In this show & tell video review James takes a look and listen to the new Focusrite Red 2 EQ and Red 3 Compressor that are now bundled with many Focusrite interface and are available to existing registered owners of a Focusrite interface too. James wanted to explore if it was possible to mix a track only only using the Red 2 & Red 3 plug-ins.

To answer that question, he tries this approach on a guitar led rock track with vocals. Watch as James takes you on a tour of the GUI and shows off some go the plug-in presets and applies his ideas to these powerful yes affordable plug-ins.

The Focusrite Red Plug-in Suite

The Red 2 & Red 3 Plug-in Suite accurately models Focusrite’s classic Red range equalizer and compressor hardware – letting you exploit the originals’ famous sound, conveniently from within your audio software. 

Let’s look at design of the original hardware….

• The Red 2 hardware is derived from the ISA 215 equalizer circuits, initially designed for the Focusrite Forte console with it’s 6-band configuration with high and low-pass filters.
• The Red 3 hardware uses the same circuit topology as the ISA130 compressor module, based around an innovative proprietary VCA design that earned Focusrite a TEC award for Outstanding Technical Achievement in Signal Processing Technology. The unique implementation utilises three VCAs in series on the side chain to achieve true compression followed by limiting.

The Red 2 and Red 3 plug-ins faithfully reproduce the sonic qualities of the hardware, allowing you to get detailed dynamic and tonal control of your mix, and tap into the classic ‘Red’ sound.