Recording - August 2012 - 46

& Universal Audio
by Paul Vnuk Jr.

...where we bring you follow-up articles with application hints and upgrade news about gear already reviewed in Recording

1176 Classic Limiter plug-in collection
The first and most famous UAD plug-in gets a new look and sound

Legendary engineer Bill Putnam Sr., founder of Urei and Universal Audio, created the 1176 back in the late ’60s, and it became pretty much the most famous, most ubiquitous compressor in history. It has been cloned, copied and reissued numerous times, in both the plug-in and hardware worlds, and when the UAD-1 card was first introduced over a decade ago by Universal Audio, the 1176 was one of the first pieces they modeled. I’m sure to be in good company when I say that the original UAD 1176LN is the most used plug-in I own. That plug-in is still a successful recreation of its hardware sibling, but the science of component modeling has improved tenfold in the last five years, as UA has proven with its latest tape emulations, equalizers and reverbs. This past April, UA released a brand new “fromscratch” collection of three famous 1176 variants, now known as the 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection. The 1176 primer If you are unfamiliar with the 1176 compressor, it starts with an input knob on the left that pushes the sound into the Threshold from –40 to 0 dB. Next to this is an output/makeup Gain knob that goes from –infinity to 0 dB. This is followed by the Attack (20 to 800 microseconds) and Release (50 to 1100 milliseconds), then comes a choice of 4 Ratio buttons (4:1, 8:1, 10:1 and 20:1), and a large gain reduction/output VU meter. Jamming all the buttons in at once gives you an extreme, almost 20:1 erratic and edgy compression, and turning the attack knob to Off puts the 1176 into input-only mode, and when pushed it adds a unique fuzzy console-style overdrive; think Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog”. Meet the new trio Visually, each version is accurate to its era’s look with variations in color, VU meter dents and so forth. The 1176 Rev A: This is the original silver-faced, blue-stripe unit known for its forward aggressive tone that was easily prone to distortion when pushed. It was also noisier and slightly more program-dependent to the source than the later revisions.
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RECORDING August 2012

In use there is no mistaking its aggressive vintage tone, and it’s nice for punky, alt-rock guitars. I enjoyed it on drum-room mics for similar reasons, and also found it to be my favorite of the group on snare and even more so toms, where it adds some nice grit and punch. The (new) 1176LN Rev E: This is the most historically popular version made and the most versatile of the bunch. The original was modified by Brad Plunkett and the LN designation stood for low noise.

Other new features While the original plug-in could do the all-buttons-in mode, the new variants allow you to experiment with different 2- or 3button combinations as well as all-buttonsout mode, which allows the 1176 to function as a distortion box. The new 1176 trio now offers presets by Andrew Scheps, Carl Glanville, David Isaac, Ed Cherney, Hugo Nicolson, Jacquire King, Joe Chiccarelli, and the most famous 1176 user of them all, Andy Johns! Final thoughts The new 1176 models are bigger in every way! Their user interface windows are almost triple the size of the original, and due to the painstaking level of component modeling it also means they take more power. While previously a UAD-2 QUAD card

Compared to the A, it is quieter and more linear in its compression characteristics and overall more predictable. It was sonically closest to my hardware 1176LN and it is a first choice on vocals, snare drum, and electric guitar as well as room mics, acoustic guitar and percussion. The 1176AE : This was a special limited edition released for the 1176’s 40th anniversary and now sold out. It combined the low-noise characteristics of the LN with the program-dependent nature of the A and added a few extra treats like a 2:1 ratio and a fixed super-slow attack mode of 10 milliseconds. This one can be the least 1176-like if needed and I found it very nice on subtle sources like folky vocal takes, finger-picked nylon guitar, and violin. It also has an interesting upper-midrange push to it, reminiscent of the A, but smoother and cleaner.

could host 88 mono instances of the original 1176LN plug-in, now you will “only” get 33 mono versions of the REV A and REV E and “only” 28 mono versions of the AE. The gain-staging of these plug-ins is interesting—with a –18 dBFS internal operating level, they are significantly hotter and more touchy than both my hardware and the original plug-in. Once I was able to match levels, I found the new Blackface Rev E to be scary close to my hardware; as always, the hardware unit has that intangible air quality to it, but UA nailed these right down to the unpredictable nature of the originals. My conclusion? This sweet collection of 1176 flavors is easily the new crown jewel in Universal Audio’s plug-in lineup! Price: $299 ($149 for old 1176 owners) More from: Universal Audio, www.uaudio.com

http://www.uaudio.com

Recording - August 2012

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