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
S. Datskevich
September 5, 2024
The best
The best of all emulations of this device from Empirical Labs
Read MoreD. Gill
August 21, 2024
Adding bite
Getting used to this plugin, but sounding promising. Many hours of fun to be had getting that sound you want. My strat sounds excellent when compressed (all four buttons pressed down)...
Read MoreD. Ayala
August 19, 2024
One of a Producers best plugins
Drums, bass, and vocals sizzle with this amazing plugin. Its reputation is monumental in past and current praises.
Read MoreD. Leftridge
August 16, 2024
Most Musical Compressor Plugin
Hands down the most musical compressor in my arsenal. It has become my go to for everything. Especially as the parallel compressor right on the drum bus thanks to the mix knob.
Read More -
Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
S. Datskevich
The best
The best of all emulations of this device from Empirical Labs
G. Spiridion
NICE SOUND
Good plugin, good sound and I like it.
D. Gill
Adding bite
Getting used to this plugin, but sounding promising. Many hours of fun to be had getting that sound you want. My strat sounds excellent when compressed (all four buttons pressed down)
A. Ellis
Great Tool
Brilliant compress that does that little extra!
D. Ayala
One of a Producers best plugins
Drums, bass, and vocals sizzle with this amazing plugin. Its reputation is monumental in past and current praises.
D. Leftridge
Most Musical Compressor Plugin
Hands down the most musical compressor in my arsenal. It has become my go to for everything. Especially as the parallel compressor right on the drum bus thanks to the mix knob.
I. Bisbal
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
Very interesting and high-quality compressor.
Many thanksA. Navarro
todo en uno
Desde siempre quise adquirir, esta maravilla de compresor, y no me ha decepcionado. Lo aprovecharé para todo. Maravilla de trabajo por parte de UA.
m. molina
I loved it
Im very happy with it ,I was a big fan of Waves plugins before but never again!!! UA are my new plugins.
S. Earl
Totally useful
OK I can’t compare this to the actual hardware, however this is super useable, effective and easy. Fully recommend this plugin.
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!!!!!
