SUMMARYA new method is presented for the determination of the parameters of the pulse contained in pulse‐like records. The Mavroeidis and Papageorgiou (M&P) wavelet is used for the mathematical representation of the pulse, but the proposed methodology could be modified to cover other types of wavelets as well. First, the period of the pulse is determined from the peak of the Sd × Sv product spectrum, a new concept that is introduced herein and is defined as the product of the velocity and the displacement response spectra. The remaining parameters of the M&P wavelet are derived from the targeted response spectrum of the ground motion applying a new relationship that is established between the cumulative absolute displacement (CAD) of a wavelet and its peak spectral amplitude. The method follows a well‐defined procedure that can be easily implemented in a computer code for the automatic determination of the pulse parameters of a given ground motion. As an application, the pulses contained in 91 NGA records that have been classified as pulse‐like by Baker are determined. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.