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
S. Gage
September 17, 2020
Go-to vocal and strings verb
This just sounds dope. It’s my go to for vocal and strings. It’s just magic
Read MoreY. Lu
August 27, 2020
Feels so good
Load this up and sing through this and wow. Instantly gives you a mood. Once I heard and felt that, I bought it.
Read Morel. parker
August 19, 2020
yep
a fantastic organic sounding addition to my other UA reverbish favs.... EMT 140, Ocean Way... hard to restrain myself from using way too much of it right now cuz I love it too...
Read MoreA. McCrink
August 15, 2020
Aum
To cap it all, it has to be Capitol. Just loading it onto a Bus send you get instant cream oozing onto all that enter this beautiful domain.
Read MoreC. Bruce
August 9, 2020
Amazing
This blows the mind. Love how the door shuts and the studio light blinks when it’s processing. I use this to make strings sound amazing...
Read MoreF. Lockie
July 30, 2020
The glue
Can one good reverb make a difference? the answer is yes. It is the frank's hot sauce of reverbs. You can use it use it a bit, you can use it a lot and it goes with everything. I would like...
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
S. Gage
Go-to vocal and strings verb
This just sounds dope. It’s my go to for vocal and strings. It’s just magic
Y. Lu
Feels so good
Load this up and sing through this and wow. Instantly gives you a mood. Once I heard and felt that, I bought it.
l. parker
yep
a fantastic organic sounding addition to my other UA reverbish favs.... EMT 140, Ocean Way... hard to restrain myself from using way too much of it right now cuz I love it too much.
A. McCrink
Aum
To cap it all, it has to be Capitol. Just loading it onto a Bus send you get instant cream oozing onto all that enter this beautiful domain.
T. Wilson
DSP Sucker
I would love to use this plug-in (on drum tracks and vocals), but it goes over on my DSP limit, therefore this plug-in is useless to me. I wish there were a light version of this so that I can have these reverb sounds without the DSP errors. Giving it two stars because the reverb does sound great when I have it on a solo acoustic guitar!
C. Bruce
Amazing
This blows the mind. Love how the door shuts and the studio light blinks when it’s processing. I use this to make strings sound amazing
F. Lockie
The glue
Can one good reverb make a difference? the answer is yes. It is the frank's hot sauce of reverbs. You can use it use it a bit, you can use it a lot and it goes with everything. I would like some John Bonham drums please, CHECK. I need to sweeten up this piano riff, CHECK. Vocal, oh the vocals , it is hard to make things sound bad. best money i have spend since i got my Apollo Twin. Top Shelf!
N. Wearne
My go-to reverb.
I really love this reverb plugin. It's dense, dark and delicious. I've been using it globally on my mixes and I love the way it glues everything together without being over the top. I sometimes run it on an acoustic guitar bus to give a little extra lusciousness... it also sounds great on open-back clawhammer banjo!
I also love plate and spring reverb, but this one just seems to be my go to. Be aware that it is DSP heavy, but that is to be expected given the complexity of what it's actually doing!j. mathew
Just Amazing
I tried this for my vocal backing tracks and Drum tracks. Sounds amazing
P. LaScola
SOooooooo...
as I write this review, the CC plug-in shuts off and say there's not enough DSP even though I'm using (2) satellites showing 39% DSP used.....hopefully I can get it running...
V. Territo
Wow!!!
The first time I tried the Capitol Chambers reverb it absolutely blew me away. It’s the most musical reverb I’ve ever used. It inspires and gives an instant timeless quality to almost every source. The painstaking process Universal Audio went through modeling the room, vintage mic’s and speaker IR’s is apparent from square one. Such a great tool to have in the box!!!
a. wallace
chamber my music
Give this a go , its musical , its fun and it really sounds ace on lots of different things
B. King
A timeless sound and easy-to-use masterpiece
If you want a reverb sound that sounds like a record, this is it. Whether you want an instant ‘60s vibe or something modern, this famous chamber is the go-to for creating the timeless sounds artists and producers are still talking about and trying to capture today.
With a retro-styled, ultra-simple user interface, being able to choose the mic, room, and even mic distance is the next best thing to being in this legendary LA studio.
Try the demo. You won’t be disappointed.
The retro-styled interface is inspiring and informational showing the various mics, rooms, and even mic distance to capture the right sound for any production.D. Hampton
Capital Chambers
first time I demo this thing, I was blown away by the quality of Reverb, and to use the different mic position, take me back to school when setting up for tracking a session. I have made this reverb part of my template.
D. Hampton
Capital Chambers
first time I demo this thing, I was blown away by the quality of Reverb, and to use the different mic position, take me back to school when setting up for tracking a session. I have made this reverb part of my template.
M. Malinovic
My favorite plugin
This plugin is amazing for the vocals and acoustic instruments.
B. Blais
Really good... as expected
This is a really good addition to my reverb collection... the missing link between the EMT140 end the BX20. With a lot of flexibility thanks to the well-thought settings : Pre Delay / LPF / EQ ... The emulations are good as expected from UA ! >Good job guys
R. Fabrizio
Priceless Classic ambience
Thanks Steve, Frank and Darryl for some amazing starting points! This is a game changer like UAD1 20+ years back.
A. KARCI
Excellent reverb
It is an amazing reverb very realistic and surrounds the guitar vocal and drums i strongly recomended
B. Budd
Blood amazing
I put this on a vocal track And it worked perfect.
