Universal Audio Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Plug-In

Universal Audio UADX-DISTRESSOR Overview

The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Plug-In from Universal Audio faithfully recreates the distinctive sound of the world s most popular hardware compressor, a versatile workhorse revered by professional recording engineers and used on countless hit records. Carefully crafted by UA to authentically emulate the original studio staple, the plug-in brings this powerful and colorful compressor to your DAW with a native version that will run without UAD hardware on the AU, AAX, and VST3 platforms, as well as a UAD-2 version that will run on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware.

Shape with the Only Authentic Distressor Emulation

The EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in gives you all the features and tone of the original hardware. Simply compare other Distressor emulations for yourself, and contrast the original hardware s ultrafast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail and whre the authentic UAD Distressor succeeds.

Find the Perfect Compression Ratio

The crux of the Distressor are its staggering variations in compression 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 10:1, 20:1, and Nuke each offering unique sounds. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical harmonics. Conversely, the Nuke setting gives explosive excitement to room mics or your entire mix.

Add Color with Distortion Modes

The Distressor s iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes give you a wide palette of compression textures, letting you shape sources with even or combined even-/odd-order harmonic distortion, from delicate thickening, to burnished tape, to fully saturated.

Focus Dynamics with Powerful Side-Chain Controls

The Distressor s side-chain control gets rid of unwanted low-frequency pumping perfect for drum bus processing while Band Emphasis tames strident vocals and harsh power region instrument peaks. You can also harness plug-in-only features like the Dry/Wet Mix for easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group.

Headroom Control

Another plug-in feature not available on the original hardware is the Headroom (HR) control, which allows you to adjust the internal operating reference level, so the nonlinear I/O distortion and compression response characteristics can be tailored independently of signal input levels. At higher dB values (clockwise rotation), signals will push the plug-in into processing more easily. Set the control to a lower value (counterclockwise rotation) when less processing and less color is desired.

Harness All-Star Artist Presets

Mix with presets from Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes), Vance Powell (Jack White), Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), Jimmy Douglass (The Rolling Stones), and more.