Empirical Labs® EL8 Distressor
-
The world’s most popular compressor, exactingly recreated for UAD and Apollo.
Introduced in 1993, the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios all over the world as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile, super fast, and offering tons of color, the Distressor picks up where the legendary UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors leave off — a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative, as heard on thousands of hit records.
The only authentic Distressor plug-in endorsed by Empirical Labs’ founder Dave Derr, the UAD Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is available exclusively for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces. An exhaustive end-to-end emulation of Derr’s iconic hardware, the UAD EL8 Distressor is the only faithful emulation of this true “desert island” compressor.Now You Can:
Track and mix with the only authentic emulation of the EL8 Distressor — the world's most popular modern compressor
Radically shape guitars, drums, and vocals with nearly infinite gain reduction variations
Harness plug-in-only features like Dry/Wet parallel processing and Headroom for user‑customizable operating level
Creatively color instruments and vocals with famous “Dist 2” and “Dist 3” modes
Embellish, pump up, or destroy bass, synth, and room mics with custom detector filtering
Mix with presets from Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes), Vance Powell (Jack White), Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), Jimmy Douglass (The Rolling Stones), and more
Take a Listen
Learn how to Add Energy to Drums
Grammy-winning engineer Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather) and the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor plug‑in.
The Only End‑to‑End Distressor Emulation
The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in provides all the features and coveted sound of the original Distressor design. UA’s team of DSP experts started with a complete circuit trace and component study of Dave Derr's selected golden unit. Simultaneously, the team analyzed three more Distressors representing the lifetime of the product — ensuring one of UA’s tightest circuit models to date.
When comparing Distressor software emulations, contrast the original hardware’s ultra-fast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail, and the authentic UAD Distressor succeeds.
The Right 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 delivering unique tones and curves. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical low-order harmonics. At the other extreme, the Nuke limiter setting is famous for adding explosive excitement to room mics, or energizing a entire mix.
Distortion Modes
The Distressor's iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes feature a wide palette of compression coloration, letting you shape sources with even or combined even/odd-order harmonic distortion. From delicate thickening to burnished tape to fully saturated, the Distortion Modes, combined with low-frequency filtering, let you focus the Distressor’s textures.
Powerful Sidechain Controls
The Distressor’s sidechain control lets you easily focus your dynamics. High Pass filter unwanted low frequency pumping and breathing — perfect for drum bus processing. Band Emphasis works to tame strident vocals or can laser in on harsh “power region” instrument midrange peaks, or use both together.
You can also run the Distressor on buses, linked or unlinked, for flexible imaging. Exclusive plug-in features like Dry/Wet Mix offer easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group. Finally, the Headroom control lets you optimize the Distressor’s overall operating level to your playback system.
“The UAD EL8 Distressor feels just like the hardware, giving me results that I’ve been missing in the box.”
– Jacquire King (James Bay, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits)
“The Distressor is capable of such radical compression tones, that it becomes its own instrument. I’m confident the UAD version will become just as useful as the hardware.”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“The Distressor is the perfect all around compressor, and no studio should be without a few of them. Now with the UAD Distressor, you can have as many as you need!”
– Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs)
“From subtle compression to destruction, the Distressor handles everything with style.”
– Hector Delgado (A$AP Rocky, Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey)
“The Distressor truly is the desert island dynamics tool, for controlling levels or creatively reshaping instruments into sounds that couldn’t be heard otherwise.”
– Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Future Islands)Watch The Reviews
5-Min UAD Tip
In this video, learn how the EL8 Distressor compressor can transform your mixes into something truly special.
Customer Reviews
I. Krstic
May 17, 2022
Great Tool
Great compressor, very useful, great tool for every professional ...
Read MoreJ. ter Borg
May 7, 2022
Awesome!
Not just flexible and versatile, but also a visually well-designed tool that really helps to understand limiting and compression in general if you don't have a lot of experience.
Read MoreR. Matias
May 4, 2022
Best compressor available
It works with everything, glad it was finally on Tuesday sale
Read More.
April 25, 2022
Intuitive and precise!
More than any other compressor I have ever used, physical or plugin, this puppy changes the sound the way my brain wants it change. In other words, with many other compressors I really have...
Read MoreC. Carouthers
April 25, 2022
Instant vibe and power
I’ve always loved the original rack unit. This thing lives up to every bit of its “real world” origins. So much flexibility...
Read MoreC. Leonard
April 25, 2022
Great for Particular Purposes
The Distressor creates punch for drums and pushed up the vocal without being harsh, so depending on the drum or vocal sound you are aiming for, it can be really helpful. It has a unique...
Read More -
Key Features
Painstaking, end-to-end circuit emulation of the iconic hardware designed by Dave Derr, exclusively for Universal Audio
Provides the entire circuit path and control set of the original Empirical Labs hardware
Features seven fixed ratios, including Optical and Nuke, Distortion Modes, and Detector Modes
Plug-in-exclusive features include Dry/Wet parallel processing and Headroom for user-customizable operating level
-
Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
I. Krstic
Great Tool
Great compressor, very useful, great tool for every professional ...
J. ter Borg
Awesome!
Not just flexible and versatile, but also a visually well-designed tool that really helps to understand limiting and compression in general if you don't have a lot of experience.
R. Matias
Best compressor available
It works with everything, glad it was finally on Tuesday sale
UAD User
Intuitive and precise!
More than any other compressor I have ever used, physical or plugin, this puppy changes the sound the way my brain wants it change. In other words, with many other compressors I really have to think about ratios etc, but the Distressor is just full of great sounding options. It has lots of color and is a joy to use.
So many other compressors work, and work well — this thing is something special.C. Carouthers
Instant vibe and power
I’ve always loved the original rack unit. This thing lives up to every bit of its “real world” origins. So much flexibility with the blend knob. Hard for me to not put this on EVERYTHING. The only negative is that the people at UA really modeled everything perfectly. Even the noise and hum. So be prepared for a little noise on your tracks. But other than that, it’s great. Very happy with my purchase.
C. Leonard
Great for Particular Purposes
The Distressor creates punch for drums and pushed up the vocal without being harsh, so depending on the drum or vocal sound you are aiming for, it can be really helpful. It has a unique tone and I do like the adjustable "grit". I find that it works really well as a contributor to a chain as I like the vocals to cut through the mix, yet still remain warm and smooth and this helps with the former without negatively affecting the latter. For my voice, personally, this was a nice complement and once I got used to hearing my vocals through it, comparing it to bypass made it clear how much it was contributing to the tone. I really like it on drums; it smooths out the overly-dynamic while really bringing all the different drum contributions into the spotlight without them overpowering, which I find hard to accomplish in general. However, if you do want a drum kit to power through the mix with some good tones and maintain natural dynamics while still compressing enough, this is a great tool. I think this is a plugin that should be in most people's arsenal, though selectively. For the money, it's a winner and I've already incorporated it into multiple new recordings and prior ones, both of which it made significantly better.
A. Belkacem
Distressor
One of the best UAD Comp. Sounds amazing.
J. Ross
COMING INTO NEWNESS
I HAVE BEEN LEARNING MY WAY AROUND THE EMPIRICAL LABS EL8 DISTRESSOR COMPRESSOR FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS. I USE IT AS A HARDWARE INSERT/RACK IN APOLLO 8:2.
I am loving the sonic spread through each I/O routing via CUE in Studio One Pro 5.5.3. it awakes all tracks with a seasoning spice, so tasteful in hearing--is its ultimate 10 Star results.
As wells as a little amount of flavor-is its secret.J. Solyom
Good times
Sounds killer
M. Barnes
The ultimate for synth bass!
Top notch as always.
D. Schaufelberger
Amazing. No words needed.
See title.
S. Bruinsma
Just.. WOW!
I use it on vocals en beats.. man man. Should've bought it much sooner.
J. Gang
Great Comp
Must have it!
D. Wershba
Very Distressing!
Works as Advertised! A great addition to my other dynamics plug-ins - this one has a strong personality!
P. Isaac
Great for Vocals
Puts vocals in place
Q. Adolphin
I love it!
Just slap it on and then Work with %! I’m goodS. Sweeney
Distressor
Didn’t realize what I was missing. Great add to the arsenal.
F. Lagacé
Great Compressor
Amazing
J. Love
No surprises here.
The Distressor is all it's cracked up to be and a welcome addition to the tool box. It has met all my expectations.
D. Holland
Distressor one of the best
This is one of the best plugin out there
