Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor
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The world’s most remarkable and revered audio compressor — available as a UAD plug-in.
The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces provides everything from a velvet touch to an iron fist — making it a go-to on records by Muse, Green Day, Gnarls Barkley, and more. Designed by Brainworx, the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in is a thorough emulation of the high-end hardware.
Few pieces of audio hardware are as revered as the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. Created by enigmatic mastermind, Peter Reardon, this five-rackspace behemoth tempers dynamics and tames transients like no other compressor in history. With its serial, two-stage dynamics control and switchable output transformer matrix.Mix and master with an emulation of the legendary Shadow Hills Compressor, endorsed by Peter Reardon
Harness Nickel, Iron, and Steel transformer types for a wide range of distortion characteristics and transient limiting
Use separate Optical and Discrete (VCA) dynamics sections for two-stage serial dynamics control
Employ 90 Hz sidechain filtering for musical compression of low-frequency program material
Three Majestic Compressors in One
The genius of the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in is its ability to control dynamics in two stages — an Optical and Discrete (VCA). Both sections can be bypassed, effectively providing three compression sounds (Optical, Discrete, and combined) in a single unit.
The Optical section is highly program dependent, with basic Threshold and Gain settings, and a two-stage release time akin to the classic LA-2A — perfect for gently taming dynamic range. The Discrete section takes over where the Optical section leaves off, provides precise control over gain, threshold, ratio, attack, and release.
Switchable Output Transformers — Nickel, Iron, and Steel
The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in’s tonal palette is enhanced by a unique matrix which allows selection between three output transformers — Nickel, Iron, and Steel. By switching the selected transformer type in and out of the signal path, you can hear the different frequency response, distortion characteristics, and transient limiting of each transformer — going from “clean” (Nickel), to “colored” (Iron), to “dirty” (Steel).
“The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in is the ultimate last-stop in a mixing chain. It’s punchy, hi-fi, and has lots of options. ”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“The UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in sounds incredibly accurate and gives me the tone I need — especially on the drum bus!”
– Dean Coleman
“The UAD Shadow Hills plug-in is replacing my 670 on the stereo buss. The two sides allow me to accomplish what I was using multiple compressors to achieve.”
– Mark Needham (The Killers, Neon Trees, P!nk)
“The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in has character and punch that no other plug-in can duplicate! ”
– Adam Hawkins (Twenty One Pilots, Switchfoot, Keith Urban)Customer Reviews
J. Tristán
January 11, 2019
Infinito
Me gusta mucho cómo trabaja el sonido, de esa forma tan peculiar. Sí que es cierto que puede llegar a 'encrudecer' el sonido, pero puede que en ocasiones sea justo lo que queremos....
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Key Features
Meticulous emulation of the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, licensed and endorsed by Peter Reardon
Created by Brainworx, developed exclusively for the UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform
Separate Optical and Discrete (VCA) dynamics sections for two-stage serial dynamics control
Separate Threshold and makeup Gain for each dynamics section
Fixed Ratio, Attack and Recover settings within the Discrete section
Transformer matrix switches between Nickel, Iron, and Steel output transformers — like selecting between 3 distinct vintage console outputs
90 Hz sidechain filtering for musical compression of low-frequency program material
Large, accurate VU meters provide Optical, Discrete, or Output gain views
Custom presets created by Shadow Hills founder and designer Peter Reardon
Requires UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Interface, available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor
J. Tristán
Infinito
Me gusta mucho cómo trabaja el sonido, de esa forma tan peculiar. Sí que es cierto que puede llegar a 'encrudecer' el sonido, pero puede que en ocasiones sea justo lo que queremos. También se pueden conseguir ajustes bastante transparentes a la vez que eficaces. Tiene posibilidades infinitas.
t. meulens
Crazy
I love this so much on the masterbus !
T. Richards
Great
Great
T. Richards
Great
Great
j. park
nice character
nice one, high end sounding
N. Antonio
素晴らしい
コンプレッサーとしても使いやすいですが、トランス切り替えで音像をコントロールできるのが素晴らしい。
M. Łuczak
Shadow Hills MC
Sound great and do the job perfectly
d. sexton
Shadow Master
Takes all those harsh edges off....
R. Benito
Loving it!!!
This is my go to plug in.
r. pullara
Magia
Alla fine del mio mix, sul bus master una volta acceso fa una magia, e prima del master già suona tutto meglio, il che facilita il lavoro dopo
J. Poole
The Chain
I usually use the Variable MU before the Shadow Hills and 'tickle' the audio content before applying the Ampex 102. It is a 'must have'.
A. Jones
GREAT PLUG!
I love this thing. Use it on ALL my mixes EVERY TIME!
T. Urbanski
Weighty punch!
I have been using it a lot on my master buss and it works great. Massaging the flow of music and adding nice, transparent punch.
You can have a lot of fun and learn how it works when you listen to Spotify via UAD Console and run it through Shadow Hills.
It will make some of the streamed tracks sound more punchy :) not all of them of course!
One of the best purchases for my UAD arsenal, highly recommended!J. Langhoff
Fantastic in my mastering chain
I'm very satisfied ... incredibly easy to work with and sounds great ... and really nice plugin size
C. Kaliampakas
Make it knock!
Choose your flavour from the transistors on it (there are 3 of them), go to the opto comp and finish it with a -2db gr.. thats it, your masters will sound as big as mainstream songs do.
g. detar
Bravo
I own the 500 series dual Vandergraph and while the hardware settings are somewhat inflexible, I was able to tweak the plugins discrete section to sound almost identicle. Can’t speak for the optical section except that the plugin version sounds good (have not compared to hardware unit) Only difference was some slight calibration issues. Hardware was hotter in general. For $300 vs. 2G it’s kinda no brainer. I read some bad reviews on this so I bought the dual Vandergraph expecting more....maybe hearing a 1% difference if that. I recommend this plugin.
S. Debontridder
Master bus magic
I don't have any experience whatsoever using the hardware version of this unit, but I will say that the plugin works wonders on my master bus. It's hardly subtle but never obnoxious. Even though the controls are a bit... complicated, my mixes started getting way better after I figured out my preferences. I've since started mixing into it and I can't imagine not using this one anymore. Great stuff.
c. nestola
Best UAD plugin!
With it´s special compression caracteristics and extraordinary musical
E. Deon
Lacks a lot in drum transients compared to HW dynamics
Just compare to the test file in this thread:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-shoot-outs-sound-file-comparisons-audio-tests/699125-hardware-compressor-amp-limiter-comparison-thread-audio-files.html
Sadly, the shadow hill comp is amazing over the whole track, but the plugin just sucks out the transients in a way all too common for SW dynamics. Easy to find the plugin in a level matched blind test. UAD 1176s are great, but this doesn't seem to cut it.J. Maasakkers
Love this UA plug in!
Really beautiful color and more!
Definitely happy with this purchase!
