Capitol Chambers
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A startling recreation of the world's finest echo chambers.
Located below the iconic Capitol Tower in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios is arguably the most recognized studio in the world — and much of its legend can be traced to its hallowed, subterranean echo chambers. From Ray Charles to Frank Sinatra, Beck to Muse, these underground spaces continue to provide gorgeous hi-fi ambience that is simply unmatched.
Now, after years of R&D and close collaboration with Capitol Studios — including unprecedented access to four legendary echo chambers 30-feet beneath the studio — Universal Audio proudly presents the Capitol Chambers plug-in, a startling end-to-end recreation of the most popular echo chambers ever created, exclusively for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces.Now You Can:
Record and mix with the world's only authentic plug-in emulation of Capitol Studios' prized underground echo chambers
Add the unmistakably dense, natural reverberation to vocals or drums — far beyond plate, digital, or simple convolution reverb
Create new sounds by repositioning Capitol Chambers' microphones using UA's Dynamic Room Modeling
Audition current and historical chamber configurations, plus new setups curated by Capitol's Steve Genewick
Harness the chamber's entire signal chain including amplifiers, speakers, custom preamps, and mics
Quickly pull up presets from legendary Grammy-winning engineers Al Schmitt (Ray Charles, Steely Dan), Darrell Thorp (Beck, Radiohead), Frank Filipetti (Madonna, Paul McCartney) and more
Take a Listen
Classic Echo Chambers Designed by Les Paul
Prized for their natural sound and dense ambience, acoustic echo chambers became a creative tool for pioneering, forward-thinking engineers by the mid 1940s — most notably UA founder Bill Putnam Sr. and the great Les Paul, the genius behind the Capitol chambers designs. Built from reinforced concrete and tuned using sloped ceilings and a trapezoidal shape, Paul's designs deliver a smooth, balanced decay and a completely natural room tone that can't be achieved in any other way.
Capturing Iconic Echo
In creating this amazing plug-in, UA sourced historic technical diagrams from the early '60s to precisely recreate microphone/speaker setups inside of Capitol's most coveted chambers, including the vintage omnidirectional Altec 21D mics and custom speaker/horn configurations, in their original hit-making positions. Current "modern" configurations dating from the late '80s were also captured, using the omnidirectional Shure SM80s, while new and creative mic/speaker combos were devised by Capitol's resident chamber expert, Steve Genewick.
Unprecedented Ambience Control
Capitol Chambers' Position slider gives you next-level control over spatial and time response, allowing you to reposition the chamber mics — no assistant engineer required. From the maximum distance stock positions, to direct speaker-to-microphone effects and proximity characteristics, the Capitol Chambers plug-in can subtly thicken vocals or drums, or soak strings with the most natural, complex sounding reverb ever recorded.
Powered by UA's Dynamic Room Modeling
Harnessing the same technology as the award-winning Ocean Way Studios plug-in, Capitol Chambers uses UA’s proprietary Dynamic Room Modeling technology, an exclusive combination of physical modeling and advanced measurement techniques. Whereas standard convolution reverbs only provide a sonic snapshot, Dynamic Room Modeling gives the Capitol Chambers plug-in nearly infinite ambient possibilities.
Deeper Still
Beyond a vintage recreation, the Capitol Chambers plug-in offers creative features for modern DAW workflows like Pre Delay, Dry/Wet mix, and Decay controls. A sweepable 80 to 750 Hz filter lets you minimize muddy bass going into the chamber, while Bass, Treble, and proportional Q Mid band lets you perfectly season the chamber's lush ambience. In addition, the Width control allows you to narrow the chamber's stereo field, for easily pinpointing a vocal or instrument in the mix. Finally, Decay lets you quickly shorten Capitol Chambers' natural reverb time, offering more scenarios to harness the most famous echo chambers ever made.
An All-Star Collection of Artist Presets
The Capitol Chamber's plug-in features carefully crafted presets from a stunning roster of Grammy-winning engineers and producers. From recording industry icon Al Schmitt (Ray Charles, Steely Dan) to Mark Linett (The Beach Boys, Los Lobos) and Frank Filipetti (Madonna, Paul McCartney), Darrell Thorp (Beck, Radiohead), and more, you can experiment using the same settings that professionals who know every nook and cranny of Capitol's famous chambers use every day.
Capitol and the Capitol logos are trademarks of Capitol Records, LLC, registered in the United States, European Union, and other jurisdictions, and are used under license.
"A Rose" by Jamie Lidell
Written and recorded exclusively to showcase the UAD Capitol Chambers Reverb plug‑in.
“I’ve been using the chambers at Capitol Studios for nearly 25 years, now I finally get to take them with me when I work outside of Capitol.”
– Steve Genewick (Ray Charles, Queen, Frank Sinatra Jr.)
“While tracking at Capitol Studios, I always capture the chambers. Now I can have same sound at my fingertips anytime. This is my new use‑on‑everything reverb. ”
– Darrell Thorp (Beck, Radiohead, Charlotte Gainsbourg)
“Some of the best echo chambers in the world are now just a click away. The interface is simple and self explanatory — the sounds are extraordinary.”
– Mark Needham (The Killers, Neon Trees, P!nk)
“With the Capitol Chambers plug-in, UA has created a truly flexible, physical space. Let that sink in for a second…”
– John Paterno (Robbie Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Bonnie Raitt)
“The UAD Capitol Chambers plug-in is amazing. It has so much depth, character, and authenticity. It sounds just like you're there.”
– Chris Dugan (Green Day, Iggy Pop, U2)
“The UAD Capitol Chambers plug-in is meticulously crafted, complete with various mics and mic placements. It’s a remarkable piece of the past — accurate and powerfully versatile.”
– Richard Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater)Customer Reviews
L. Oliveira
August 28, 2019
THIS PLUGIN IS A BEAST!
I love this thing, I use it in everything.
Read MoreH. Ramsey
August 28, 2019
Great Sound
This is probably the best verb I've heard in a while. Had just purchased 2 other reverbs to expand my room textures and now I use Capitol Chambers for nearly every reverb application. I...
Read MoreR. Tjernell
August 24, 2019
New dimensions...
Impressed! What a brilliant idea to recreate the complex echo chambers, now conveniently accessible via Capitol's Chamber plug-in. I use Capitol Chambers to give my guitars...
Read Morej. dee
August 23, 2019
REVERBS. THEY ALL THE SAME RIGHT?.
Stunning. At the risk of repeating myself, and i am, i'm long enough at this game to have used places like Abbey Road and the echo chamber. I remember the first time it was called up on the...
Read MoreD. Watson
August 19, 2019
Stunning!
I have the Waves Abbey Road Chambers and I thought it was pretty good (although incredibly CPU intensive) until I tried Capitol Chambers. Now it's my go to 'room' and I could not be...
Read More -
Key Features
Exclusive echo chamber emulation licensed and endorsed by Capitol Studios
The world's best-sounding and most in-demand echo chambers, designed by Les Paul
Gorgeously natural, uniquely dense chamber ambience, for reverb buses or individual sources
Choose from Capitol’s most popular chambers (2,4,6,7) with varying mic/speaker configurations representing modern to historical setups
Captures amplifier, speaker, custom preamp, and microphone chain for unprecedented realism
Fine tune ideal placement with continuously adjustable microphone positioning using UA's Dynamic Room Modeling
Other features include adjustable Decay, Pre Delay, sweepable cut filter, three-band EQ, Dry/Wet mix, and Width
Artist presets from Grammy-winning engineers Al Schmitt (Ray Charles, Steely Dan), Darrell Thorp (Beck, Radiohead), Frank Filipetti (Madonna, Paul McCartney), and more
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Customer Reviews
Capitol Chambers
L. Oliveira
THIS PLUGIN IS A BEAST!
I love this thing, I use it in everything.
H. Ramsey
Great Sound
This is probably the best verb I've heard in a while. Had just purchased 2 other reverbs to expand my room textures and now I use Capitol Chambers for nearly every reverb application. I love it!
R. Tjernell
New dimensions...
Impressed!
What a brilliant idea to recreate the complex echo chambers, now conveniently accessible via Capitol's Chamber plug-in.
I use Capitol Chambers to give my guitars (Stratocasters) the unique and authentic vintage touch from the early days, namely the early sixties.
A fantastic addition to my tube-driven tape and drum echoes.j. dee
REVERBS. THEY ALL THE SAME RIGHT?.
Stunning. At the risk of repeating myself, and i am, i'm long enough at this game to have used places like Abbey Road and the echo chamber. I remember the first time it was called up on the desk in studio 2 with zero adjustment we all looked at each other in the room and laughed a kind of 'wow'. Did the same with this. Opened it and touched nothing and went 'wow'. I never use dream verb or avid reverbs at all cause they just plain old suck. You will never go back after having this.
R. Stewart
What can I say....
It’s absolutely stunning.
D. Watson
Stunning!
I have the Waves Abbey Road Chambers and I thought it was pretty good (although incredibly CPU intensive) until I tried Capitol Chambers. Now it's my go to 'room' and I could not be happier. Sits in mixes like the real thing. Now all I need is to learn to sing like Sinatra.
B. Gautier
Capitol Chambers.
Sweet!
T. Augustinas
Yo!
Ameizing tool to help with those vocal fixing situations, love it!
UAD User
15 stars
This is my 3rd time reviewing. The plugin is that good. I had to give 15 stars.
M. Haverly
You have to hear it
Such an extremely useful reverb plugin. Some of the most recent UA plugins are my absolute favorite plugins of all time. Another "go to" plugin - this time in the ambience category. Nice job UA.
B. Weiss
What a great room verb!!
Unbelievable room sounds especially for voices! I really love to dive the vocal tracks into this great reverb plugin. Check it out ..I'm sure you will like it !
E. Reemann
Wow
This is my new go to reverb.
I really love itUAD User
Hard to find firmware update
It shouldn't be that hard to find update for hardware. it's a wonderful piece, great future, but its very unfortunate that you guys make it so hard to update.
D. Tetmyer
Unreal reverb clarity
Beautiful
R. Whiteman
Incredible sound
The level of detail blew me away. My new go-to reverb
UAD User
Capital Chambers
There are so many great reverbs out there.
But this one is as lush as it gets.
Very well done!
Adds such a great flavor to any application.I. Bandera
Grande reverbero
Il prezzo è un po' alto ma è comprensibile dato che è uscito da poco.
Lo trovo veramente interessante, molto intuitivo.
Suono spettacolare e assolutamente flessibile.
Lo sto provando su molti strumenti diversi, chitarre, batteria, voci e aggiunge sempre la dimensione di cui hanno bisogno. Ottimo acquisto.
Bravi i ragazzi UADA. Rizzo
Simply Breathtaking
Just wow. The best reverb plug, EVER, by a country mile. Sounds stunning on vocals, Brass, Guitars.. Bought it as soon as I heard it.
B. JeongHun
Lit, Lit, LIT
What to say,... What more can I say, This thing is rich! It really makes my vocals come to life!
E. Bureau
Gorgeous room modeling
I’ve never heard a plug-in sound this ‘real’. It really makes my vocals and guitars come to life!
