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WHY AUDIO TRANSFORMERS
In the never ending search for unique audio flavor and quality, studio engineers are constantly buying gear to find the holey grail combination. The sonic qualities found in many genera’s of music from the 60’s and 70’s sound the way they do, because of audio transformers. Strategically placing rare audio transformers between audio equipment used to create a “channel strip” would create a very unique sound, that would be hard to reproduce by other engineers. Vintage sonic building blocks.
Audio transformers are vintage audio components used in recording studio equipment, including mixing consoles, pre-amps, direct boxes, amplifiers, equalizers, compressors and limiters. The analog conversion of electrical audio signals to magnetic signals, then back again to electrical signals brings color, detail, improved sonic image, spatial separation and ear pleasing harmonics to audio tracks. A critical component, used by many studio engineers, musicians and recording studios.
Audio transformers can be found in many shapes and sizes, the basic types are input, output, E/I core and Toroidal core. Audio transformers are forgotten technology, responsible for the amazing sound heard on many vintage recordings from around the world. World famous hip hop, boom bap and lofi beat makers have been sampling music from vinyl records made with audio transformers for years. Defining the sound of hip hop music through the sampling of all genres of music.
ANALOG SUMMING & TRANSFORMERS
After you get the sequences and tracks arranged the way you want them, you can print the tracks and mix down your songs. Stereo groups, DAW tracks, analog tape recorders, digital multitrack recorders, stereo tracking units… All of these can benefit from the use of audio transformers placed in the signal path. As the tracks pass through the electromagnetic medium, sounds are glued together in an ear pleasing way. Adding cohesiveness to the sonic elements within the mix.
The same principles apply in regard to summing and mastering. If you add audio transformers to the signal path, the result will be improved sonic quality, added analog flavor and size. Kick drum and bass frequencies will stand out in a way that is very pleasing to the ear, due to low end phase shift. Many professional studio and mastering engineers such as Bernie Grundman, have been using audio-transformers for mastering in the music industry for several decades now.
For sampling and recording, transformers optimize the connection between the source and the destination. Most samplers and drum machines today are digital computers using software to deliver DAW capability. By using audio transformers when sampling in to your drum machine or DAW, you optimize the quality of the sound recording right from the start. Giving the op-amps and converters a high quality signal. Each time you use a transformer it adds another layer of sonic flavor.
BOUTIQUE AUDIO TRANSFORMERS
Audio transformers are like audio pharmaceuticals, once you listen to music on them you won’t be able to put them down. There’s something about the warm mid range and vocals, the large rumbling low end, and the crispy metallic highs that will have you craving for more. Digital audio software and DAW’s introduced us to recording studio equipment only available in high end studios. Allowing us to experience the wonder of analog audiophile in our own home or project studios. Now with today’s resurgence of analog audio hardware, we get to experience it as physical gear.
After extensive research we’ve found a rare collection of high quality audio transformers from around the world. Input and output transformers of all shapes and sizes with some beautiful vintage audio characteristics. The core materials range from iron, to steel to nickle alloys, providing a nice selection of nostalgic sonic flavors. Some of them are the same units that are used in Rupert Neve equipment. Others come from the USSR and Europe and are exclusively available from Big Noise.
15 new Boutique Audio Transformer designs; Input transformers will come in a modular format, allowing transformers to be interchanged via high quality ceramic octal tube connectors. Output transformers come enclosed in die-cast aluminum boxes, with options to select transformer ratio, termination and attenuation. Please stay tuned we’re very excited about these new designs!
