Kick Drum:
Purple 3 H2 (Acustica Audio)
– TLDR Notes:
Great Pulteq EQ style from a vintage unit. Big lows and nice mids.
– “In” to turn it on (bottom right corner).
– Push the preamp light (light in top right corner) to engage preamp. Orange light = On.
– Review:
The Purple 3 H2 adds warmth and weight to anything from vocals to drums to guitars, but is especially good at enhancing the low end, making it big without making it muddy.
The H2 is part of Purple 3, a collection of different passive EQ models, realized through Acustica’s sampling technology.
The H2 stands out for me on kick drum in particular, because it does the classic “Pultec trick” so well; boosting and cutting the same frequency at the same time, usually either 30Hz or 60Hz.
This was considered ‘wrong’, even according to the Pulteq manual, but has since become a way loved by mixers to quickly add musical size and roundness to a kick.
So is this the perfect, vintage EQ for low end elements in a mix?
The only drawbacks would likely be the CPU usage as well as perhaps some minor workflow things. This of course depends on your personal threshold when it comes to these issues and what you do to work around them.
I would prefer the EQ to be engaged as soon as you load the plugin, instead of having to turn it on with the “In” position. However, things like that can be remedied fairly easily in many DAWS, by making the change you want then clicking a “Save preset as default” type option in the DAW.
The Purple 3 H2 is one of the best sounding passive EQ plugins with its low and high bands, and I consider the Acustica Audio Purple 3 plugin suite as a whole a gem for any mixer who wants to add vintage flavor and old school character to their mixes.
Not just on kick, but also to shape the tone of electric guitars!
You can try it for free for 30 days via Acustica Audio’s website and their Aquarius app.
RuleTec EQ1A (Noiseash Inc)
– TLDR Notes:
It does the ‘Pulteq low end trick’ with a little added dirt.
OS can be set in the settings in the top left corner.
– Review:
If you are looking for a low CPU plugin with oversampling options that can help bring the legendary sound of the Pultec EQP-1A into your mixes, you might want to check out the Rule Tec EQ1A by Noiseash Inc.
This is not an overly clean version of the Pultec EQ – it has some dirt to it. Kind of a gritty sound, which can be very nice if you’re processing a clean digital signal, and the oversampling comes in handy if you’re using the high frequency bands.
Just running a signal through the plugin without touching the eq bands gives a bit of a new flavor to the sound.
It comes with some extra controls worth mentioning:
The V-Bump (bottom left corner) removes the overall 1 dB volume increase of the original unit when in off position.
Width control (found in the black bottom panel of the plugin), goes up to 200 % for increased width, or all the way down to mono.
Easy to use, has its own sound, low CPU and classic curves. The nice looking GUI doesn’t hurt it either.
The Rule Tec EQ1A is part of the Rule Tec ALL Collection which includes two other plugins based on different Pultec EQs, but is also available on its own.
U76 (TimP)
– TLDR Notes:
Great go-to kick compressor. Ratio 4 or 8. Preamp can be used as well.
Preamp should be placed after the compressor instance.
– Review:
The U76 compressor is easily one of the best Urei 1176 emulations available. It captures the essence of the original device in large part due to the level of fullness retained throughout the compression, which you don’t really get with most 1176 plugins.
This aspect makes it a great choice on things like kick and bass where you want to still be able to hear and feel the low end as compression is happening.
There is something about the compressor action of an 1176 that makes it more versatile than most other compressors in my book.
On a mid or up tempo song it can assist in bringing energy to elements, but it can also be quite smooth at more subtle settings with a slower release, the slower release adding some warmth and fullness as well.
As the developer Tim Petherick points out, The U76 V3 features presets that combine the time dependence and compression amount effects on the release time, resulting in a truer emulation of the behavior from the original hardware. The library also features an inverse discharging release character for the ”all buttons in” mode, giving that fast hyper compressed sound that the 1176 “all buttons in” mode is famous for. For many people that mode may not be essential, but it’s good to have when you want to go crazy on say a drum room or in a parallel compression situation.
To select a ratio, including the “all buttons in mode” you simply load the preset using the N4 finder.
The tim p U76 compressor doesn’t discriminate – it can be used on a wide variety of sources, such as drums, vocals, guitars, bass, and more. It can deliver subtle and aggressive compression, depending on the ratio and input level chosen. The library can also be used in parallel or serial mode, depending on the desired effect.
This thing has a good amount of punch for when you need something more ‘grabby’ than say an opto compressor like the LA2A .
The library also adds some warmth and harmonics to the signal as long as you use the preamp program that emulates the input and output stages of the 1176.
The preamp should be inserted after the compressor in the chain.
The tim p U76 compressor is a must-have for any Nebula user who wants to add those 1176 dynamics to their mixes.
I listed it here for kick, as I feel it never fails there, but as mentioned it’s a true all-rounder.
It comes with the standard skin from tim p which is perfectly fine, although some might prefer the look of the alternative skin from Azzimov.
Azzimov does beautiful work, and his alternative skin for the U76 can be found here. This skin allows you to switch the compression ratio on the fly without losing your adjustments, and some might feel the alternative skin has a more modern, fresh look to it.
Important:
The libary runs on the Nebula platform, so N4 (or later) from Acustica is needed.
N4 is highly recommended as it opens up a world of authentic sounding hardware emulation options.
SK10 (Wavesfactory) (Free)
– TLDR Notes:
Add sub content to kick.
– Review:
The Wavesfactory SK10 both free, effective and simple. It does a good job of emulating a sub-kick microphone, basically a speaker converted into a microphone that captures that lot low end you might need in a modern production. It is designed to add sub bass thump and body to your kicks by blending the sub-kick signal with the original kick mic signal.
If mixing without a subwoofer on smaller speakers it is a good idea to check the mix on a reliable pair of headphones, as it can be very easy to go overboard with this one if you are not really hearing those sub frequencies.
The plugin is available for Windows and Mac in VST, AU, and AAX formats. You can download it for free by agreeing to receive their emails on the Wavesfactory website.