Aphex 230 Master Voice Channel
The Aphex 230 Master Voice Channel is well known in broadcast and production circles, but I had heard rumors that it was a tremendously useful tool for live sound as well—and my curiosity was piqued regarding the use of one of these Swiss-army-knife processors on the voice of a pastor. And certainly, even modest front-of-house accoutrements typically include good quality compressors, EQs, and even outboard mic pres in order to arrive at a consistent, full voice from the pastor, but Aphex combines all of this technology and then some into its 230 processor, at an MSRP of $799. I was excited to hear what it could do for me.
Inside Aphex 230
The unit itself is a one rack-space device with a nice light-colored metal face (and I love the illuminated green “Aphex” in the upper-left corner). From left to right across the front panel, you’ll first find the power switch and a gain/drive knob that determines input level, and hence the driving of the compressor’s input stage. Next up is a clip/mute indicator LED surrounded by a bank of pushbutton switches controlling a low cut filter, phantom power, polarity inversion, compressor insertion, a 20dB pad, and a “phase rotator” (more on that in a moment).The low cut filter is not just an HPF, but comprises both a 12dB/octave HPF at 70Hz, and a slight bump at 120Hz to compensate for the perceived reduction in bass by the activation of the HPF—very clever.
With the exception of the phase rotator, the other switches are very much self-explanatory. The phase rotator is a circuit that helps to reduce the natural asymmetry of the waveforms produced by the human voice. I won’t even attempt to get into the physics of this circuit, the science behind it seems sound to me. To the right of this bank of switches is the unit’s 10-segment green LED meter, which can indicate both VU and gain reduction. Next is a knob that determines the release time of the compressor, followed by the pushbutton switch that determines the meter’s mode.
Next along to the right are the two knobs that control the unit’s gate, threshold, and depth, and a nice red LED to indicate gating. Obviously, full-featured stand-alone gates provide more control over various parameters, but Aphex needed to conserve real estate on this front panel, and this reduction in knobs also results in the nice benefit of simpler operation. Sure, there are times when I wish I could control attack and release times, but not very often. Threshold and depth are the two most often grabbed knobs on any gate, and Aphex wisely limits the choices to those two. Similarly, the next knob to the right is the single control available for the 230’s de-esser—a threshold knob (with an accompanying amber LED to indicate de-essing). Attack and release are internally optimized for control of voice sibilance, and the actual de-essing reduces only the troublesome frequencies (unlike DIY de-essers which attenuate the full bandwidth). I truly appreciate that detail. The final sequence of processing comes next to the right on the front panel, with “tune” and “mix” knobs for both of Aphex’ famous processors, “Big Bottom” and “Aural Exciter.” Sandwiched between the two is a fully parametric equalizer, and a pushbutton to the right of the entire construct switches all three processors in or out as a block. The tune knobs determine frequency, and the mix knobs determine the level of enhancement. This section is particularly useful in the improvement of the voice, helping to add some gravity to the speaker’s “pipes” and also to really add some welcome intelligibility in the upper frequencies. Finally, at the far right extreme of the front panel is the unit’s output level knob.
The rear panel of the 230 is simple and straightforward—starting from left to right is the XLR microphone input, two ¼-inch TRS jacks representing the unit’s effects loop send and return, analog line outputs (both ¼ inch and XLR,) and a ¼-inch jack for connection to a cough switch (typically for broadcast purposes). Next to the right is the 230’s complement of digital outputs, including AES3, S/PDIF, and TOSlink optical. The unit’s sample rate is determined by two slider switches—“base,” which determines a base rate of 44.1kHz or 48kHz, and “mult,” which multiplies the base rate by one or two. Two BNC connectors facilitate word clock input and output, and a switch determines master or slave operation. Finally, a handy external ground peg and IEC AC power input port round out the rear panel.
Live Sound Application
I have heard production work using the 230, and it sounds great to my ear, but I was still curious about the unit in live sound applications. I recently put one through its paces in that fashion. I followed Aphex’s strongly worded advice to plug into the console’s insert, rather than a line input, which may be passing your pristine signal through yet another amp, adding noise and distortion—one side effect is that you must rely on the 230’s meter, but that’s fine—it accurately represents the level. Initially, I had my input too low and output too high, and that gain staging wound up adding unnecessary noise to the mix, but I quickly remedied that out-of-kilter gain staging by increasing input gain and reducing output gain.
A welcome side effect of the increased input level was the introduction of the unit’s nice-sounding compressor, which is very important with my pastor, who regularly goes from barely audible to overdriving everything. The pastor is a fan of using a lavalier mic, and can tend to sound thin, so I was curious to discover whether Aphex’s touted benefit of making a voice fuller was to be the case. The Aphex did this nicely.
As is commonly the case with cardioid lav mics, plosives can be a problem, and I typically employed a low-cut filter and console EQ to solve it. I was reticent to use the 230’s low-cut filter, but proceeded anyway, and discovered that the voice was still full and rich, despite the absence of plosives. One of the other church board operators, a braver soul than I, bypassed the 230 mid-service to hear the comparison, and discovered that the processor made a huge difference, and reported to me that without it, the pastor’s voice sounded “really thin.” Now that I’ve had the opportunity to use the unit at front-of-house on the pastor’s voice, I’m anxious to test-drive it in other, production-oriented applications, but I’m so happy with it at front-of-house, I just don’t want to move it.
For me, the 230 was intriguing because it was always difficult to get the pastor’s voice to sound natural … to sound like he would if he was just speaking in an intimate environment without any amplification.
I feel very strongly about getting the pastor’s voice as natural sounding as possible, because I think the congregation expects it to sound like him regardless of the situation (amplified or not). Because if the congregation is trying to figure out why the pastor doesn’t “sound like himself,” then they aren’t focusing on the message.
This is where the 230 really came through for me. Getting back the fullness in his voice and coupled with the control afforded by the compressor makes it an extremely worthwhile unit. The Aphex 230 is an exceedingly well-planned and well-executed device that performs exceptionally well. If you have any voices that need to be focused, full, and nicely controlled, this unit will serve you very well. Strongly consider looking at one.
Mark Johnson is editor of Church Production Magazine.
