By Dave Crane
With the release of version 4.6 of the UAD drivers and software, the Helios Type 69 EQ makes its debut. The UAD Helios Type 69 EQ was modeled after a channel in a famous Helios mixing board that now resides in Jason Carmer’s home studio in Berkeley, CA. I went up there, armed with a video camera, to record Jason going to work on a rock mix. He showed me how he uses the Helios EQ (as well a couple of UA’s hardware compressors) to create a stunningly powerful mix. I left the studio with the videotape and the audio files he used on the mix, so I could recreate the same mix with the UAD Helios EQ, as well as the UAD 1176LN and UAD LA-2A plug-ins.
But first, a little history about Jason, and his Helios board. Jason Carmer made his name recording and co-producing Third Eye Blind’s Out of the Vein album. Since then he has gone on to record and produce The Donnas hit album Spend the Night, as well as some work with Vanessa Carlton. You can read a full interview with Jason in the July 2003 edition of the UA webzine.
Jason's famous board was the first Helios console in existence. It was commissioned and custom built for Island Records Basing Street studio in London. Bob Marley's "Exodus", Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", mixing and overdubs for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and various Steve Winwood albums are among the many landmarks recorded on this very console.
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| Figure 1: UAD Helios Type 69 EQ |
Many years and thousands of records later, Jason Carmer lovingly (and expensively) maintains his Helios console in his unnamed Berkeley, California, studio, and considers it the best-sounding console ever made. "There's something about them that seems to work really well with rock and reggae," Carmer states. "When I listen to Led Zeppelin, I can really hear the Helios console. You have the ability to turn up EQs all the way, or to cut things all the way, without causing pain."
“The frequency points work great for specific instruments, like boosting 60 cycles on the kick drum works great, and boosting 100 cycles works great for the bass. I like to boost 200 cycles on snares. … I’m literally following the silk-screened instructions on the desk!”
Other Helios users were Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and Queen, basically the pioneers of classic British rock. Third Eye Blind’s Out of the Vein was recorded on this console as well.
On this particular project, Jason Carmer was working with Guns N' Roses co-songwriter and keyboard player Chris Pittman, who also has his own band, Sex Tapes TM. They were vibing Led Zeppelin pretty heavy on their song, “The Stranger,” and that’s why he turned to Jason and his amazing Helios console. In the video, we go through a few of the elements of the mix, and hear Jason using the Helios EQ, as well as UA’s 2-LA-2 (a stereo LA-2A), and 1176LN compressor.
Although the drums were extensively miked, Jason kept it pretty simple for the mix, as he used only the kick, snare, and two distant mics. The distant mics were placed about 40 feet away from the kit, since the room they recorded in was large, and sounded great. Using UA’s upcoming 2-LA-2 stereo optical compressor really brought out the sound of this room, and I found myself asking, “Are you sure there is no reverb on the snare?”
What I noticed was the incredible low-end this EQ produced, and it made the kick drum sound huge with a 15dB boost at 60 Hz, as well as the distant mics, which also received a 15dB boost at 60 Hz.
The high end also brought out a lot of snap in the kick, even though the shelf starts at 10 kHz. It is a pretty broad shelf, and with the 14dB boost, the upper midrange frequencies of the snap of the kick is effected. The midrange controls really brought out the “meat” of the guitars, with a 6dB boost at 300 Hz.
In this nine-minute video, Jason is playing the session in Pro Tools though a Digidesign HD interface. Each track is routed to a different channel on the Helios mixing board. We then recorded the 2 channel output of the Helios board while Jason was mixing. When the plug-ins are on the screen, that's yours truly mixing the tracks in Cubase 4, and using only the UAD Helios Type 69 EQ, UAD 1176LN, and LA-2A plug-ins.
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