John Kerns...
I can’t say enough good things about the Buzz Audio ARC that I got a
couple of months ago. This piece is simply amazing. I can’t tell you
how many fantastic comments I received about vocal sounds and tones
on the Sum
41 tour. It was really the most in-your-face vocal sound that I
have achieved in a live situation. Totally cool, it will most certainly
be my first pick of gear for any gigs that I do from now on! The pre
had TONS of gain, and totally flexible tonally with the variable impedence
and switchable tranny and an output control as well. Everything from
super pristine clean to overdriven is available. The EQ combined with
the high pass filter gave more than enough control, even on days when
we were downstage of the PA a bit. You can really carve with this EQ
as well if you needed to. As for the compressor, it has quickly become
my favorite for vocals in no time. 6-8dB of reduction at 5:1 is just
killing. Not audible, but it just sits and allows me to mix the rest
of the show instead of riding vocals all night.
Here's a couple of pics for you, a general shot of my FOH setup for
the Sum 41 tour, and one
of the travelling racks for this tour.
Posted by John Kerns, FOH Engineer, Feb 2008.
Tijmen Zinkhaan...
I'm very happy with the ARC. It does exactly what I need it for which
is vocals in live-situations. Bright but never sharp, big but never
boomy, dynamical but never too much or too little. With Gino Vannelli
for example I tend to boost a lot of 120Hz, and then set the lowcut
at 200Hz. It doesn't make much sense I guess, but it sounds wonderful
and he loves it. I don't know many channel strips that could handle
this so well. I tried a couple before I tried the ARC. Also in broadcast
situations it works wonderfully. In the studio I have not used it yet
with always a SSL 9k or a Neve at hand there doesn't seem much need
for it. Compliments for the auto settings on the compressor! I use them
quite often, which is new for me.
I never use the auto settings on compressors but on the ARC they often
seem to do the job just right.
July 2007
Tijmen is a freelance recording and broadcast engineer in The Netherlands
Pieter Bourke...
I've only had
the ARC for a short time and after working with it on several tracks
lately, I'm really appreciating the improvement in the sound of my mixes.
As an electronic producer, I got the ARC mainly to use on key elements
during mixdown; namely vocals, drums and bass. The ability to process
several sounds at once with high quality EQ and dynamics is wonderful.
Great unit Tim!
July 2006. Australia.
Secret Masters.
Mladjan Milanovic...
This box is awesome! I have no hesitation in recommending this unit,
a world-class product!
May 2006.
BT Recordings
Switzerland.
Emre Ramazanoglu...
OK, this box is awesome. It was my go to unit (borrowed unfortunately)
for a whole month of tracking on one project recently. I had a reasonable
selection of gear, but the compressor and eq were the winners pretty
much every time. The first thing I have to mention is FLEXIBILITY, just
to be able to patch into and out of any section is fantastically handy.
The non-detented impedence sweeping on the mic preamp really helped
with several of the ribbon mics I was using and, my original worry that
40db
gain may not have been enough was immediately swept away. [The mic
pre actually has up to 65dB gain, plus another 10db if you use the Main
out - Buzz Audio]
If
you are worrying about the colossal amount of circuitry the signal must
pass through, don't, this thing is QUIET!! I particularly loved the
tranny option on the output stage, the obvious thickening effect that
was controllable in intensity by the gain into the output stage is a
great great feature.
While there has been mention of the lack of dedicated bypass switching
for the eq and comp sections being a problem, in practice (and I used
this unit in MANY MANY configurations) I did not find this to be an
issue at all. A small but pertinant point was that I found the toggle
switches used for switching different states throughout the ARC very
clear and perhaps less confusing than many leds would have been in low-light
situations.
The eq is very flexible and really pretty fully featured. The high pass
filter saw alot of usage, and I found it to have a very satisying smoothness.
The high shelf is switchable between tight and broad shelving, the tight
setting really accentuating the airy highs of your material. The low
shelf I found to be surprisingly punchy on both the 60Hz and 120Hz freq
settings. I hate to return to the same word all the time, but flexibility
was my buzz-word (groan) for the parametric section of the eq. The large
areas of crossover between the two bands and the wide variance in q-width
is enormously helpful in rapidly flicking between accurate carving and
more broad tone changes. Let alone that each stage of the eq can be
assigned to the sidechain of the comp section.
The compressor was particularly wonderful on the few bass sources I
tracked during the session, as well as the lead singers vox and every
acoustic guitar it touched. The auto mode on both attack and release
was really good on the acoustic guitars, wherease I played a little
more with the attack and release settings on the vocals with a ratio
of 5:1 (I ended up using
mainly slow attack). I found the
compressor to be very good for just subtle gain reduction if I didn't
cane it, but I wouldn't say the compressor is universally transparent,
it can be allowed to have a wonderful thickening effect on the sound
(very handy having it switchable pre and post eq too) and you can get
it to pump if ya want. It was however satisfyingly musical in all the
applications I put it to.
The peak metering leds were absolutely fine and it seemed that the red
overload led was always active even when the main meters were switched
out, or just the comp section was switched to an external source for
example (quite useful for a quick flick of the eyes over the rack).
I have no hesitation in recommending this unit, a world-class product!
London, March 2005. Visit
Emre's website
Steve Upston ...
The ARC is one of those boxes that can change your life. Initially I
thought it was one of those complicated tools that you need to be a
rocket scientist to operate, how wrong I was. The layout and connectivity
is simple as ABC, with plenty of options. But really it's the sound
that got me, promoted as a vocal processor which it nails with ease,
I also used it in a mix on drums (fixed a particularly no bite snare
using the EQ and Limiter) and also tracking a cello, the preamp and
compressor brought out the smooth deep character of the instrument.
On a rock track I used the side chain and eq to clean up the voice and
then flicked the transformer switch, yeah haa!! the voice was huge even
in a humungusly loud track.
I'd recomend this box to anyone be they a home studio operator or have
the largest studio in the universe, its one of tools that allow you
to sculpt your music in the real world and allow that elusive sound
you have in your head to be heard by the rest of us.
March 2005. Breaker Bay Studio, New Zealand.
Rich Tamblyn...
What can I say about the Buzz Audio ARC? Where to start? It's a fantastic
clean pre with loads of extra gain? (perfect for ribbons) or the killer
compressor? How about the EQ? AND what about the fact each bit can be
used simultaneously and seperately too? Can you say 'value for money?'.
This box has become my tracking swiss army knife. Now I want a pair!"
UK. Feb 2005. Vist Rich's website The
Old Blacksmiths
Andrew
Leavitt...
First off, I'm still loving the box. Really loving it. I've used it
mostly for vox (sung and rapped), acoustic guitars, and some percussion,
too. The preamp is fab (clean, fast), the eq is lovely and the compressor
just *kills* on vox. One of the producers I work for has been renting
the unit when I'm not using it because he loves it so much. (Full disclosure:
he's said how much he loves it on a couple of occasions when I've not
actually patched it into anything, but he's the boss!). All of the sections
of the unit are top-notch and the patching versatility just makes me
wonder why can't everything be so thoughtfully designed? I'm not sure
when the budget will allow it, but I'd love to have a second unit for
stereo stuff.
USA. Jan 2005.
Scott Gould...
I have been able to play with the ARC a bit, but (being alone in
the studio) I've barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. I
do think it will be my 'go to' preamp for ribbon mics (love the variable
impedance). It also sounds magical with the Gefell UM75 on piano or
acoustic guitar. I can't wait to really dig into the EQ and compressor
sections - I'll be sure to keep you posted.
Nov 2004. Private Studio in Florida
