In the RS124 Compressor, Chandler Limited reckons to have recreated of one of the most coveted audio valve compressors of all time – the EMI/Abbey Road RS124, which was built for use at Abbey Road Studios and never commercially available.
Designed in 1960 by Abbey Road Technical Head Bill Livy, Deputy Head Len Page and seasoned EMI Audio Designer Mike Bachelor, the Abbey Road RS124 compressor is one of the most coveted pieces of recording gear ever developed. Born out of the inadequate Altec 436Bs acquired by EMI in the late 1950s for Abbey Road Studios, the RS124 compressor is most closely associated with recordings made by The Beatles at Abbey Road Studios. Present on virtually every Beatles session, the RS124 left its remarkable signature across most of the catalogue.
The RS124’s character and ability to tame transients without muffling the sound at steep compression levels, quickly became popular with Abbey Road Studios engineers and widely used throughout the now historic studio, for tracking, bus compression, mixing and mastering. They were so integral to the recording and mixing process that a pair can be seen in almost every control room photo in Abbey Road Studios during the 1960s.
Pervious attempts to recreate the compressor have suffered from incomplete information and supposition, and have never fully captured its performance or character. Schematics themselves tell only part of the story, and access to Abbey Road Studios’ historic units and various hand written modification notes proved paramount in understanding the true nature of the Abbey Road RS124 compressor and variances between units.
Many revisions were carried out since its inception, and as a result, the Abbey Road RS124 valve compressor has remained a mystery for decades.
Available now, the Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor harnesses the sound and personalities of Abbey Road Studios’ favourite historic RS124 Compressors (Ser. No’s 60070B, 60050A and 61010B) still in use at the studio to this day, in a single unit.
Along with features found on the originals – Input control, Output attenuation, Recovery (release) control and Hold – the Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor offers modern facilities such as adjustable attack, selectable output impedance and a special feature,dubbed the SuperFuse.
