> Step by step

3. Pulling off the Pultec EQ trick… for free

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Some vintage gear has become famous for producing a certain sound, the Pultec EQP-1A being one classic example. In this tutorial we’re going to show you how to achieve this trick, which is the ability to simultaneously boost and cut a low frequency for a characterful sound. For this you’ll need to pay thousands for an original Pultec, hundreds for a Warm Audio clone (above) or…

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… nothing, because we’ll show you how to do it in freeware using the Ignite Amps PTEq-X plugin (as detailed over the page), possibly one of the best freeware titles available as it emulates not one, but three pieces of original Pultec hardware. Get the app from igniteamps.com and load it into your DAW of choice.

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Load the plugin onto an audio channel and then load in any kind of drum loop onto that audio track. Cycle it around a set of loop points so you can hear the effect of the Pultec trick as it happens.

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First, to hear the loop with no effect on it whatsoever, crank the Bandwidth knob to maximum, as shown. The trick itself is to cut a specific low frequency and then boost it. You’d think that this would mean both adjustments would cancel one another out, but actually the Pultec character comes from the fact that the boost curve is different from the cut. Let’s see this in action now…

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First select a Low Frequency value of 60Hz and then an Attenuation value of 2. This scoops out a lot of low end and a lot of the power of the loop which you will hear in real time as you make the changes. So far, so thin…

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Now for the cool part. Select the Boost knob and push it up to around 4. Not only are you pushing it more than you are reducing, but the boost curve specific to the Pultec means that the result is that you are tightening up the low end so that it is now punchy, full and defined. Now you know why people love Pultecs…