5 years later i’m back in recording and your tutorials are a boon to refresh my memory and learning! Thanks for what you do brother ❤ love the track too 😊
if you send a white noise through a pultec with cut and boost active and a spectrum analyst you see what this pultec magic trick is ;) it creates a low boost and a mid low cut. strangely enough the 20 Hz boost and cut result in a 50-80 Hz boost and a 125-200 Hz cut which usually is a nice trick in stock eq's to create a similar punchy effect. Regardless, the pultec also generates a subtle harmonic saturation to get that slight extra richness in sound.
I've tried multiple times to drag the Pultecs onto a session but always directly to an instrument track and never was happy with them.. Thankyou for the tutorial !! I finally dropped them onto a buss and wow that's where they shine :) Really can do subtle magic with them in mastering as well..
Great video! I got a bunch of stuff like this with the IK Multimedia Total Studio MAX bundle and didn't really know where to start so I put them on the back burner ... until now. I stumbled over this video for other reasons, recognizing the Pultec name. And the info in this video translates very well to the IK Multimedia version. And ... everything just sounds morer betterer haha! It's hard to pinpoint but do my ears like it? YES, THEY LOVE IT! And there is a lot of difference when you exaggerate so you can be as subtle as you like or totally over board. I saw some other classics when I searched thís channel ... very good! Thankz for your work! :D
So I just saw this video last night. Immediately bought the plugins from Waves and put them on the guitar track in my current mix. WOW!! Made all the difference!! Love the EQ tone with these! Thanks for the vid! 4 years old! LOL
My smile matched yours at the same time when you cranked that 10k :)) Wonderful EQ and presentation. Another favourite of mine is EQF eq by Softube, very versatile.
While we on that, also check PSP McQ, it's the Harrison EQ, but much more versatile than the original or UAD's version. I'm in love with that EQ, seriously.
Fantastic video and explanation. I got this EQ recently from Waves and I absolutely love it. Definitely learnt a few more things about it in this video though! Great job!
Lol back on this a year later, My mastering now comprises of the PULTEC 2A and the 5A and that's it. Happy to supply a file for comparison. I use Mixbus which really helps.☺
I use the sonimus son eq. which is another emulation of pultec eq but it have emulation from API550 in the mid band. And is exactly like you say it doesnt matter what company the important is the concept. Matter fact I did 2 mixes 1 with fabfilter pro eq and psp classic q another one with sonimus son eq on drums plus luftikus (maag clone) and the S1 stock eq on the rest. Guess what...the client picked the one with the free plugins😂 So with that said , Id learn is not how expensive the plugins are ..rather the mind behind everything. With the free plugins I was having some kind of restriction in regards of frequency manipulation. Then I tried the pultec trick with waves puigtec and I honestly prefer the sonimus son eq. Sounded cleaner plus I have more control do to the HPF and LPF. gREAT VIDEO man...youve been added to my list of tips next to Graham ,Pensado and Gilder.👍🏾
From what I've read, you're right. The actual decibels are slightly less than the numbers on the dial indicator, which partially explains why it seems so forgiving.
Alright, a little nitpicking in the morning: I don't think the 0-10 scale on the Pultec actually refers to dB's. It's more like on your Marshall amp (shouldn't it really go to 11?). Great videos by the way...
This would have been a great video on the Pultecs if he would have noticed the big red light that UAD put on the plugin so the plugin can be bypassed without the loud click and delay that the Studio 1 bypass button makes. It makes it harder to notice what it's doing when you have the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard in between the two sounds you're comparing.
X S It’s not S1, it’s the DSP latency of the UAD plugins. The larger the DSP usage of a particular plugin, the more delayed and wonky the bypass is. Cheers 🙌🏼
Great video & explanation on the Pultecs, just wondering what VirtualMixR stands for on each of your channels as it looks like you’re using Pultec on your busses instead of each individual tracks/channels. Tks.
Really interesting ... I would have never thought of doing that sooo low. [20 hz] Never tried it too. Love pultecs, so I am gonna try your technique :-) See what the results are in my studio. Thanks for the vid, thumbs up from me.
JEROEN FIGEE Thanks! And yeah, it sounds weird bc more 20hz is something no one really ever needs but for some reason it just works. I saw Greg Wells do it a long time ago and it was pretty awesome. Let me know how it goes 😉 Sometimes 30hz works better depending on your overall bottom end but it’s usually 20 for me 😎
Misc. Factory Studio Yeah, Zach's stuff sounds great! Sadly not done in my studio... This was recorded in Oscar of A Great Big World's home studio. They did a great job. I'm just mixing it for Zach 😊
This is really helpful. Thanks Pete. I will have more confidence now using the Pultecs. Help me out with one thing: When boosting 20 Hz or 30 Hz... I would think this requires a high end sub to know what you're doing. However. I can hear good stuff happening on my monitors (rated to go down only to 40Hz) and with or without my basic sub engaged. Typically, to be safe, I'm rolling my mixes off around 35 Hz. Do you HPF your drumbus and/or your 2-buss above where you boost your Pultec (i.e. HPF at 30 and still boost the Pultec at 20Hz?). Can you clarify the apparent clash here, regarding your approach?
Hey Craig! Im happy to hear this was helpful for you :-) So, great question... problem is its not a simple answer. Yes I do use a HPF on my drum and mix busses. But, if you were to look at the curve (of what a Pultec is actually doing when you boost 20 or 30 hz in conjunction with the HPF) it actually winds up putting a bit of a bump right around where the HPF slopes off. Take any parametric EQ where you can see the eq curves (like the PRO-Q2 or Sonnox EQ or izotope eq's) and do both things. High pass to 35 Hz w a 12db per octave slope. Then put a bell curve at 20 or 30 hz and boost it quite a bit. The way that curve looks is how its affecting your eq. Hope that makes sense. If it doesnt let me know and Ill try and re-explain it. Cheers!
I've never actually said something was "glorious" in a serious way before, but now I'm laughing bc that AKG BX Spring Reverb really is stellar.. also, great job on the insight & content - new subscriber!
It's crazy because even when the Low Frequency is set to 20, I can still hear the difference easily, even though my headphones don't really go that low.
The 20Hz is just indicating the point of the maximum boost (or attenuation). The bands are extremely broad and go way up. So you are boosting your whole bottom end, even with 20Hz.
Damn, I think I may have to get rid of my girl and get me a couple of these UADs because I am overly excited. These clearly are top-shelf plugins as compared with other brands which I shall not mention. Good tutorial, excellent production gems. Thank you brother for making it plain.
Very good Pete!,though I was noticing that switching either EQ in or out/bypass,produced a noticeable glitch like a dropout almost? Is this an S1 thing? I suppose it was really noticed,as I need a new Daw now with the gibson/cakewalk/SONAR bust up-and for me SONAR X1,2,3,and Plat. never had that plugin on/off glitch almost a dropout noise happen for me,but stability wise Sonar has issues,but as the PreSonus crossgrade offer is very reasonable,it's hard as that glitch was very obvious to me,but if the DAW itself was more stable on Windows than Sonar Platinum then S1 all the way.I have the Waves and the NOMAD factory versions of the Pultec VST's.UAD like Apple is just crazy money in Australia.
Robert Sattler Hey how's it going, Robert! Thanks for the kind words 😊 The reason for the click/glitch is not from S1 but rather the Pultec being a UAD plugin. All of the UAD plugins run on external DSP devices and due to the heavy DSP, they all click when you bypass them on and off. Some more so than others... But they pretty much all do it. In regards to the DAW, I say go for whatever suits your needs and whatever you feel comfortable in. All DAWs these days are stellar. It's really just whatever you like 👍😉
Pete, this was a great video. I have a much better handle on Pultecs now. Here's my thing at the moment, in terms of a plugin. I have the Puigtec set from Waves. Got it on a deal. And I'm just learning to use vintage EQs (hardware and software.) Prior to that, I was looking at the PSP NobleQ. Now the PSP is on sale for 20 bucks, and hard to pass up. Great features, but I'm not even using what I have. My real question is, at least in terms of the mid range that the PSP provides in one plugin, can I not accomplish that or something similar with both Pultecs (the Puigtecs)? I think what you did with the guitars in the last part of this video, pretty much answers it for me. If my thinking on this is right. Btw, I do hope someday to have a Stam Audio clone, which does have a mid-range, and a few other features. I don't think I want to be in the box for everything. But I digress. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!
Chris Sullivan Hey Chris! Thanks for the kind words about the content 😄 I really appreciate it! You can absolutely get the same results with the Puigtechs that I’m showing here with the UAD’s. The MEQ-5 is where you’re going to be able to access and boost or cut or boost AND cut your midrange. I think of the EQP1A as handling the low end and the high end and the MEQ5 handles mids. Pretty straightforward 👍🏻😊 If that doesn’t answer you question let me know but I’m summation, yes, you can absolutely EQ your midrange with your Puigtechs. I’m not familiar with the PSP stuff so I can’t speak on those. Cheers, Chris! ✌🏻😉
Thanks Pete. Yeah, so the NobleQ by PSP has a mid-range built in, plus a few other features. I'm thinking, put both the EQP-1A and the MEQ-5 in a chain, and get something similar. I've been enjoying some of your videos these past few weeks. Great teaching style for this sort of thing. Thanks much!
In my opinion the whole "magic" of pultec eq seems to be overrated. I mean, I can also use an usual equalizer and a saturator unit separately, right? This combination should also give me less phase shift. I just don't understand the phenomenon of pultec eq - could you elaborate on that, please? Cheers!
Marcin Rajski Sure thing. Different types of EQ’s not only boost and cut EQ, but physically impart tonal characteristics in their modeling that come from internal pieces like tubes and transformers. Make sense? Lemme know! 🙌🏼😁
I think you're making a mistake explaining the knobs of the pultec eq, I'll tell you why I think that. The first frecuency selector on the left (which is called "low frecuency") allows you to modify the low end where you can apply the boost and the cut at the same time ("the pultec trick" as you called it) you got that right, the problem is in the second selector on the right (the "high frecuency") , that controlls frecuencies which goes from the low mids to the high end (to some extend) that means that the numbers 3,4 and 5 refers to 300hz, 400hz and 500hz, the rest are 8k, 10k, 12k and 16k, in other words, the only high frecuency that you can boost and cut at the same time is 10k, since it's shared between the high frecuency selector and the atten. selector. If someone thinks that I'm wrong please leave a comment so not only me but everyone can learn. Great video, cheers!
Francisco Morales Hey Francisco. Not trying to sound elitist in any way, but I think you’re mistaken. On the EQP1A you can boost and attenuate 5 and 10k at the same time. If you look in the top right you’ll see it says “atten sel”. You can set that to 5, 10 or 20k. The numbers on the right side of the boost of the EQP1A are all kilohertz, not hertz. If you look on the MEQ5, the frequencies in hertz are 2 or 3 digits and everything in kilohertz is 1. Feel free to check out the UAD manual online which explains it all, or you can even find original manuals from Pultec in the 50’s. Hope that helps. I just don’t want you to be confused or misled and think you’re boosting or cutting a specific frequency when you’re not. Cheers! ✌️😁 - Pete
@@MixBetterNowTV I checked it out and indeed you're right, the high frecuency values are in khz, I didn't know that, I guess the numbers without the khz indicator made me confuse their values. Thank you for taking the time to reply and correct me, greetings from Chile!
Francisco Morales No worries at all! 😉 I just didn’t want you thinking that certain frequencies were different than what they actually are so you can get the most out of using the Pultecs correctly 😁 Much love, and thanks for the question. Great question though... Always better to ask! Happy mixing ✌️😎 - Pete
why would you boost 3db but then attenuate 2db ? why not just boost 1db to begin with instead of having to cut the 2db out of the 3 ? sorry if this is a stupid question im just trying to understand .
