.. UAD-1 plugins - tips & tricks ..

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UAD-1 DSP POWERD PLUG-INS

TIPS & TRICKS



Hey UAD-1 users:

Here are some tips & tricks, for using the popular UAD-1 DSP plugins, in your DAW projects.

There are no hard and fast rules per se, experimentation and the type of material you are effecting, is the key. I have culled together, over the years, some tips & tricks, which I hope you will find useful. I got these from the UAD-1 forum, fellow UAD-1 users, some of my own experiences and the excellent monthy UA webzine. Cut, copy and paste as you see fit. You can start by creating your very own UAD-1 Tips & Tricks folder:



1176LN:

Uses:

For percussion sources, rock vocals, electric/acoustic guitar, bass guitar. The adjustable attack and release are a must when using it on drums. Anything that needs a little character almost.

Dialing in the 1176 properly:

The basic controls for the 1176 are Input, Output, Attack and Release, plus Ratio Selection.

Selecting ratio is typically your first step. The 4:1 and 8:1 ratios are commonly used for compression, 12:1 and 20:1 are used for peak limiting.

There is no threshold control on the 1176LN. I suggested that the input knob doubles as the threshold control, but there’s a deeper wrinkle: the threshold is also determined by the ratio selection (the higher the ratio, the higher the threshold). The Output knob controls make up gain and final output level. Remember, cranking up the Input knob also affects post-compression output levels.

Note: The top button on the right side of the meter switches the meter to show the amount of gain reduction, while the central two buttons display the output level referenced to either +8dBm or +4dBm levels. Be aware that the two output metering positions can introduce a little more distortion. Depending on your view, this may or may not be a bad thing.

Now set attack and release to taste!

Remember that the 1176 is a program dependent compressor: The attack and release are program dependent, and so is the ratio. This to me is the heart of the 1176 sound. But there are many other contributing factors…

Factors of Cool:

1) During the time of the 1176’s incarnation, the majority of audio equipment employed 600ohm input impedances and therefore demanded a lot of signal current. As a result, output stages had to be robust. Bill Putnam Sr. addressed this with a Class A amplifier based around a special custom-wound output transformer, the high output performance of which became another major element to the sound of the 1176. This transformer performed two functions. It converted between the unbalanced internal circuitry of the limiting amplifier and the balanced external connections, and it also provided the correct impedance matching for the 600ohm line.

2) However, Putnam knew that transformers were notorious for introducing distortion, so he used additional sets of secondary and tertiary windings to provide feedback signals, a practice already employed in tube amplifiers. In this way the transformer was enclosed within the negative feedback of the output amplifier and its non-linearities were compensated and corrected for automatically, producing very low output distortion.

Since the 1176 uses a mic-level input transformer and a FET for gain reduction followed by this custom high output transformer, by its nature it has a hot sound. The 1176 has a 0.5% THD specification with 45 dB of gain. This is more gain than most modern compressors.

3) The original 1176 emerged in 1966 after Putnam had successfully designed and built a remotely controlled amplifier around the newly invented Field Effect Transistor (FET): The transistorized 1108. For minimal distortion, FETs require careful circuit design so that they operate within their narrow linear range. In the case of the 1176, the FET is used as a voltage variable resistor to control compression. Here’s how it works: Signal goes through the input stage, including going through the FET itself. The signal then goes to the output stage, but before the signal hits the output stage, the signal is tapped, sent to a sidechain circuit where the voltage is fed back into the FET, and controls compression. Depending on how hard you crank the input knob, the FET will be affected by the voltage and compress to a greater or lesser degree, by shunting the voltage to ground. So the FET works as a voltage variable resistor and determines how much of the signal is shunted to ground. Hence, the 1176 works as a "feedback" compressor, another important factor in the sound of the 1176.

4) In 1970 the 1176 received a significant update largely designed by an engineer named Brad Plunkett. His modifications improved the noise performance tremendously and resulted in the 1176LN ('Low Noise'). The D and E 'black-face' LN revisions are widely considered to be the best-sounding models, therefore Universal Audio modeled our reissue after these two models.

Excerpt from the May 2003 UA Webzine

Compression Obsession series





I recommend listening to the 1176 at extreme settings to get to know its range. Try putting it on a room mic or drumset--something transient rich.

Try a the slowest attack (far left) and the fastest release (far right) and then turn the input all the way up. Use the output to control output (duh). Now try all the ratios includion all-button. This is the 1176 at its least transparent (totally over the top and rocking for some stuff). Now play with the release for a while. you can time the relase to the song if you wish. As long as the output is at least somewhat returning to 0, you are using the device as a dynamic controller. Now play with attack--see how much of the transient you can get rid of while retaining energy. Now back off the input. This will back off the character.

Next try using the 1176 as a limiter. Fast/, 20 or 12 to 1 ratio. Try to make it as tranparent as possible, just shaving off peaks. The 1176 can attack up to 20 microseconds, still pretty amzing by today's standards.

Drum tips:

1176LN is terrific for coloring and L E N G T H E N I N G the sound of the snare and toms. Use that as an insert on the snare track after a short gate to get than "pfffhhtt" sound from the snare. Then... on the drum bus, another 1176LN will emphasize that sound and the following LA2A will allow you to dial in just the right amount of "SMACK" on the whole kit.

Here's one tip that seems to be consistant. Compression is key for getting that elusive commercial rock sound on acoustic drums. The UAD-1 compressors are unbeatable software compressors, especially for drums... each with it's own flavor. Here's the secret handshake. Don't expect to do it all by cutting deep with one compressor. Use a couple... several even... set to a ratio of no more than 2:1.

I usually have an 1176LN inserted on the snare track and another 1176LN followed by an LA2A on the drum bus.

Overheads get their own bus for bringing out the cymbals with a single eq and sometimes lite treatment from an LA2A compressor with an eq scoop out of the middle to suppress the snare so the close mic on the snare sounds as intimate or in-your-face as is needed. This also allow control of the reverb on the snare track through an aux bus without disrupting the cymbals in the overhead mics. I only use a touch of verb on the overhead bus if any at all.... depends on the project and how the mics and acoustics are behaving.

The 1176 Comp-Distortion Trick:

In the past we have mentioned how the 1176 is more than just a compressor; its very unique characteristics make it a tone shaper as well. One of it’s features is ultra-fast attack and release times, and used correctly (or incorrectly depending on the way you look at it), you can add distortion to an otherwise pristine audio track.

This trick also sounds great on vocals, giving a male or female rock vocal track an in-your-face sound that you can’t get anywhere else.

Running most sources through a distortion plugin can cause the signal to loose some of it’s definition as you increase the effect. Also, distortion plugins can add a great deal of noise. With the 1176, you can compress your signal, and add distortion, and not lose definition, while minimally amplifying any noise. Since the attack and release can happen so fast, set at their fastest values, they impart minute level fluctuations over the audio. The result is a special kind of distortion not available through any other means. This distortion can be adjusted to taste by adjusting the attack, release, and compression ratio. Of course, you can adjust the input gain to control how often the source will go into this distorted compression. Probably the most distorted sound you’ll get out of the 1176 is in all-button mode, with the attack and release set to their maximums. By simply backing off on the attack and/or release control, you can lessen the effect.

This was done using the 1176LN (but you can do this with the1176SE as well!).

*Press while clicking a ratio button to press all the ratio buttons in ("All-Buttons Mode")*

This trick also sounds great on vocals, giving a male or female rock vocal track an in-your-face sound that you can’t get anywhere else. And of course, the hardware does it too!

Excerpt from UA Webzine August 2003