Hey, did you hear that Cranborne Audio just dropped its first compressor? Every single unit this company designs is filled with so much amazing outside-the-box thinking. It’s inspiring. I’ve read about pulse width modulation compressors before, like the Great River PWM-501 [Tape Op #102] or the infamous PYE 4060, but I’ve never been lucky enough to actually use one in a studio. That changed when a pair of Brick Lane 500s arrived at my door last month. They look great in my rack, and they have the same killer knobs as the Carnaby 500 EQ [#157]. They’ve even brought back the Optosync switch, allowing advanced stereo sync for adjacent units! Right off the bat, I could tell this was a well-laid-out compressor that would be easy to dial in fast.
The sound, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. This beast has range! From what I’ve read, pulse width modulation compression is known for its ability to exhibit very low distortion while providing super-flexible attack and release times. The Brick Lane builds on that with a Stress knob that adds in an equally flexible custom saturation circuit. Because this thing’s such a chameleon, the designers also included a Mode switch that toggles a bunch of behind-the-scenes settings and allows the Brick Lane to essentially emulate different popular compressors. To be clear, while these are digital controls, this is still an analog audio path. Think of the Modes as presets that tune the saturation circuit, the slope and ratio of the compression, and much more. This essentially means I’ve got six totally different character compressors living inside. Do you want sounds that feel like FET-style, opto, or vari-mu compression? They’ve got settings for them.
But it gets even more fun if you enable Enigma mode. For my ears, while the built-in settings all seemed great, I actually wanted a touch more character. Enabling Enigma mode requires pulling the unit out of the rack to access an internal DIP switch. All in all, it takes well under a minute of work and instantly unlocks dozens of hidden settings to allow you to tweak the Modes however you like. Want a sharper slope and higher ratio on the VCA-style Glue setting? I did, and now it sounds great! Want the saturation to hit harder on the FET-style Smash setting? It’s so easy. I love it! Enigma mode actually turns the Brick Lane into the ultimate analog modeling compressor. It’s easy to go wild, but just as easy to reset each patch back to its factory “preset.” Thankfully, by default the Brick Lane saves each “hidden” Enigma setting exactly the way you left it, even between power cycles. I can safely power down my rack on multi-day lockouts and not worry about losing my perfectly-tuned snare compression.
In the short time I’ve had these at my studio, I’ve compressed bass, snare top and bottom, drum overheads, and two-bus with the Brick Lane 500s. My only gripe is that I don’t have four more of them. Priced at just $699, purchasing more seems likely. The Brick Lane sounds great, it’s easy to use, and it might be the ultimate configurable-character compressor.