Tegeler Audio Creme Bus Compressor and Mastering Equalizer

Many successful mixing engineers share one thing in common: They mix with a compressor and EQ in the master channel. The EQ is usually set to subtly boost the bass and treble, while the bus compressor compresses the sound by a couple of dB. This gives the engineer an idea of how the mix will sound after mastering, even still during in the mixing stage. It also helps in finding the right volume balance for individual sounds (especially vocals).

The Tegeler Audio Creme Bus Compressor and Mastering Equalizer puts the very best of both functions into one device. The passive EQ has been reduced down to the most popular applications: Bass boost, to give greater definition to the bass, and treble boost, to give the mix the necessary shine. The boost has been made switchable to enable total recall and to reduce the boost to more appropriate levels for use on the master channel.

The bus compressor has a few additional functions such as a low-pass filter for the side chain and an additional ratio of 1.5:1 for especially subtle compression.

The placement of the EQ and compressor in the mix can also be switched. Similarly, the Crème is suitable for use in mastering as well.

THE COMPRESSOR

Do you want to softly and inaudibly balance the track or give it a particular rhythmic signature? The Crème’s VCA compressor can do all this. Its characteristic and powerful sound can bring every mix to the next level. The compressor can really work hard, giving your mix a more noticeable open and brilliant sound.

The compression is very harmonic in nature, the sound always remains transparent, and the individual instruments find their own place in the mix. The often lamentable loss of high notes in compression simply doesn’t happen here – rather, the signal sounds like it has already been fed through an exciter.

Bass sounds like a unified whole and refined with lean dynamics. The switchable high-pass filter in the side chain ensures that, when required, even heavy bass sounds don’t lead to pumping.

• Lowcut filter: 60 - 120 Hz
• Attack: 0.1; 0.3; 1; 3; 10; 30 ms
• Release: 100 ms; 300 ms; 600 ms; 1.2s; Auto
• Ratio: 1.5; 2; 4; 10
• Stepped Potentiometers
• Frequency response: 20 - 40 kHz ±1.5 dB

THE EQ

Passive equalizers with their elaborate circuits with coils and capacitors are still among the most popular sound makers in master compression. The Creme features the filter circuitry from the original Pultec for good reason - no other type of EQ manages to sound as good in almost any matter of setting. Soft and silky highs that deserve the name. A bass boost that gives the mix a solid foundation and thrust, without squashing everything into an indistinct nothingness.

Tegeler took the filter circuitry from the original Pultec and carefully updated it. Unnecessary controls have been replaced by fixed values. Similarly, unnecessary frequencies have been removed from the mix bus.

All controls have been replaced with rotary switches for greater precision. Limiting the range of settings possible to reasonably required values has made these adjustments much more precise. This gives the Crème its accurate stereo tracking features.

The result is an EQ you really have to hear. Hear it only once, and you’ll forever miss its absence. If you’ve never heard it, it’s that EQ that you’ve always been looking for.

• Passive EQ (Pultec style)
• Bass boost frequencies: 20-30-60-100+140+200 Hz
• Bass boost level: 0-5 dB switchable
• High boost frequencies: 10-12-16-18-20-24 kHz
• High boost level: 0-5 dB switchable

Features:

• Stereo device
• EQ switchable before and after the compressor
• Lowcut filter in side chain
• Balanced inputs and outputs
• Internal power supply with toroidal transformer
• Height: 88.4 mm (2U), width: 483 mm, depth: 250 mm