In this video, brought to you with the support of Harrison, Paul Maunder demonstrates the new MPC Channel plugin from Harrison, a fully featured channel strip plugin which brings the processing power and routing flexibility of a large format Harrison film console to Pro Tools.

Harrison have been making consoles since the company founder Dave Harrison moved on from working with MCI to bring the inline 32 bus console to the world in 1975. A big name in music recording through the 70s and 80s with Bruce Swedien’s use of the Harrison with Michal Jackson, and ABBA using a Harrison at their private studio cementing its reputation as a top flight music console.

But it was during the 80s and 90s that Harrison became closely associated with film mixing. Their consoles introduced the automation features necessary to accommodate increasingly complex film mixes and their development of hybrid digitally controlled analogue and fully digital consoles with comprehensive recall and automation has kept them at the top of the post mixing market even with the introduction of pro Tools systems which are capable of handling all but the largest film mixes.

MPC Channel

The MPC Channel plugin is designed exclusively for large format film post production applications, designed with Harrison’s OSCAR and BAFTA-winning collaborators, MPC Channel is an AAX / Pro Tools compatible plugin that includes customised layouts for the Avid S6, S3, Dock, D-Command and D-Control surfaces with dedicated Pro Tools features such as EQ curve display and dynamics gain reduction meter.

You can instantiate hundreds of MPC Channels on a system to recreate the Harrison MPC console processing experience in Pro Tools and/or across an Avid control surface.

MPC Channel Strip Features

8-band Parametric EQ

The MPC Channel Strip uses Harrison's 8-band parametric EQ with selectable shapes per band, including HP/LP, shelves, bell and notch filters. Filters are provided with selectable shapes including up to 48dB/octave and wide-bottom notch filters for intensive cleanup tasks.

Spectrum analysis tools including Harrison's own "Lightning" mode, which provides an intuitive view of both average and intermittent peaking frequencies. The RTA display maintains full resolution in the critical low-frequency ranges.

Denoiser

DeNoiser algorithm from Harrison's XTools hardware DSP solution is a quick and easy way to fix noisy dialog using dynamically adaptive filters.

De-esser

De-Esser algorithm from Harrison's XTools hardware DSP solution with built-in RTA to display the problematic sibilant frequencies.

Compressor

Compressor section with Program Dependent mode which automatically adjusts the Attack and Release times based on the dynamic character of the source. Harrison's MPC compressor is specifically tuned for film dialog and FX tasks.

Automatable Routing Order

Automatable routing order of the Filter, EQ, DeNoiser, DeEsser, and Compressor stages with output trim and Polarity switch. Harrison call this a game-changing feature for post & film users.

So What Is so Good About Harrison Consoles?

To get the perspective of a user to whom this, rather specialised plugin is targeted we asked Reid Caulfield Re-Recording Mixer & VP of Operations at Central Post in L.A. He shared his insight as an experienced Hollywood pro.

So for those of us who don’t know, what is it about Harrison which makes them so significant in film mixing?

It's helpful to remember that Harrison's legacy stretched back to the early 1970's in terms of (mostly) music consoles. It was in the mid 1980's that Harrison's focus shifted to film. By 1989 or so, consoles had actually progressed far beyond SSL's original vision of a recallable console and there were a few truly automatable and recallable consoles at that point. Harrison's focus shift to film was a masterstroke and is what has kept them alive all this time, almost 40 years later.

So what was it about Harrison Consoles which made them the right product for that task?

What made it especially suited for film was that the EQ was not "musical" at all but was designed to deal with the peculiarities and workflow requirements of film sound. Harrison film mixing consoles made their way onto a great many of studio mix stages because of the flexibility that Harrison kept building into their consoles as the years went by, and because of the allegiance film mixers had to the large, 2-3 person mixing format that huge film consoles afforded. This continues today. For a little while longer, there will be 2-3 person mixers on big film and TV stages, but these are going away rapidly, especially as COVID continues and Netflix/TV continue to rule the roost (i.e. for the foreseeable future). But while big stages still exist, Harrison's consoles will be there, at least in Hollywood.

Do you think $1500 is too much for a plugin?

As we transition away from very large film stages - and film in general - towards television mixing and associated smaller mix room sizes, I think the $1500 channel strip is yet another way for Harrison to bridge from the past to the future and to guarantee consistency as mix environments change. As to why I would consider buying a license at this price, it's about the Harrison sound, a bit about the flexibility, but mostly about workflow enhancement, speed and consistency. Everything is about to change in our industry. As 'A-level' TV and film mixers, especially the older ones, work more from their homes and home studios (extravagant or not), there's an awful lot of power in the idea of Harrison bringing their sound and flexibility to in-the-box mixing.

Thanks Reid

For More information on the Harrison MPC Channel visit the Harrison website.