The Pultec Eq is a legendary passive eq that’s been used for decades on countless hit records . It was built in 1951 by Ollie Summerland and Gene Shank. The EQP-1A was there flagship unit and was hand built; which is why they still stand up to the test of time. Because it is very expensive to buy the Pultec Eq, software companies such as universal audio, have come out with some amazing emulations that sound just like the real thing.
In the video below I go over two different ways to use a Pultec EQ. The first technique is based on how the pultec shapes the eq curve. On most eq’s when you boost and cut the same frequency they cancel themselves out. Not so with the Pultec. What happens is when you boost a kick drum at 60 hz, and then attenuate at 60 hz, you get this great warm sound that is not muddy. This will work well on basses too.
The other technique I show is a parallel compression trick made famous by legendary producer/engineer Bob Powers. You can do this by sending your kick drum out on an aux send to an aux return while using UAD’s dbx160 followed by the Pultec (Native Instruments has a good dbx160 emulator as well). This will allow you to get some nice bottom punch, and when blended back with your main kick signal it will cut through any mix.
Hope this helps you with your Pultec, make sure to comment about ways you use your Pultec EQ!
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