Every music maker is constantly in search of that special something that can make their mixes stand apart from the crowd. Like its namesake, Universal Audio's A-Type multiband dynamic enhancer plug-in is based on the Dolby Laboratories A-Type noise reduction system introduced in 1965. In basic terms, the original A-Type circuit is a compressor/expander (compander) with four frequency bands and individual compressors for each band. During the A-Type encoding process, lower-level signals are boosted while emphasizing high end frequencies often associated with tape noise. During the decoding process, the A-Type expands the signal back to the original dynamic range while reducing the noise that was boosted during the encoding process. However, despite their obvious utility for commercial studios, there’s an old studio trick with these modules outside of their intended purpose.
I had the opportunity to speak with Universal Audio’s Senior Product Designer, Will Shanks, about the impetus of the plug-in and the role that UA’s James Santiago played in inspiring A-Type’s development during his ongoing archival work of Sound City’s tape vault. Here’s what Will had to say: “The Sound City [Studios] plug-in [Tape Op #159] was really great synchronicity; James Santiago had asked Dr. Dave Berners [#69] for a decode plug-in because he was tired of fighting the aged A-Type [hardware]. It started life as a decoder. And if you’re going to make a decoder, you’re already making encode, so that’s Excite right there. But the plug-in that James used was just the decoder with a gain control so that you could send in your tones and set the meter to zero. It gave him the functionality of running the A-Type hardware. That’s how it started. We might refer to this as a ‘skunkworks project’ at UA, but it served a useful need for James. Dave is a compressor nut. I’m sure he knew what to do already, and just made it for him, and he started using it right away. James sent the loaner 24-track A-type analog system back to Alan Sides [#106], and that eliminated a lot of steps from the restoration and archiving process. You’re not dealing with flaky ELCO connections or bad card edges. It took a lot of the stress out of archiving. Almost all of the tapes at Sound City are A-Type encoded.” This is a noble use of technology. Will adds, “The good news is that you can run already digitized multitracks or masters through the plug-in, and get it flat.”
However, late at night, alone in dark rooms when no one else is listening, engineers like to fuck around and find out by using gear for unintended purposes. None of us were in the room when engineers such as Keith Olsen [Tape Op #33] and Roy Thomas Baker perfected and popularized the use of the Dolby Laboratories A-Type as an enhance or air effect on individual tracks. This truth is born through multitrack masters with specific tracks labeled “Do not decode!” You can hear these creative uses on records by Fleetwood Mac, The Cars, Queen, Journey – it’s that vocal spice we begin to hear on nearly every hit from the early ‘80s and on. Though A-Type’s utility as an archiving tool cannot be understated, the encode without decode classic studio trick that you can now use on your laptop (and studio) mixes is a shining example of what Universal Audio does best.
I was excited to get my ears on the A-Type as an effect. Universal Audio’s UIs have always been fun, and this plug-in does look like an old Dolby Laboratories 361 hardware unit but it’s definitely got its own thing going on. There are five primary modes (Excite, Expand, Air, Crush, and Gated) with clearly labeled bright-colored buttons. A large Amount knob adjusts the threshold with an auto-gain feature. A Mix knob takes care of parallel wet/dry adjustment. The old-school broadcast-style indicator can switch between input (IN) and gain reduction (GR) metering. The original hardware only had an input meter, and in GR mode, the meter can "look over the top." The three-position sidechain (SC) filter options include low cut, tilt, and off modes. On designing the UI, Will says, “The great thing is, if you’re emulating hardware you’ve got a lot of cues to draw from. I bought every permutation of A-Type hardware that I could find, so [the UI] is a bit of an amalgam of Dolby A-Type hardware, including some test equipment where the knobs came from, the Cat. No. 43 [Film Processor] boxes that actually had multiband, the 361, of course, and the original older unit – the 301. There are little nods to the complete history of the A-Type hardware.”
Expand mode is effectively the decode mode ideal for transferring Dolby Type-A encoded analog tape to digital. There’s a built-in A-Type EXPAND Stock HW Decode preset, or, when in Expand mode, users can click A-Type’s grease pencil marks on the Amount and Mix knobs for the same settings. Will notes that “The (original) A-Type was always monophonic; there was never a stereo version of it.” UA’s A-Type operates in stereo, multiple mono, or mono, which can be handy when restoring a stereo mix with, say, a left channel out of calibration, for example. Though it may take some tweaking, A-Type to the rescue!
Excite mode (or encode) is the main trick for me with this plug-in, especially on lead vox. If you make it easy, I’m going to go there. It’s also known as “Stretch” (see our review of Standard Audio’s Stretch dynamics processor [Tape Op #113]) or "John Lennon" mode. I agreed with Will’s statement that once you figure it out “you can’t unhear it.” I also love it on acoustic instruments, such as piano and guitar. I’m hearing more articulation (at times) from the piano, and neck finger work from the acoustic. This mode is a nice (and easy) way to make almost any track pop out of a mix, especially when other go-to solutions aren’t working or you’re having volume fights between tracks in the midrange. I’m mixing an East Bay punk rock record with distorted bass, a la the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” A 3 kHz boost just wasn’t giving me the presence I needed. A-Type’s Excite mode saved the day. If I’d started there, I could’ve saved myself two and a half hours. The band wanted the vocals folded into the mix, so boosting wasn’t an option; Excite worked well in that instance, too. I was happy with the instant gratification, but had to know more, so I asked Will about some of the transient shaping qualities that were happening with Type-A’s architecture. “The great thing is that, without any further manipulation, Excite is doing pretty much everything that you would want it to without needing to touch anything else. The principle in which it works is leaving alone louder signals and bringing up the details. It can introduce unwanted noise, so it’s great to have Amount and Mix. While it doesn’t work like a traditional compressor, and might be kind of counterintuitive, it is quite cool and unique.”
Because Excite is the prototypical A-Type effect, Air mode can sometimes be overlooked. However, it can be beautiful but it also has an elegant, grainy vibe. The obvious choice for this may be background vocals, but it’s really special on FM synth pads and string orchestra patches in that “hair standing up on the back of your neck or floating on a cloud” way. Will on Air mode: “It’s a mod. That particular mode came from the original 301, when it was a card cage – and it probably happened by accident because it had cards that slid in and out – that was the two lower bands. If that’s not in, it’s this totally other sound – this super high (Steve) Perry [Tape Op #142] sound that ended up becoming pretty well-loved and widely used, especially on background vocals, but I’m sure other things too.”
Crush (single band) and Gated mode are so fun on snare and percussion in general. Crush mode is my new favorite go-to alternative to an 1176 all buttons in on drum room mics. It’s also a cool saturation option. Will says, “That particular mod was created internally. But for me personally, that was the gateway to falling in love with the whole thing. I heard in the next room being auditioned, and I was like, ‘Holy crap. What is this sound?’ I walked in, and it was the software version of Crush. So, the plug-in had already been created. When I heard it, I immediately wanted it for our Sound City Studios plug-in, which is where we first put out some of these (A-Type) effects. So (Sound City) has everything but the decode, at least in a simple form. If you look at Excite, it’s a four band process, and so is decode, or Expand mode. And then Air, it’s the omission of the two lower bands. But then Crush is actually the full frequency range through a single band. We call it ‘single band mode.’ It’s actually a FET compressor like an 1176. But it’s got a different theory of operation and set of behaviors that sounds similar to an 1176, but you can kind of see through it better, in my opinion.” I agree. It’s almost like it’s not giving me the bandwidth limitation of the 1176’s output amplifier. Gated mode, in the right circumstance, is an excellent variation of Crush. It’s super simple to use with the Amount knob affecting both a simple signal gate and the single band compressor. The Mix knob controls only the wetness of the Crush compression.
For more flexibility the Circuit Mod section allows beyond-hardware, nerd-level tweakability with Knee, Release, and crossover gains. A ratio button disables the A-Type’s variable ratio in favor of a customized 4:1 mode. SC (sidechain) Link offers another level of creativity. To gain a better understanding of not only how A-Type works with different source materials but also wrap your head around the Circuit Mods section in general, I suggest starting with the artist presets provided in the plug-in’s GUI. You’ll have to remind yourself that using presets is not cheating; it can be a purposeful learning tool. I’m not typically a tweaker when it comes to customizing plug-in parameters or even outboard settings – if I can’t dial it in in five minutes, I might move on. However, I’ll make an argument for paying attention to the Circuit Mods panel – especially the crossover features!
Speaking of mods, Will broke down the architecture of the original CAT. No. 22 cards, and how that helped them customize Type-A, bringing a higher level of functionality and flexibility: “Many features are mods, because the (original) A-Type was so simple. It had encode and decode, and it had a fixed wet/dry blend for that. The hardware is pretty limited if you want to use it as an effect. The cool thing is that with the hardware, it’s all cartridge-based. We were able to explore many mods by tweaking those cards. Whether it’s changing the wet/dry blend, or eliminating the dry altogether, enabling or disabling different bands – almost everything we experimented with started out as a modification to those CAT. No. 22 cards. But there were things that were not vetted by way of the cards, like the ability to individually control the gains and crossovers if you want to use it as more of a dynamic EQ. It’s quite cool that the digital features go beyond what the hardware can do.”
We also talked about a shift in UA’s goals with A-Type in terms of gear preservation versus music preservation. “I think with the A-Type plug-in, it goes beyond what we normally do with our hardware emulations and pushes focus to the restoration of records themselves. That feels really good.” I had a lot of fun with A-Type, and though I did not use this plug-in for restoration/archiving purposes, I can already tell that I will be using it for nearly all of my future mixes in the foreseeable future: Boosting a little less high end on my vocals in trade for Excite, and using Crush mode as my new favorite saturator/1176 all buttons in replacement. More importantly, I’ll save time and make better choices.