It’s the month of love, and Universal Audio is releasing a free version of its 1176 classic FET Compressor plugin to celebrate.
UA has made the offer available until 28 February, and you can use it with any DAW on Mac or PC – no UA hardware required. The brand grandly describes the 1176 as the “king of audio limiting”, and it looks like it’s taking the romance seriously, as it hopes it will “welcome you into the Universal Audio family”.
Originally built by Bill Putnam Sr. in 1967, the first Universal Audio 1176 can be heard “on more classic records than any other compressor”. This plugin version is a faithful emulation, which UA says delivers the same punchy, expressive tones as the original hardware.
With the plugin, users can add colour and character to their recordings, and get fast attack time on bass, guitars, vocals and more. You can also harness the 1176’s entire electronic path including transformers and FET, and transistor amplifiers for colourful distortion. Additionally, an “All-Button” mode is onboard for adding overdriven texture.
“We pride ourselves on our analogue modelling and the craftsmanship behind UAD plugins,” says CEO and founder, Bill Putnam Jr. “We’re hoping to inspire musicians and producers with this free 1176 plug-in and can’t wait for folks to add this iconic compressor to their productions.”
Last October, MusicTech sat down with Bill Putnam Jr. for chat about his early inspirations for re-launching the UA brand, first created by his father. Putnam Sr. originally founded Universal Audio in 1958, though it later closed in 1965. He was also an audio engineer, producer and studio designer. Before his passing in 1989, he worked with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and became known as ‘the father of modern recording.’
Putnam Jr. told us, “[Dad] had all sorts of talents that I didn’t pick up on. I’m not the audio engineer he was, I’m not a recording engineer, I don’t build recording studios like he did…But his love of technology I did pick up on. To me, technology is still magic.” He added, “The vision was: there’s no reason I felt that digital audio couldn’t sound every bit as good and vibey as analogue and have that soul and depth. So let’s have it both ways.”
Head over to Universal Audio to find out more or redeem your free plugin license.
