The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is globally recognized as the modern, essential compressor in studios everywhere. Highly versatile and rich with character, the Distressor picks up where legendary compressors like the UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A leave off, providing a contemporary tool that's equal parts utilitarian and creative, as evidenced by its presence on thousands of hit records.

Shape with the Only End-to-End Distressor Emulation: The EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in delivers all the features and authentic tone of the original hardware. You can easily compare it to other Distressor emulations and observe the original hardware’s ultra-fast attack time to quickly understand where most plug-ins fall short, and where the genuine UAD Distressor truly excels in its faithful reproduction.

Find the Perfect Compression Ratio: At the core of the Distressor’s versatility are its staggering variations in compression ratios: 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 10:1, 20:1, and the infamous Nuke setting. Each ratio offers unique sonic possibilities. For instance, use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings with musical harmonics without applying significant compression. Conversely, the Nuke setting provides explosive excitement, perfect for adding immense energy to room mics or your entire mix, creating a powerful, aggressive sound.

Add Color with Distortion Modes: The Distressor’s iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes give you a wide palette of compression textures, allowing you to shape sources with either even-order, or combined even/odd-order harmonic distortion. This ranges from delicate thickening and burnished tape-like saturation to fully saturated, heavily driven tones, offering immense creative control over your sound's character.

Focus Dynamics with Powerful Sidechain Controls: The Distressor’s sidechain control is invaluable for eliminating unwanted low-frequency pumping, making it perfect for precise drum bus processing. Additionally, the Band Emphasis feature helps to tame strident vocals and harsh “power region” instrument peaks, ensuring a smoother and more controlled sound. You can also leverage "plug-in only" features like the Dry/Wet Mix for effortless parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group, allowing for powerful yet nuanced dynamic control.

Key Features:

• Track and mix with the only authentic emulation of the EL8 Distressor — the world's most sought-after modern compressor, ensuring true-to-hardware sonic performance.
• Radically shape guitars, drums, and vocals with nearly infinite gain reduction variations, offering unparalleled creative flexibility for dynamic control.
• Harness plug-in-only features like the Dry/Wet parallel processing for advanced parallel compression techniques and Headroom for user-customizable operating levels, optimizing your gain staging.
• Creatively color instruments and vocals with the famous “Dist 2” and “Dist 3” modes, adding rich harmonic saturation and diverse tonal textures.
• Embellish, pump up, or even destroy bass, synth, and room mics with custom detector filtering, providing unique sonic sculpting capabilities.
• Mix with presets from legendary users such as Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes), Vance Powell (Jack White), Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), Jimmy Douglass (The Rolling Stones), and more, giving you professional starting points for your mixes.