VNE, or "velocity never exceed" is aviation jargon ascribed to by both Doug Fearn and the Hazelrigg brothers--all three are airplane pilots as well as musicians. The 2U VNE is actually one half of a D.W. Fearn VT-7 Stereo Tube Compressor with the same circuit design and gain reduction methodology.

PWM Gain Control

Like the VT-7, the VNE uses a pulse width modulation scheme for controlling gain through the unit. Also called pulse duration modulation or PDM, this technology dates back to the '60s with the transistorized EMT 156 Stereo Limiter/compressor/expander and the PYE 4060 modules among others.

A converter chops up the incoming analog audio signal into a pulse train--a series of switched, on/off pulses that represents the analog signal's average power. The longer the switched pulse is on (the duration or width of the pulse) compared to when it is off, the higher the total power of the signal. If the "on" pulses last half the time as do the "off" pulses, that is called a 50% duty cycle--half of the average power.

Once converted to a pulse train, it is fairly easy to manipulate the length of the pulses very precisely to vary the duty cycle from 0% to up to 100% instantly. With a fast enough switch rate and sufficient filtering, the resultant output voltage is used to control the gain-changing element in the compressor. The VNE's switch rate is high enough to allow transparent compression up its high frequency limit at 80-kHz.

The VNE uses a Dave Hill-designed and Doug Fearn modified PWM circuit switching at a 1.6-MHz rate. The manipulated output drives a F.E.T. (field effect transistor) control element configured as a passive pad.

Apart from physically moving a console fader, this is the most transparent and passive way to change audio level.

Chassis And Control

Behind the modest and unadorned, earth tone colored front panel reveals an organized hand-wired chassis. There are both custom-built transformers for the input (Jensen) and output (Melcor). There is a large toroidal AC power transformer, a DC regulator board to power the four, hand-selected and tested 6072A dual triodes, the PWM converter, and LED metering boards.

There are just five controls and switches on the front panel. Like the VT-7, all controls on the VNE are continuously adjustable with operating ranges conducive to good performance and sound. The VNE is capable of at least 50dB of clean compression, but is constrained to 20dB.

The Threshold control on the left side of the VNE starts with no compression at fully CCW. I like compressors with separate threshold controls because you can set up an audio signal path through the unit starting at unity gain. Input operating level is matched using the (output) Gain control on the far right side. Maximum gain available is 15dB.

After the Threshold control is a three-position rotary switch that rotates between: Bypass, In, and HPF positions. HPF adds a 6dB/octave 150Hz high-pass filter in the side-chain.

The Attack and Release controls both range from Fast at CCW and Slow at full CW. Like the VT-7, the VNE's two side-chains have different attack and release time constants and also different ratios and knee shapes. These are designed and set according to Doug Fearn's preferences and sonic aesthetics--there is no information as to how fast and slow these controls range but I found them to work exactly perfectly especially on lead vocals.

Transparent Vocal Compressor

I started with a female vocal track that I wanted to keep her emotive qualities but restrained its wide dynamic range without being too noticeable. I placed VNE on an insert in Pro Tools HDX after a Fab Filter Q3 plug-in used to reduce certain low mid-range frequencies. The VNE worked wonderfully to keep the vocal level constant without hearing usual (fast) release time distortion, softened attacks and squashed peaks.

There is a single bi-colored output LED on VNE that stayed green most of the time with occasional flashes of red; it's reading the unit's output level peaks. I liked the way the 11-segment LED gain reduction meter is divided into the first seven LEDs each representing 1dB of compression with the final three LEDs covering a range to about 15dB of more compression.

For this vocal I used the HPF position to deal with occasional low frequency plosives; and I liked the way it still kept their impact--just less so. According to the GR meter I saw up to seven LEDs (7dB) compression without the HPF and then six with it in. I heard no dulling and no distortion unless my settings were too extreme. I do wish for some numbers on the front panel to notate for recalls--detents would help too.

I compressed a drop-tuned (key of D) bass guitar track that was intentionally distorted in places and recorded at full level. I find when compressing distorted sources, usually the distortion becomes more hearable! The VNE scores well here by leveling this bass track nicely and without adding anything extra. I did have to drop the hot level coming out of my Pro Tools rig to make setting the Threshold control less touchy.

The VNE is an excellent sounding world-class compressor. When you're looking for minimal collateral sonic damage, I found it especially beautiful for vocals when recording or mixing them.