FMR Audio RNLA Really Nice Levelling Amplifier 220v NEW

WHAT'S THE RNLA?
The Really Nice Levelling Amplifier (RNLA) is a compressor, of sorts, with a character that works well with vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitars and two-mix sources. A friend describes the RNLA's tone as "thick and gooey". Some very well-outfitted RNLA users report that even with a full complement of expensive, vintage levelling amps/compressors, the RNLA still fills a niche that the others don't!

Fidelity. Although the RNLA is designed to dynamically “color” the sound passing through it, the channel electronics are fairly neutral and designed so that the output signal (statically measured) closely resembles the input signal (fidelity defined...though slightly paraphrased). Each channel is hand-trimmed to typically less than 0.005% Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise (THD+N). Even this low-level distortion is predominantly second-order...a much less heinous form of distortion and agreed by many to impart a slight “sweetness” to a signal.

Ugly and Cheesy Box. Like its FMR brethren, the RNC and RNP, we use a third-rack cabinet (still a hearty combination of extruded aluminum and steel) to allow us to throw the money we save in cosmetics into the quality of the audio electronics. Although we did decide to splurge a little by putting very red knobs on it along with a brushed-aluminum LexanTM overlay for that more impressively cheesy, “homegrown” look!

Easy-to-read Panel Graphics. This may seem like an arbitrary and trivial point, but we think it's important: easily assessing the settings on a rack-mounted processor is important when you've got a lot of stuff going on during a recording session. In our experience, dark lettering on a light background works better than the other way around.

Inputs and Inserts. As with the RNC, the RNLA has unbalanced inputs that also double as Tip-Ring-Sleeve (TRS) inserts to mate with popular mixer and equipment inserts. This allows you to connect, using only a single TRS-to-TRS cable per channel, an RNLA's channel (in & out) with a single cable to a mixer or other compatible device (such as our own Really Nice Preamp, Great River Electronics MP-NV preamp, etc.).

Balanced Outputs. The RNLA has balanced, non-differential outputs. Although the “cold” part of the signal is not driven (that would be a “differential” signalling scheme), the impedance in both legs are the same, thereby giving your audio the benefit of reduced noise if the RNLA is connected to a balanced line input.

Precise Gain Reduction Metering. A highly accurate gain reduction meter is provided to allow visual verification of what you're hearing. Although meters should never be a substitute for what you hear, a dynamically accurate meter is better than one that can "lag" or misread the actual dynamic performance of the compressor. Due to our digitally-controlled architecture, even the peak-detection errors of a pure digitally-implemented meter are avoided and a dynamically accurate meter is obtained.

Full Parametric Control. Some of the more common Levelling Amplifiers don't have full parametric control. Many LA's are missing the ability to control the ATTACK time. Some of them don't even provide a RATIO control, let alone a continuously-variable RATIO control! The RNLA provides both for maximum artistic flexibility. But, most importantly, both the ATTACK and RELEASE controls go to 11! In addition, all of the front panel controls are merely a “control surface” for the RNLA's internal digital engine. This means: (a) No main channel audio flows to/from the front panel controls that might increase its noise susceptibility (that's bad) or dreaded “scratchy pot syndrome” (that's annoying), and, (b) We can use a “ratiometric” measuring technique, along with robust digital filtering, to derive repeatable and precise compression parameters (that's good, if not a little geeky). Did I mention that the ATTACK and RELEASE controls both go to 11?

Alternative Release Contour. Loosely based upon the “Log/Lin” control on the Valley People's (Person's?) Gain Brain II, this control (“Log Rel”) can help restore some “punch” that can get lost without an acceleration of the release envelope. So, when Log Rel is on, we accelerate the release time as a function of gain reduction amount. We've found this to be particularly handy on drum sub-mixes where we still wanted the drums to “punch”, but in a compressed and controlled way (you know, it's really true: talking about audio is like dancing about architecture...).

Hardwired Bypass. We use a sealed relay (for long life) to switch the RNLA's output connectors between the output of the compression stage or the input jacks, thus providing a true bypass of the signal path. Worst case, without mains power, you'll still get a signal out of the RNLA!

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