Teletronix® LA-3A Audio Leveler
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A refresh for a legendary solid-state electro‑optical compressor.
If you took the gentle optical compression of the Teletronix LA‑2A, and fused it with the solid‑state clarity and punch of the UA 1176, you would have the Teletronix LA-3A — a "secret weapon" compressor with a unique character capable of moving sounds right to the front of your speakers.
Now featuring improved user interface graphics and sonic appointments, the refreshed Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces takes its rightful place alongside the pillars of classic compression hardware.Now You Can:
Easily shape signals with the definitive solid‑state optical compressor
Add energy and harmonics to vocals and acoustic guitars
Make snare drums pop out of the mix
Add grit and texture to bass guitar and soft synths
Sculpt your sounds further with new HF Emphasis sidechain filter and parallel Dry/Wet Mix
Mix with artist presets from Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, Fleetwood Mac), Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy), and Eric J Dubowsky (Flume, Odesza) and more
LA-3A History
The Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler made its debut at the 1969 NY AES show, and marked the departure from the tube design of the Teletronix LA‑2A. The LA‑3A incorporated components and design concepts from UA's solid-state driven 1176LN Limiting Amplifier, while also harnessing the LA‑2A's optical compression design, giving the LA‑3A its own distinctive sound and expanded versatility.
Faithfully Capturing a Classic
Immediately embraced as a studio workhorse, the LA‑3A is still widely used today. Engineers and producers the world over favor the LA‑3A for its unique compression characteristics and sonic signature. Modeled from a unit in UA’s vintage collection, the Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler plug-in faithfully captures the rare hardware, working magic on vocals, guitars, and even drums.
New Modern Features
By adding the hardware’s original HF Emphasis sidechain filter, you can now easily use the Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in to punch up your drum bus without triggering the threshold of the compressor with the kick drum. Plus, a new Dry/Wet Mix control lets you easily add parallel compression on an instrument bus, allowing you to season your productions with legendary Teletronix LA‑3A attitude.
“The Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in adds juicy, chewy tone to vocals, bringing them forward in a relaxed, yet commanding way. ”
– Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy, The Killers)
“I love the updated Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler plug-in. It's a top contender for not just tracks and auxes, but my stereo bus as well. And with the new sidechain filter, it's even more useful.”
– Jeff Balding (Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Dan+Shay)
“The UAD LA-3A plug-in is one of our favorite sound design tools. We use it to destroy reverb tails for interesting atmospheric effects.”
– The Glitch Mob
“The Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in gives you smooth optical compression, but with the aggression of a transistor circuit. It's perfect for shaping rock vocals, acoustic guitars, even orchestral instruments.”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“I love the Teletronix LA‑3A's compression on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals. Now I can love it all over again with a beautiful new interface!”
– Chris Zane (Passion Pit, St. Lucia, Holy Ghost!)
“An industry standard, the Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in will make guitars pop, level out bass, and do it all with the vintage tone of the original.”
– Richard Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater)
“The LA‑3A plug-in has a sort of liquid buoyancy that I like, especially on guitars and vocals. ”
– Chuck Zwicky (Prince, Soul Asylum, Reggie Watts) -
Key Features
Definitive solid-state optical compressor combining LA-2A gain reduction and 1176 clarity and punch
LA-3A Audio Leveler plug-in modeled from a unit in UA’s vintage studio gear collection
Easy to use and unique autoformer T4 gain reduction useful on a wide variety of sources
Featuring simple Gain and Peak Reduction controls with Compression or Limiting
Expanded features include original High Frequency Emphasis filter and digital-only Dry/Wet Mix parallel processing
Includes artist presets from Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, Fleetwood Mac), Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy), and Eric J Dubowsky (Flume, Odesza) and more
Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator or UA Audio Interface, available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Teletronix® LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler
B. Tarco
shine shine
nice top end right in vocals I put this in the mostt important tracks
c. An
good
goodgoodgood
D. Murphy
A classic.
It's a classic!
h. kim
Good!!!
Good!!!
L. Tian Siung
Must Have
Applied to many of my tracks!
M. Řehák
The Teletronix LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler is indispensable
Above all, the drums add Dymnamics and purityo. martinez lopez
Acoustic guitars
Nice!!!
J. Wolff
Go to for bass DI
I use this on every bass (even vst bass sounds). It helps just smooth things out when you go light on it or you can even get tones from it when squashing just like the hardware. This is not like other software compressors that when you go hard it sucks the life out of your source. On the contrary it helps breathe life into a lot of my tracks and helps give them a liveliness that is often missed in the digital world.
L. Martella
Great plug in
Great plug in
I use it everywhere.
Delicate and powerful at the same time!F. Furtade
LA3A
Magnifique
J. LIM
gooooooddd
gooooooddd
R. Harris
My go to vocal compressor
Nothing sounds like this leveler to me, just an incredible warmth and punch. I have other fine sounding compressors from UAD including the LA 2A, and 1176, themselves fine sounding plugs, however this is the one I prefer on my vocal tracks.
R. Pressman
Great punchy compressor
Has the simplicity of the LA-2A's interface with the punch of the 1176. Can't beat that combo.
M. Reeves
Very Good Plugin
Love this Make my Strat sound great
M. Trim
My new favourite compressor
It provides punch and bite at the same time as warmth, perfect for a jazz guitar album I am mixing.
D. Blues
Hesher Special
Pushes heavy guitars into new dimensions. Don't sleep on this one.
B. Ward
LA-3A
The sound and response is very distinct when compared to other emulations and the improved GUI is very welcomed.
b. zucchetti
Excellent as the original hardware and everything of UAudio !
Legendary.... Must to have ! i'd only like a big resize !
A great big portable studio in my Mac !
By the time and waiting the right promotion i will buy everything of UAudio!J. Geary
Pantry Essential
The 3A is an essential flavor in any compression arsenal. I overlooked this thing for so long in both the physical and software domain. it truly does have a different flavor and sweet spots compared to the 2A. A great little plugin that shines in its own way and uses next to no dsp
C. Freeman
Too Small, Not Resizeable
I was stoked to get this compressor, but I found the display to be incredibly small as soon as I tried putting it on a track. It's small enough to make using it frustrating. I'm using a 2018 macbook pro 15" running Catalina. My vision is not an issue as I'm in my early 20's and my sight is far above average. If UA can or has fixed this issue, I'll happily update my review. This is not a review of the accuracy of UA's LA-3A Plugin, but about the user experience. I love my Apollo, Cheers!
