| Lil' Freq
I've had one of these for a few months now, but I wanted to wait until I'd really used it before posting any impressions.
First of all, it's an extremely flexible and versatile tool. I know Dave Derr was aiming for something that could be used in both a clean AND coloured way, and I think he succeeded pretty well. Personally, I have been enjoying the subtle colour you can get from it at mixdown on vocals. The two different outputs are very handy as well (electronically balanced or transformer balanced, I believe) and the difference between them is often quite pronounced - especially on bass DI.
It's also a very powerful unit, in that seemingly minor changes go a long way. The filters are well-selected, as are the shelving frequencies (initially I thought the HF started a little low in theory, but in practice it works well). The de-esser is really excellent, although again a little goes a long way - this is one section where it's easy to overdo things and screw things up.
Nice surprises? The HF limiter and the de-esser do a nice job on lessening hi-hat bleed on snare tracks. It is excellent for lead vocals at mix down (in fact, I think I have used it on every lead vocal since I got it, including one singer who has the hardest voice to capture that I have ever heard!!). It can get very surgical with a nice tight Q. It's also very musical and has a very smooth top-end - not quite in the league of the Ibis, but loads better than my Audient console EQ or my Expounders.
Finally, the DI is great for bass. I didn't bother with it for weeks, and then for once had a couple of hours spare one day for a little shoot-out. I've always loved the DI on the IBP for bass, and the Lil' Freq was similar but a little richer and fuller sounding. As mentioned the two outputs were radically different as well - one far more modern, the other softer and warmer.
It's a great unit, really. In fact I'm surprised nobody's snapped up the pair Barforama has for sale,.
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