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Founded in 1958 by Bill Putnam Sr., Universal Audio has been synonymous with innovative recording products since its inception. A favorite engineer of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and more, the late Bill Putnam Sr. was a passionate innovator who is widely regarded as the father of modern recording — with many of his legendary studio and equipment designs still in use today.

Specifically, Putnam was the inventor of the modern recording console, the multi-band audio equalizer, and the vocal booth, and he was the first engineer to use artificial reverberation in commercial recording. Alongside his friend Les Paul, Putnam was also involved in the early development of stereophonic recording.

Putnam, a natural entrepreneur, started three audio product companies during his long career: Universal Audio, Studio Electronics, and UREI. All three companies built equipment that remains widely used decades after their introduction, including the ubiquitous LA-2A and 1176 compressors, and the 610 tube recording console. The 610 console in particular stands as one of the most beloved designs in audio history, used to record everyone from Sinatra to the Beach Boys to Van Halen's eponymous debut.

Re-founded in 1999.

Universal Audio was re-founded in 1999 by Bill's sons, James Putnam and Bill Putnam Jr., with two main goals: to faithfully reproduce classic analog recording equipment in the tradition of their father; and to design new digital recording tools in with the sound and spirit of vintage analog technology. To that end, Universal Audio employs the world's brightest DSP engineers and digital modeling authorities to develop our award-winning UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform. Featuring the most authentic analog emulation plug-ins in the industry, our DSP gurus work with the original hardware manufacturers — using their exact schematics, golden units, and experienced ears — to give UAD plug-ins warmth and harmonics in all the right places, just like analog.

Nothing better represents the merging of our analog heritage and groundbreaking digital designs than the award-winning Apollo audio interface. Introduced in 2012, Apollo has become the new worldwide standard for professional music production, and has been used to record breakthrough albums by artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Dr. Dre, Brad Paisley, and many more.

With more than 200 employees, and offices in Los Angeles, Colorado, and Amsterdam, Universal Audio is headquartered near Silicon Valley in Scotts Valley, California. A few miles away in Santa Cruz is the Universal Audio Custom Shop, where our classic analog gear is still hand-built, one unit at a time.

Software or hardware, every Universal Audio product is backed by a decades long legacy of innovation, superlative quality, and technical passion.

Products by Universal Audio

Latest reviews of Universal Audio products

UAD Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection

Reviewed By JeffRay [all]
March 19th, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.3.10 on Windows

The best LA-2A plug-ins I've found. Mostly due to the phenomenal design of the original hardware and the faithful emulation here. If you haven't tried using LA-2As in your production (cause you're living under a rock?), definitely pick this up or pick up a UAD Spark subscription. Nearly transparent, Easy to set, just makes things sound louder and better with minimal fuss.

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Hitsville EQ Collection

Reviewed By JeffRay [all]
March 19th, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.3.10 on Windows

This can really add punch and character to drums because of the half speed processing. Haven't used it for other content but it's easy to use and is an excellent tool for shaping the overall sound.

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UADx Capitol Chambers

Reviewed By JeffRay [all]
March 9th, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.0.3 on Windows

This is really excellent for adding and controlling room reverb by using a modelled version of the actual old school "echo chambers" at Capitol Records. Easy to use and highly configurable. I've used it to add great nuance to instruments and sometimes entire tracks when a "roomy" vibe was needed.

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UADx Capitol Mastering Compressor

Reviewed By JeffRay [all]
March 2nd, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.1.1 on Windows

I've been using this from a UAD Spark sub and I'm afraid to tell people how incredible it is. In addition to being a faithful repro of the Capitol records sound, it's easy and fast to use with a quality of sound few compressors have. UADs video tut covers the basics in just a couple of minutes. It's really the best mastering compressor I've found.

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UADx PolyMAX Synthesizer

Reviewed By Milkman [all]
February 1st, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.0 on Windows

Its another mediocre analog-sounding synth, and I got it inside a larger Pluginboutique bundle where I was forced to accept it along with other products. I think this was inside the bundle to force me to give UAD my email address and install their product portal.

I honestly didnt need or want any more analog synths, and this UAD PolyMAX synth is extremely regular & extremely mundane. The presets included arent numbered- for good reason. There are roughly 100 presets, and they are all sounds Ive heard 1000x by now and can create myself on my dozens of other synths.

If you are all about that analog sound and have no analog hard or soft synths, this can be acquired for $29 along with 8 other products inside a pluginboutique bundle they just put out. The free synth 'Vital' and also 'SurgeXT' have comparable analog sounds if you dont want to spend $, and there are dozens of other higher quality multi synths out there that do these sounds plus a lot more for your money.

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UAD Friedman Amplifiers Collection

Reviewed By Faydit [all]
January 2nd, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.3 on Windows

The BE-100 is not really my taste, as the basic sounds differ for me too much from a real Marshall. It simply does not "nail the tone".

The DS-40 I like, sounds to me like some sort of Hot-Rod-JTM45. Nice if you are looking for typical AC/DC or ZZ Top tones. On the other hand, it maybe already offers too much gain in comparison with a real JTM45.

Nice Blues-Rock to Hard-Rock amp. A Metal amp it is not.

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UAD Fuchs Overdrive Supreme 50

Reviewed By Faydit [all]
January 2nd, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.3 on Windows

Top-notch plugin of an excellent amp.

I personally prefer this over any other Dumble simulation plugin. Is much more versatile, better adjustable and offers a wide range of very good tones between clean and classic overdrive. With the right settings you can even dial in some Plexi-like overdrive, with maybe a little more American compression but still nicely balanced and biting. The clean and crunch tones anyway are a class of their own and also perfectly adjustable to almost every guitar.

They can sound like a perfectly voiced or customized Fender amp, but also completely different, depending on your personal adjustments.

Also the cabinet/speaker selection matches perfectly well and offers above average quality, just like some other typical features of this amp plugin collection.

Maybe some roughness and dirt might be missing, depending on what you are looking for, but if you look for really beautiful, well balanced, nevertheless perfectly and flexibly adjustable, very naturally sounding tube amp tones, this is most probably one of the best sounding plugins for this job.

A real gem in the digital world of - for me mostly - fake tones. And also much cheaper than the real amp....

Highly recommended.

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UAD Friedman Buxom Betty

Reviewed By Faydit [all]
January 2nd, 2024
Version reviewed: 1.1 on Windows

Does not convince me very much. Every JTM45 offers a better combination of American and British voicing in my opinion.

Much too loose, too muddy bass combined with much too shrill, too thin sounding treble and almost no British mids is not really a great voicing for me. Does not sound like a good Tweed amp, does not sound like a good Plexi to me, much too unbalanced, neither fish nor meat sound for my taste.

Worst of both worlds, so to say. But this anyway is my impression of most Friedman amps. American obviously have not really a talent for British voiced amps in my opinion. They are embossed on typical Fender tones from their birth on.

Germans do a better job, if it comes to British voiced amps, think of Diezel or Engl.

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