Anyone uslng pultec low end boost/cut on mix buss?

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joninc
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Anyone uslng pultec low end boost/cut on mix buss?

Post by joninc » Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:48 pm

Just curious if anyone else does this and why/why not?

I've been using my Warm Audio pultecs as part of a master buss chain for "sweetening" and boosting a little bit of top (16k) and trying a boost/cut in the low end at around 60.

I have been trying to see how far I can get with pushing the low end before it gets too mushy... it's a slippery slope but I know that if you boost a little more than you cut it tightens up in an interesting way.

Doing some googling today it seems like there's a bit of a trend towards doing this boost WAY low at like 20hz.... I tried it but don't feel like it was doing much.

Does anybody do anything like this? Would love tips and tricks.

Please spare me the "leave it to the mastering engineer since you don't know what you are doing" rants and help me LEARN. Thanks!

ps - i love the large round low end of Tchad Blake mixes and stuff like the Alison Krause/Robert Plant album. I LIKE BIG BOTTOM.
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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:00 pm

Hi,

I've used for good results, a similar to pultec EQs, clones if you will.

The Nomad Factory Vintage bundle.

I've liked them on mastering albums or single songs, for they really work well by shaping that low end without making weird phase / distortion issues.

These are not as phasey as real pultecs but have the same characteristics. If you do need distortion, they have a tube on / off and an amount slider section to add a tubey harmonic distortion if needed.

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Post by floid » Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:57 pm

A stereo pultec is my next diy, primarily so I can do some of this very type stuff properly. Just racked some cheapie eqs that do a passable imitation and now I want more.
I enjoy finding ways of boosting low- end to the edge of saturation and then hi-passing it tame again, tracking bright and then tilting dark, etc. Something about a two part process that doesn't quite null itself can be magic. There were plenty of ways to do this before I foreswore the DAW for the year, but that had become part of the problem.
Most of what I try is in the second and third octaves, don't trust myself or my speakers down in 20Hz land. I have a pair of little Yamaha speakers that have a very even/ smooth reduction in response from ~200Hz down, switching to them and back gives a fair approximation of the mix with/without low-end, and helps me decide whether i'm really making improvements or just helping a wolf rear its head.
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Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Thu Feb 16, 2017 12:45 pm

just make sure your monitors/room are telling you the truth about what's happening below 60 or so. i get lots of mixes with comically out of proportion low end, because people just can't hear it.

area mastering engineer just saying.

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Post by drumsound » Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:45 pm

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:just make sure your monitors/room are telling you the truth about what's happening below 60 or so. i get lots of mixes with comically out of proportion low end, because people just can't hear it.

area mastering engineer just saying.
I resemble that remark.

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Post by Drone » Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:41 pm

floid wrote:A stereo pultec is my next diy, primarily so I can do some of this very type stuff properly. Just racked some cheapie eqs that do a passable imitation and now I want more.
I enjoy finding ways of boosting low- end to the edge of saturation and then hi-passing it tame again, tracking bright and then tilting dark, etc. Something about a two part process that doesn't quite null itself can be magic. There were plenty of ways to do this before I foreswore the DAW for the year, but that had become part of the problem.
Don't the Pultecs require a lot of special multitap inductors? Or is there a bonehead version for folks like me?
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Post by floid » Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:06 pm

The eqp1a under discussion uses one multi-tap for high boost, the rest of the filter circuit is basically just caps pots and switches sandwiched between two line transformers. Check out the poor man's pultec over at GroupDiy for an inductorless version with a few ideas for the makeup gain amp.
The meq5 uses three inductors that can't really be eliminated.
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Post by I'm Painting Again » Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:07 pm

I say hells yes to EQ on the mix

granted your monitoring system is full range and you know how to compensate for its inaccuracies

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