Empirical Labs® EL8 Distressor
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Get the colorful sound of the world’s most popular compressor.
The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios the world over as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile with tons of color, the Distressor picks up where the legendary UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors leave off — giving you a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative, as heard on thousands of hit records.
Included Versions
UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.
- Track and mix with the only authentic emulation of the EL8 Distressor — the world's most sought-after 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.
Shape with the Only End‑to‑End 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 ultra-fast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail, and 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 Sidechain Controls
The Distressor’s sidechain 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 Dry/Wet Mix for easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group.
“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
C. Palmkvist
July 23, 2024
Excellent !
Use it to everything! Bass , drums , and keys. Love it!
Read MoreR. REGA
July 13, 2024
very versatile
works in many different sources as the original analog piece
Read MoreJ. Flanigan
July 5, 2024
Awesome Compressor
This Distressor is everything as advertised. I placed on my vocal buss and without adjusting any parameter, the vocals sound better. I don’t know how to describe ‘better’, other than...
Read More -
Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
C. Palmkvist
Excellent !
Use it to everything! Bass , drums , and keys. Love it!
R. Martin
Fantastic
For bass it's brutal
R. REGA
very versatile
works in many different sources as the original analog piece
A. Pashka
Aggression
This thing doesn't miss!
A. Pashka
Aggression
This thing doesn't miss!
J. Flanigan
Awesome Compressor
This Distressor is everything as advertised. I placed on my vocal buss and without adjusting any parameter, the vocals sound better. I don’t know how to describe ‘better’, other than stronger, clearer . . ., just noticeably better.
I’ve just begun to use this on other tracks, but everywhere I’ve placed it, it made things sound better.I. Kumpel
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
Just a blast! I haven't seen anything better!
W. Krol
Fantastic and versatile.
Great sounding and versatile.
T. Boćkowski
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Sounds amazing
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor sounds amazing , the best compressor for Drums.
Will give You punch , power and nice transients . Thanks for Universal Audio ))G. Pillsbury
ILOK is a internet Prison and total buuulllllshiiiiiit
This plugin is freaking amazing and a total waste of money because of their idiotic ILok system that needs constant Wi-Fi connection to their system. My PC can’t deal with the strain. I asked for a refund and their bot said. ‘No way’. A waste of my money, I bought IK Multimedia and will use that instead. Freakin idiotic waste of money. THAAAAANK YOOOOU! AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGH!!!!!
A. Vish
The iLok racket
I cant imagine there ever being a problem with any plugins themselves, from UA. They are stellar. The only problem is software companies, UA included, who insist on perpetuating the iLok racket. The plugins simply need to be able to be licensed to a machine, not just "in the cloud", or on a iLok usb stick. Or, they must be able to be downloaded, unlocked...and thats it...no iLok anything. Perhaps its oldschool, but I do not ever have my studio machine connected to the internet unless I specifically have to update something or download, etc. Needing to be connected to the internet in real time, in order to use a plugin, in the future, will keep me from purchasing and using UA plugins.
D. Black
Distressor comp
Admitted I wasn't quite sure how this would sound, but after using it, it's great not only to compress but add harmonic distortion. Yes it can be clean too, but I'm enjoying the distorted bass section with this.
E. Ross
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
This is one amazing compressor/Distressor on the market. Sound quality is great on drums, bass and vocals. Love it!!
A. Caro
The best
wow
E. Mihalachioaei
Great plugin
I only use it for vocals and it works great! It makes the voice sound full and integrates it better into the whole mix! Thank you UA for your professional plugins. Worth every penny!
N. White
One of the Best!
Definitely one of the best Compressor’s to use of all time. You can’t go wrong with this!
A. Sergeevich
briefly about Distressor
Great product, allows you to hear your synthesizers in a completely different way.
Gives the beats an interesting sound.G. Beretti
A Beast !
One of the best compressors i use with la2a and 1176. Distressor is powerful, warm and tight on drums but useful on every track.
H. Cameron
Invaluable
Must have for your plug in arsenal !
d. Music
Very excellent..
I use it for vocals and acoustic guitar... And I'm sure it can also be used for various other instrument purposes... Love it.!!!
