Drawmer 1973 Three-Band Stereo FET Compressor

Providing three bands of transparent, intuitive compression that any engineer will appreciate, the 1973 from Drawmer is a stereo FET compressor with a fast-reacting soft-knee design that makes mixing and mastering jobs a breeze. Combining a set of crossover filters that split the audio signal into three frequency bands, each band is compressed and independently adjusted, allowing you to find and process frequencies in each band with great precision without affecting the other bands before the final output.

With variable wet/dry mix and output gain, you can engage in parallel compression internally, without the need for external audio gear, and each band sports the features one expects of a studio-grade compressor, including threshold, gain, mute, bypass, and switched attack and release, including program dependent release settings. You can use the Big and Air switches to activate low- and high-frequency boosts respectively, and the two analog VU meters make it easy to keep an eye on your signal levels, including a +10 dB meter rescale mode, and a switchable Peak mode to see fast transients. The 1973 includes an AC power cord, and an internal, toroidal power supply with user-selectable voltage switching for global compatibility.

The 1973 can pull off impressive feats that a single-band compressor could never accomplish. For example, it can easily prevent an acoustic guitar, cello, or double bass from sounding boomy on low notes without thinning the highs, and it can make shrill-sounding vocal tracks richer, thicker, and less raspy by individually compressing the low, mid, and high bands.

In a mastering situation, having independent control over each band can resolve a problem mix, pulling out individual instruments, brightening the brilliance/air, or making the bottom end of a mix sound huge while simultaneously avoiding pumping or breathing artifacts. It can also increase the available headroom.

Multiband compressors can be intimidating and difficult to use due to the number of controls and the confusing layout typical of such units. With this in mind, the 1973 has been designed to be as simple, familiar, and intuitive as possible whilst still giving complete control over the audio.

The front panel consists of three nearly identical compressor bands, flowing left to right, with the Variable Crossover Frequency knobs separating them. To the right are the large, illuminated VU Meters, with variable Output controls and the bypass switch underneath.

Incorporated into the 1973 is the Mix Control. This acts like a parallel compression effect that mixes the Wet (compressed) and Dry (original) signals to provide a simple and exact way of controlling the amount of compression used, all with the turn of a single knob.

One criticism of multiband compression is that it is possible to take the effect too far and ruin a mix, but this is easily prevented with the 1973 through the use of the Mix control, allowing you mix in less of the wet signal and more dry. By the same token, the mix control can add more compression simply by adding more of the wet signal. It's that simple.

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