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Although Helios Electronics only existed from 1969 to 1979, the sound of Helios consoles has become legendary thanks to their use on landmark records like Led Zeppelin IV, Are You Experienced?, and Their Satanic Majesties Request. In 2018, three entrepreneurs came together to form a new company dedicated to reviving the Helios Sound: H2 Audio. Founded by the minds behind Acme Audio and Q2 Audio, H2 Audio’s stated goal is “to recreate the Helios sound exactly as it was in its prime; not ‘inspired by,’ but circuit-for-circuit accurate, built with the same quality parts and precision.”
Delivering on that promise, H2 Audio has meticulously recreated Helios founder Dick Swettenham’s original circuits, preserving the beloved Helios sound in a range of new products. With a variety of channel strips, preamps, EQs, and compressors in 19” and 500 Series formats, H2 Audio’s product range makes the iconic tone of 1970s British rock accessible to everyone.
Prior to starting Helios in 1969, Dick Swettenham worked as a maintenance engineer at Abbey Road Studios and later as Technical Director at another London institution: Olympic Sound Studios. Back then, all the big studios used custom consoles built by in-house engineers, and Swettenham was tasked with building a new multitrack desk for Olympic. His design featured a unique wraparound layout, ergonomically angled channel strips, and, most importantly, extremely musical preamps, EQs, and summing.
Word quickly got around to other studios, and Swettenham soon found his designs in high demand. “In 1969 I was 'head-hunted' to equip the new studios of Chris Blackwell's Island Records in Basing Street, London,” Swettenham wrote on the Helios website in 1999. “When leading pop record people saw what was being built for Island, orders flooded in.” Other early clients included The Beatles’ Apple Studios, The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and The Manor and Townhouse studios owned by Virgin Records.
In its heyday, Helios rivaled Neve and SSL in the UK and enjoyed popularity throughout Germany, Scandinavia, and the US. But as the recording industry boomed and more professional studios began popping up, so did more competition. “By the late seventies, the purchasing decisions for audio mixing consoles were moving away from sonic quality to appearance: it became a game of 'knobs per dollar’,” Swettenham writes.
Uninterested in playing that game, Swettenham finally shuttered the company in 1979, but his well-built consoles remained in service, and the legend only grew. In 1988, Tony Arnold acquired the Helios trademark and established Helios Electronics, Ltd., but it wasn’t until 2004 that he released the Type 69 preamp/EQ module, a faithful recreation of the input stage from the original Olympic desk. But once again, the company was short-lived, and no more official Helios gear was released until…
The idea to revive the Helios sound came out of conversations between two audio and electronics engineers with a passion for restoring and recreating vintage gear: Al Sutton of Acme Audio and Tim Mead of Q2 Audio. Having serviced many old Helios consoles, Sutton had a connection with Swettenham’s estate, while Mead’s company had already produced a Helios compressor clone and had the infrastructure for manufacturing small-batch analog gear ready to go.
To make their idea a reality, Sutton and Mead brought in Perry Tell, a leader in business development who had previously helped Sutton found Acme Audio. With Sutton’s access to Helios designs, Mead’s production pipeline, and Tell’s business savvy, the trio had everything in place to execute their plan. They named their company H2 Audio as an homage to Helios and immediately got to work recreating Swettenham’s designs.
In 2019, H2 Audio released its first product, a rackmount version of the Helios 2128 input module called the 0011 Mic Pre/EQ. Then came a series of 500 Series modules, and the mighty Helios Channel. All H2 Audio products are built and assembled by hand in the US, spread across Acme Audio Manufacturing Co. in Detroit, Michigan, and Q2 Audio’s facilities in Texas.
True to the original module, the Helios 0011 features a custom recreation of the original Lustraphone input transformer and a unique three-band inductor EQ with semi-parametric Bass and Mid bands, and a fixed 10 kHz high shelf. It also features a mic/line input selector with optional pad, a high-pass filter with 40 and 80 Hz settings, and toggles for phantom power, polarity, and EQ bypass.
Not technically a Helios design but still a core part of the Helios sound, this 0011 Series compressor is based on the F760 FET compressor circuit made by Audio & Design (Recording) Ltd. and licensed by Helios. Famously heard on the legendary drum sound from Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks”, this classic British compressor features six ratio settings, a separate limiter threshold, auto release, sidechain, and stereo linking for bus compression.
For those who want authentic Helios sound without committing to a full console, H2 Audio offers an eight-space 0011 Series rack designed specifically for the 0011 preamp and H760 compressor modules. The right side features output trim and phantom power controls for each slot, and the rear panel offers mic and line inputs, a sidechain input, and an EQ/Comp switch. A dedicated 6-pin power supply provides ample headroom for eight channels of classic British tone. It’s even compatible with original Helios modules, should you happen to have some lying around.
Looking to add just a splash of Helios sound to your studio? The Helios 002 is a two-space 0011 Series rack with an integrated power supply in a tidy little box that can sit right on your desktop. Like the 008, it can house either the 0011 mic pre/EQ or the H760 compressor, so you can load it with one of each for a compact Helios channel strip, pair two 0011s for stereo recording, or link two H760s for Helios-style bus compression.
This 2U rack unit gives you an entire Helios channel strip in one box, including the 0011 mic/line preamp, three-band inductor EQ circuit, H760 FET compressor/limiter, and a real analog VU meter for that authentic console feel. Use the Helios Channel as your go-to vocal chain, link two units for stereo processing, or fill a rack with them to create a vertical Helios console. Also available in Vintage Green!
The 0011/Stereo gives you two channels of the legendary Helios input stage, including the classic mic/line preamp with Lustraphone transformer and the same three-band inductor EQ featured in the 0011 Series module. A modernized power supply provides superior headroom that plays nicely with modern gear, but if you’re a true vintage gearhead, you’ll want to grab one in the Vintage Green finish.
The Helios 2128 Microphone Preamp is the perfect way to bring a new flavor of tone to your 500 Series rack. Straightforward and economical, this module delivers iconic Helios sound with a simple set of controls. The Gain knob offers up to 70 dB of amplification, while a smaller Output knob lets you crank the preamp without clipping the next stage in your signal chain. There’s also a high-pass filter, a phantom power switch, an optional pad, and a phase switch.
Want the famous Helios EQ for your 500 Series rack? This 500 Series module gives you the authentic three-band inductor-based EQ circuit from the 0011, complete with all the quirks of the original. The semi-parametric Bass band can boost at four different frequencies or cut at 50 Hz, the Mid band offers eight settings from 700 Hz to 6 kHz and a “Peak/Trough” switch for selecting gain or attenuation, and the high shelf is fixed at 10 kHz with a range of +/- 10 dB. A handy bypass switch makes it easy to A/B your EQ settings.
Whether you load up a 500 Series rack with Helios modules or go with a channel strip for one-stop Helios sound, H2 Audio offers a range of solutions for any studio. Browse H2 Audio gear on Vintage King or get in touch with one of our Audio Consultants to learn more and request a product demo.
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