The Waves Abbey Road Chambers plug-in re-creates a defining component of the legendary studio’s rich sonic legacy: Studio Two's live room echo chamber used by Abbey Road recording engineers to create vibrant reverbs, delays, and other signature spatial effects immortalized on records by the Beatles and other hit-makers during the 1960s. From gorgeous natural chamber reverb to enveloping cascading delays, the lush sounds of one of the world's most famous echo chambers are now at your fingertips with Waves Abbey Road Chambers. Developed in coordination with Abbey Road Studios, Waves’ Abbey Road Chambers puts you at the controls of Studio Two's live chamber — outfitted with the original Altec 605 monitor and Neumann KM53 tube mics.
A rich palette of spacial effects
The Beatles were intrepid sonic explorers, and they were working in a high-end facility — Abbey Road Studios (actually, it was still called EMI London at that time) — with innovative recording and technical engineers, giving them access to the best gear available at the time, which would include the EMT 140 plate reverb. This 600-pound behemoth produced a rich, but somewhat splashy and metallic sound that was different from anything that existed in nature. Which is why most major studios also had an echo chamber (a live room with a speaker and a microphone) — which didn't sound anything like a plate. Back in the '60s and '70s, these two methods of generating artificial reverb provided studios with a palette of spacial effects that graced countless iconic recordings.
Original filters and S.T.E.E.D.
Waves' Abbey Road Chambers also gives you access to an additional set of the original filters on the chamber send — the EMI RS106 lowpass/highpass and the EMI RS127 Presence EQ — to sculpt your own signature chamber sound. Also provided is a complete re-creation of Abbey Road’ original S.T.E.E.D. (Send. Tape. Echo. Echo. Delay.) setup that expanded the chamber’s native sonic range by splitting the signal and generating a feedback loop from the studio’s REDD console to a dedicated tape delay, through RS106 and RS127 filters, on to the chamber, and back to the console. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Bonus tracks
As a bonus, the Abbey Road Chambers plug-in also gives you two other legendary ambiences: Abbey Road's renowned Mirror Room, plus the Stone Room from Olympic Studios. A popular independent London recording studio, Olympic was frequented by the Stones and other top acts, as well as the Fab Four when they encountered booking conflicts at EMI.
Mod
Abbey Road Chambers is modular. Route your tracks just to the chamber or only to the S.T.E.E.D. effect. Or combine both for the full monte of sonic potential afforded by the complete Abbey Road configuration. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't love the Beatles. We are still using recording techniques they pioneered over a half century ago. And now we have access to Abbey Road Chambers — from the convenience of our DAWs. Will wonders never cease!
Features:
- Authentic software re-creation of Abbey Road Studio’s legendary Studio Two echo chamber
- Developed in collaboration with Abbey Road Studios
- Spacial effects from natural live chamber reverb to tape delay to complex hybrid effects
- Complete modeling of Abbey Road’s original S.T.E.E.D. configuration
- Dedicated EMI RS106 and EMI RS127 equalizers for sculpting the chamber effect
- Bonus spaces: Abbey Road’s Mirror Room and Olympic’s Stone Room
- Choice of classic or modern speakers, including Abbey Road's original Altec 605
- Choice of vintage or modern microphones, including Abbey Road’s original Neumann KM53
- Variable microphone and speaker positioning