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Anyone who has wrestled with a drum bus knows the glue a vari-mu compressor can provide. The UnFairchild plugin brings that specific character into the box: it is a painstaking software recreation of the Undertone Audio UnFairchild 670M mkII, made in collaboration with MIXLAND and Eric Valentine. Here is how its features work in practice.
A processing sequence: from signal to finished texture
- Fine balance and stereo image. Start with the fine adjustment of left/right balance and the MS function. These let you centre the low end or widen the sides before compression touches the signal.
- Parallel body. Dial in the wet/dry control. Blending the compressed signal back with the dry track preserves transients while adding density — particularly useful on vocals where you want weight without losing the breath of the performance.
- Overall harmonic colour. Use the overall THD control to introduce saturation. On a drum bus, this can turn a clean kit into something with more attitude, all before the output level control sets the final gain staging.
The true bypass lets you check your work cleanly. In short, the plugin takes the topology of a revered hardware vari-mu and places it in a straightforward, mix-ready layout.
A session story: half an hour with a drum bus
The project is open: a dense rock mix with a drum bus that feels slightly untethered. I insert the plugin on the drum group and start playback. The first thirty seconds are spent doing nothing but listening — the kick and snare are solid, but the cymbals lean too wide and the low end wanders off-centre. I open the MS function, keep the mid channel full, and narrow the side information by a few decibels. The hi-hat moves back into the picture without losing its air.
Next I set the time constant to one of the six original presets — a medium attack and release that feels right for the tempo. The gain reduction needle wakes up, nudging two to three decibels on the loudest hits. The kit begins to breathe as a single instrument. For parallel texture I pull the wet/dry control to about sixty percent wet; the snare keeps its initial crack while the body of the drum sound thickens underneath. A touch of overall THD — no more than a quarter turn — adds the kind of warmth that makes you lean forward. I check the true bypass: the plugin is doing real work, not just making things louder. The output level control brings the drum bus back to unity gain, and I save the session.
Common questions, answered in prose
Does it only work on drums? The plugin is often described as suitable for drums and drum bus processing, but it is equally capable on vocals. The vari-mu topology has a way of softening sibilance without dulling the top end, and the wet/dry control offers a parallel path that keeps a vocal present and forward in the mix. Bass and acoustic guitar also respond well to the harmonic colour from the THD stage.
What do the time constants actually do? The plugin offers six preset time constants taken from the original hardware, plus four variable options that let you set attack and release independently. The presets are musical starting points; the variable settings are where you go when a mix calls for a faster recovery or a slower grab. Users often find the presets cover eighty percent of mixing situations without further adjustment.
How does the DC Threshold control affect the sound? The user-adjustable DC Threshold determines how the side chain reacts to low-frequency energy. Raising it makes the compressor less sensitive to low-end content, which is helpful when a bass-heavy kick drum is causing excessive gain reduction and you want the compression to respond more to the midrange and high-frequency transients.
A specific task: vocal levelling with character
Begin with a lead vocal track that has already been edited and roughly gain-staged. Insert the plugin as the first processor on the channel. Set the balance control to centre and leave the MS function disengaged for now. Select a time constant preset with a medium attack — something that lets the initial consonant through before compression clamps down. Switch the topology to Feed-Forward mode for a more predictable, modern compression curve.
Adjust the input gain until the needle shows three to five decibels of reduction on the loudest phrases. The vocal evens out, but the tone begins to shift in a pleasant way. Engage the side chain processing with a high-pass filter to stop plosives from triggering too much compression. Now introduce the wet/dry control at around seventy percent wet: the parallel path retains the performer's dynamics while the compressed signal adds density and sustain. Finally, dial in a small amount of overall THD — just enough to give the vocal a subtle harmonic edge that sits it in a busy arrangement without requiring extra EQ. Match the output level to the bypassed signal and move on to the next channel.
Acoustic and rock glue: a finished record sound across buses
Mix engineers working on acoustic and rock material tend to gravitate toward this plugin for its ability to impart a finished, record-like glue across groups and buses. The wet/dry control makes it forgiving in dense sessions where parallel processing is already part of the routing strategy. Mastering engineers appreciate the fine balance adjustment and the MS function for subtle stereo shaping, though the plugin's character means it is more often used for colour than for transparent gain control.
Producers who value tone over surgical precision find the overall THD control a creative tool rather than a corrective one, using it to push signals into harmonic saturation that recalls the hardware unit. Post-production users working on dialogue or foley may gravitate toward the DC Threshold and side chain processing for controlling low-frequency rumble without affecting midrange clarity. In short, anyone who has spent time with an analog vari-mu and wants that behaviour inside a recallable, plug-in workflow will recognise the familiar personality of the UnFairchild the moment the needle starts to move.
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