Acustica Audio intros Purple 4: Hyper Engine Upgrade with New MT Ultra Mastering EQ
by AcusticaCM   4 weeks ago

Yeah, but I´m in it for round about 15 years now and I´m not going down that route having 30 AA plugins and forget about half the tools or comparing 10 different compressors to hear what works best. (not to mention those who have Tiger)

Other question: Could someone compare the PDM (PWM) compressor in Secret to Mixwave´s VNE yet? Would be curious as the VNE sounds really great and no matter what I try with my compressors I cannot get it close in tone and behavior. Never checked Secret. Has it the same smooth upper mids and great leveling action which the VNE is known for at high gain reduction?

Welcome to the club and enjoy your better mixes!

Like some others in this thread, I didn't think I was a 'pultec guy' but Purple is changing my mind. Especially H2 and M5V.

Where DON'T you guys like the sound of a Pultec, either with or without preamp? Genres, instruments, whatever. Or is it truly a fits-anywhere team player?

I'm getting more into using Acustica plugs early in the chain for broad top down mixing. Thanks!

I can’t think of where it necessarily would sound bad… it’s more that sometimes it’s just not the right tool… I wouldn’t use it to cut down 3k while leaving 2k in tact…

But, used tastefully, it’s hard to imagine it out-and-out sounding bad…

Fair enough! Thanks David.

I guess I was posing more of a taste question ie ‘I don’t like Pultec on rock guitar upper mids because it cant get aggressive enough’ or whatever. But I hear you on the flexibility and never sounding out and out bad, that’s a nice quality.

I agree - but also, its the type of thing where you have to experiment (obviously, I guess).
For example the "pultec trick" thats all over youtube - it can work some times on some things, but in general Id rather have a bit more precision with regard to clearing away low mid buildup than what the pultec "trick" provides.

Many mixes I hear sound like people just do things because they think they should - one example of I often hear drum submixes that sound like they were overcooked with the pultec trick - in my experience it can often times clear away too much lower-mids, which sounds particularly unnatural on acoustic drums. Thats where all of the snare impact is. The same is true for entire mixes.

Most of the time I actually just fortify the bottom and top slightly with a pair of pultecs, instead of actually using the (in)famous "trick".

Anyway, to answer your question a little more specifically:
As said the curves of a pultec will never really damage anything - and I suppose thats the point. If you go wild with any of the parameters, obviously you will get an overly filtered signal but thats true of nearly any processor.

That said, its not my go-to for sounds that might not benefit from the "slowing down"/iron sound of the transformers/tubes in the circuit. Some drums can lose their definition, which is why solid state pultecs are so popular. I definitely wouldnt be opposed to trying traditional pultecs on an electronic dance track - but my first instinct is that it might be too gooey and slow sounding.

Awesome, thank you Rugginz. In terms of the 'slowing down' sound, do you feel the same way about Purple with the preamps off? I'm still tuning my ears to the units and how they handle transients.

I want to love the solid state MT Ultra but am not there yet. I do hear the low end solidity you're talking about though. It's different, a little more sterile maybe.

I hear you on the Pultec 'trick'. It surprises me how little attenuation I like, if any at all. A fun trick I'm playing with is using the 40hz HPF on Smoke before Purple. If that boost gets too crazy, the 20hz attenuation on Smoke is useful. And then sometimes I'm preferring the tighter Q low end boost on Smoke as well. I vastly prefer the high end push on Purple though, its really a beautiful unit.

My understanding is that with the preamps off, all of the color from circuit nonlinearities is gone - so at that point it will behave sort of like a stock-digital EQ, with curves generated by the hardware. So yes in theory all of that color should be gone. In fact its not uncommon that disabling preamps in older Acustica plugins causes the transients to come back to life

Electric bass, tom drums (too limiting, I prefer an SSL or Neve 1081),

Overall, Pultecs are a good tone-shaping EQ/set of EQs, similar to a Neve 1073/1084, API 550A or Trident equalizers. But you're always going to need a second equalizer to cut or boost where the Pultecs couldn't. I suppose back in the day, if one were limited, they would record with an api/Neve console (plus compressors, before going to tape) and then when mixing with the same console, use different frequencies since SSLs didn't exist back then?

Not being able to control the bandwidth on the MEQ-5 bothers me, but it along with the program equalizer is a great combo. There's no way I could justify buying the official Pulse Technologies hardware versions though...they're too expensive for what they deliver. If it were $4,000 for a stereo/dual mono HLF-3, MEQ-5 and EQP-1a all combined into one unit, I could justify that expense.

I guess Purple4's bypass switch bug (where it won't work with the mousewheel) isn't getting any attention?

I couldn't find that issue reported on our Helpdesk, but I'll try to review it this weekend.

Thanks. Try it on Windows Reaper.

Thanks Doom, I wouldn't have guessed bass and toms, I'll keep an ear out for that.

Yeah my current thinking with AA plugs is to let them 'see' the transient early in the chain and do broad shaping, freeze, then bring in algo plugs. So I'm testing for my favorite broadstroke EQs - right now I'm liking Salt, Aubergine, Straw(+Brown), Erin, Amber, Viridian and Purple in that role. Maybe I just need a better computer too though lol. The HLF, MEQ, EQP combo unit would be sick.

Dave-

Great list!!

I may add - my favorite “broad strokes” channel strip is Sunglow by a wide margin… with the next most often being Latte Tilt (filters module).

FWIW I don’t think it’s so much because these “sound” “better” than some of what you listed… it’s more that I’m able to really address what needs to change to make something “fit” well.

Sunglow has a very nice “down to earth” quality, fights “digititis” well, and (probably its best quality) it can boost lower mids in a very pleasing and rarely “bloated” way.

I often use this early in a mix, and then Sand (or sometimes Green) to be more surgical.

Latte Tilt is amazing at helping something where you think “ah, this is too bright/dark” - and keeps you away from 4 bands of adjustment when 1 can do the trick elegantly.

Keeping this on the Purple topic… I’m probably using Sunglow and Purple the most right now of any AA tools.

Things that are too forward and strident get shaped w Sunglow

Busses are getting Purple

Purple HLF — helps treat prior to Sunglow

Again, nothing broken in that list for sure… but if we are talking about “best friends” — these three suites will cover 99% of anything I could think you’d want to fix w EQ — and importantly with very little chance of “breaking” anything.

IMO/ymmv

You're welcome. I still to this day--even though I have a new(er) computer--bounce tracks with the recording console Acustica plugins (Pink, Secret, Cardinal, Olive, Sunglow, etc.) as if they were real analog gear. Freeing up CPU and RAM plus the less likelihood of a DAW crash are the primary reasons.

The goal--even though it goes against the advice of other engineers--being to get each and every instrument sounding the subjectively "best" they can individually. Usually this just means making the "muddy" tracks sound clearer, the overly strident tracks less present, very dynamic tracks are compressed, "thin/boring" tracks are saturated to thicken 'em up a little and adding presence/more subwoofer punch to the low register (bass/kick) tracks.

Wish I had all of that hardware to use during recording sessions like Ocean Way, Abbey Road, Capitol, Sunset Sound or Blackbird or Electric Lady...but I don't. Neither do most of my customers--they are tracking straight into their Focusrite, Audient or whatever sub-$500 interfaces. So, plugins (including Access Analog on the "special" tracks) it is!

Any other problems like noise, P-pops and sibilance get addressed during the "recording console mix" too. That way, I can concentrate on the fun stuff like reverb, delay, automation and cutting frequencies during the full mix session--to make everything sound nice blended together. Automation is where Acustica's plugins still struggle. Or do they...? It's been awhile since I last tried using them with automation. Either way, I spent a lot of money primarily with Acustica, iZotope, IK Multimedia and Slate Digital so I'm getting my money's worth during the mix, LOL!

If I'm being brutally honest, I pride myself on being able to take those home studio recordings to commercial grade levels. When comparing where the mix started to the end, it still puts a smile on my face. I suppose it's my life's purpose--enhancement of historical records in a way--but unfortunately most of my mix work to this day are still "simple" web and paid programming local TV mixes.

Using Acustica plugins on narration and on-camera talent gives me a laugh, but hey...I'm getting my money's worth! Dove for the lavalier sibilance, Amber for its "pillowy" voice cuts/boosts and Tiger for clean compression get used the most. I'll even "re-master" the music beds of some stock music here and there whenever I'm bored/have the extra time. Ahh well, you have to go where the customers are...

Sorry for the tangent everyone...I just had to take a step back and remind myself why I got in this crazy sound engineering business to begin with.

I do something similar, run stems through pre-mix processing to simulate tracking through studio equipment rather than just my Clarett+.

It's always worth a laugh when someone pulls out the, "So-and-so Mixer only uses his old Waves plugins, you suck if you need more than that!"

Yes! We have to remind the naysayers that the World Class Mix Masters are typically working with nicely recorded audio (starting with microphones that cost as much as a used car), not Focusrite Scarlett, Behringer U-Phoria or Audient EVO. I have nothing against those makes/models, but they aren't Neumann U67s hooked up to an API or Neve console/channel strip with a real vintage Pultec and 1176 inserted that's running into a Lynx or Prism converter.

Monitored with a pair of ATC or Bowers & Wilkins speakers in an acoustically treated room, perhaps even designed by WSDG.

That's before we begin to talk about the talent and quality of instruments (and maintenance) that is in front of those microphones! Plus the rooms all that indie music is recorded in. No offense to my clients, I love you guys and gals! If I didn't, I wouldn't go above and beyond to make you all sound like pop, rap and rock stars!

I should have mentioned, I have "pre-mix" session templates ready to go for all this stuff. Then I just enable whatever plugins I'm in the mood to use and delete the ones I don't, like picking paint from a palette. One track is labeled EQs, another Saturators and another compressors and so on. Drag and drop, like patch cables but with a virtual hand represented by a mouse arrow, LOL!

OK, enough internet for today. Have a good Father's Day/rest of the weekend, everybody!

There are always exceptions. I personally know of hit records recording in hotel rooms, with run of the mill interfaces and produced soley in the box, then mixed by one of those "I'm in the box" mixing engineers...successful engineers know the value of good equipment, BUT don't place THEIR PERSONAL VALUE soley in what they use...

..there's also nothing more hyprocritically ironic than knocking non-high end interfaces, yet thinking your AA plugins give an identical signal chain quality than the the actual analog hardware gear. If you're such a "can't cut corners" kind of engineer, you'd be using Analog Access more than Acustica

Very interesting! What sort of music do you work on?

iiiinteresting, thank you for bringing my attention back to Sunglow! I've been wondering how it pairs with Aubergine (+ Camel too for that matter) for the full Trident package. I do remember being quite impressed with how Sunglow handles 'digititis'.

Latte tilt as well. I mostly use Zynaptiq Balance in that early EQ filter/tilt role but I do remember liking the sound, worth another look for sure.

Do you find the Purple HLF frequency points able to handle most anything? Guess I'm thinking specifically of the 50hz and wishing there was something lower but I need to spend more time with it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Awesome to hear about your AA strategy/philosophy. I haven't been disciplined enough yet to separate it out like that but think I'm headed in a similar direction.

My cpu and stress levels will thank me....

Funny enough, at the track level Sunglow tends to be what I’d use for the truly “bassy” regions

HLF is great for getting a bit more “heavy handed” as you move into removing the lower mids/upper bass and treating the top end (as an alternative to the “cut” band on Sunglow)

If it’s the two bus, TDR does a pretty cool tool for super low freq points

Not to add too much to anyone’s shopping list, but Wine also does a great job at top end shaping, filter, tilt, etc…

Anything I’m given.

That said, largely sample and VSTi based music

Increasingly, samples are coming from YouTube vs vinyl, so “digititis” is still a monster I dual with since my Roland 840 was purchased! Lol

I mix hybrid, so I do have a tendency to aim a tad “dark” itb since I can trust my Gyraf, and a few other tools to get “air” without any cramping of aliasing - though I’d still be pretty confident using AA to get that sheen regardless.

Great insights! Thank you! Now I need to get sunglow...