Give Your DAW or Apollo the Sound of Motown
The Universal Audio UAD Hitsville EQ Collection plug-in arms you with impeccable analog emulations of two officially licensed EQs from Hitsville Studios. And these are no ordinary equalizers — they were crucial to one of the most identifiable sounds in music history: the sound of Motown. First, there’s an extremely rare 7-band inductor-based graphic EQ with proportional bandwidth, stepped controls for easy recall and matching, and optional tape labels for band identification. Secondly, an even-more-rare Hitsville mastering EQ unit with 1/2 speed (1/2 frequency) controls gives you expanded frequency options plus mid/side functionality. Both EQs feature a colored bypass that disables primary processing yet allows other circuitry to color the sound, in addition to +- 8dB of gain. Together, they enable you to fatten up your tracks and stereo mixes with that coveted sweet-sounding, hi-fi Motown sound featured on hits by the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, and many more.
Note: Do you own Apollo hardware? By purchasing this plug-in, you will receive two licenses: one license allows you to run the plug-in via your computer’s CPU and the other allows you to run it via your Apollo hardware. Please contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineer if you have any questions.
Related Videos: UAD Hitsville EQ Collection Plug-in
Two Hitsville EQs
Universal Audio modeled every single component of these EQs’ electronic paths, including transformers, EQ frequency band interactions, makeup gain amps, and internal clipped filter distortion. The amps and transformer emulations can be used distinctly from the EQ processing, which enables a musical-colored bypass (though it can be turned off if you wish). The Mastering EQ’s filters can also be used independently, or as a bandpass filter when combined. A Frequency (1/2 speed) Switch allows for expanded frequency options by allowing you to set all or individual bands at half their normal value. All of this plus Mid/Side functionality gives you a tremendous amount of tone-shaping options with legendary Motown character.
UA additions
UA has become known for pristinely emulating analog classics and adding touches that arguably improve the originals by facilitating modern workflows. True to form, the company has done it again with the UAD Hitsville EQ Collection by adding UA artist presets from a cadre of illustrious engineers, including Michael Brauer, Jesse Gay, Joe Chiccarelli, Darrell Thorp, and many more.
You better read around
Reading your product manual is always good advice, but with the UAD Hitsville EQ Collection case, Sweetwater insists — and not so that you can learn how to use the product. UA gives detailed stories about how they tracked down and emulated the Hitsville EQ (only 46 were made) and the ultra-rare disk-cutting passive mastering EQ (only six were made). We can’t do these tales justice in this limited space but suffice it to say: they’re incredible.
Universal Audio UAD Hitsville EQ Collection Features:
- The legendary Hitsville U.S.A. studio’s only officially licensed EQ emulations, with design guidance from Motown alumnus/technical engineer John Windt
- The same EQ units used on Motown classics from Detroit and L.A. with their entire circuit paths modeled from end to end
- 7-band inductor-based graphic EQ with +- 8dB, optional tape labels, and stepped controls for easy recall and matching
- Custom “Motown Filters,” mid/side control, and Hitsville’s extremely rare passive disk cutting mastering EQ with expanded frequency options thanks to 1/2 speed controls
- Colored bypass: true-to-life electronic circuitry still colors the signal even when primary processing is bypassed
- UA artist presets from Michael Brauer, Bob Olhsson, Joe Chiccarelli, Jesse Gay, and more
- Includes a native license that will run with any interface and a UAD-2 license that takes advantage of Universal Audio DSP-accelerated hardware
