Empirical Labs® EL8 Distressor
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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
S. Escudero Sarmiento
August 18, 2021
Must have compressor
It’s a very nice compressor! Works fine and sounds good!
Read MoreS. Tydeman
August 11, 2021
Seriously Awesome!
Brilliant piece of hardware / software. Love it! Works a charm on vocals, bass, guitars, kick, snare....list goes on. Used it on every mix since purchasing....
Read MoreD. Murphy
July 21, 2021
Must have compressor
Add great tube saturation, energy and body to any source... excitement too. It's a classic.
Read MoreB. Jarrell
July 8, 2021
I wish my wife was this dirty!!!
Seriously! This is one of the rare few plugins that exist that you can slap on almost anything and get great results without all the hassle!
Read MoreM. Hagan
July 6, 2021
As advertised!
I’ve wanted to pull the trigger on this plugin for some time. Well worth the wait. Definitely gives vocals more presence.
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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
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Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
S. Escudero Sarmiento
Must have compressor
It’s a very nice compressor!
Works fine and sounds good!S. Tydeman
Seriously Awesome!
Brilliant piece of hardware / software. Love it! Works a charm on vocals, bass, guitars, kick, snare....list goes on. Used it on every mix since purchasing.
D. Murphy
Must have compressor
Add great tube saturation, energy and body to any source... excitement too. It's a classic.
L. Tian Siung
Drum Bus!
apply on every Drum Bus it is!
B. Jarrell
I wish my wife was this dirty!!!
Seriously! This is one of the rare few plugins that exist that you can slap on almost anything and get great results without all the hassle!
M. Hagan
As advertised!
I’ve wanted to pull the trigger on this plugin for some time. Well worth the wait. Definitely gives vocals more presence.
A. Rudolph
Fantastisch!!
Absolut authentische Plugin Version des Hardwaregerätes. Stabil und so gut bedienbar wie es ein Plugin sein kann.
G. Amstel
Very good!
It’s a very nice compressor!
Works fine and sounds good!G. Amstel
Very good!
It’s a very nice compressor!
Works fine and sounds good!N. Dubo
Magnífico
Funciona realmente genial... Estoy a gusto con este gran compresor... YEAHHH
S. Tavra
wunderbares Tool
momentan nutze ich den distressor für Drums. wären die Klänge Bilder hätten sie klare scharfe Konturen und kräftige Farben. das Tool bringt einiges auf den Punkt. möchte es nicht mehr missen.
z. valentine
Great sounding plugin
This plugin really shines on everything. When I use it on vocals it does not flatten transients even at high gain reduction and the best of it is that it sounds great. Highly recommended.
C. Greenaway
Great for the toolkit
Excellent compressor that has a really wide range of uses, compression can be gentle or extreme, and I often use it with no compression, sending my tracks through the dist settings. Sounds great!
L. Hutt
Must Have
I've used the demo of this plug in a while ago and I've been wanting it for a long time. I finally pulled the trigger and I will never look back. Im very pleased and so are my clients. This is a must have for any chain.
V. Bernardo
Great!
Great! Just slap it on and it always sounds better!
k. king
Distressor Compressor
So far so good it brings life to your Mix this plugin is Magical.. See for your self!!!!!
M. Farina
Amazing comp
Identical to the hardware unit
N. Emberg
I finally own it!
The Distressor has been on my list of must own plugins. It’s been great for tracking vocals and acoustic guitars. I finally purchased it last week and it will be used on every session.
E. Wells
Great emulation of an essential tool
What more can you say?
The flexibility of being able to run multiple Distressors with fast easy routing is a dream come true.s. read
Annoyed
Really annoyed. I paid £200 for this a week ago and now it’s on sale for £91!
