types, plus independent or linked control over the left and right channels.

Abbey Road Studios director of engineering Peter Cobbin says, “The RS56 plug-in has already joined the ranks of my go-to list, as it delivers an inviting sonic character along with a logical functionality. I would encourage any engineer to get creative with some lovely old-time curve bending, and tap into this fabulous piece of Abbey Road heritage.”

Controls
—Bass decibels sets the amount of low frequency boost or cut
—Bass width sets the shape of the filter
—Bass frequency sets the low frequency cutoff point
—Bass on/off deactivates low frequency processing
—Treble decibels sets the amount of midrange frequency boost or cut
—Treble width sets the shape of the filter
—Treble frequency sets the midrange frequency cutoff point
—Top on/off deactivates high frequency processing

Output Level:
—In Stereo and Duo modes: Controls the left and right channel levels
—In MS mode: The left knob controls the Mid channel; the right knob controls the Sides channel level.
—Phase inverts the phase of the signal

EQ Mode selects stereo processing mode (stereo component only):
—Stereo relatively links the channels and applies the same processing to both.
—Duo unlinks the channels and offers the option of applying different processing to each.
—MS applies an MS encoding matrix on the input to the plugin

—Graph Range sets the range of the EQ graph
—VU Meters display output VU readings
—VU Level Calibration sets the dBFS level which appears as 0 VU

The Waves Abbey Road RS56 passive EQ plug-in is Native and SoundGrid compatible. It is not included in any Waves bundle, and is only available separately.

It is now available with a U.S. MSRP of Native $200, with a special introductory price of $99, and SoundGrid $300, with a special introductory price of $149.

Waves Audio

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