Capitol Chambers
-
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
C. Davies
February 27, 2020
The Cap
Best reverb I own This is just magnificent Thanks for all the effort that went into this
Read MoreC. Doerschlag
February 23, 2020
Best reverb
Hands down the best room reverb I’ve ever used
Read MoreP. FRATTINI
February 21, 2020
My studio has a new reverb chamber
I love it. It just is amazing. Detailed, complex, smooth and easy to use, it suits basically any sources you could think of. Really. I’m amazed by the flexibility of this reverb. And the...
Read MoreP. McLaughlin
February 19, 2020
Very picky...
New to mixing professionally, but I've been listening to music and using reverb for a long time. I'm very picky and do not use the majority of reverb pedals for my guitar rig. Prefer spring...
Read Morej. campos
February 15, 2020
Technological Marvel
To my ears the most natural reverb that I've heard in plug in form. Best if used as an bus send/retrun as it does require some DSP to operate, The sound though, is worth the processing...
Read MoreM. Seitz
February 15, 2020
Oh yeah!
Amazing rooms - amazing modeled... Nearly on all my tracks since I got it...
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
-
Customer Reviews
Capitol Chambers
C. Davies
The Cap
Best reverb I own
This is just magnificent
Thanks for all the effort that went into thisR. Gun
Trash
I can not understand how this is possible, most people seems to like it much.
It was a part of a promotion, so i got it with new hardware, but i would never pay (indirectly i did pay for it though) for that - i will not use it ever.
it sounds nasty, it sounds quite colored, not much difference in the 4 Chambers, partially not centered pan weight, no motion in the reverb tail, the Mics do not give bolt sound, not even a true stereo in and it consumes so absurd much DSP.
Let alone the built in EQ. Destroyed.
I would say a simple Impulse Response loaded in a convolver (like most DAW come with) does the job much better.
So clarly a NO GO.
P. Lallis
Not Happy
I am not a fan of Capitol Chambers .
If i could change it for another plugin i would gladly do it.C. Doerschlag
Best reverb
Hands down the best room reverb I’ve ever used
P. FRATTINI
My studio has a new reverb chamber
I love it. It just is amazing. Detailed, complex, smooth and easy to use, it suits basically any sources you could think of. Really. I’m amazed by the flexibility of this reverb. And the more I work with it, the more it proves versatile.
I highly recommend it.
It’s a no brainer and, in the end, a must have for any producer.P. McLaughlin
Very picky...
New to mixing professionally, but I've been listening to music and using reverb for a long time. I'm very picky and do not use the majority of reverb pedals for my guitar rig. Prefer spring or for a really deep atmosphere a Mr black is stellar. I demoed this as an aux in an old school country tune. I sent it everywhere at 100%. I'm not sure there is a bad setting on it at all, though 100% wet and no blend is pretty rough for most (could probably get that mr black sound though). Definitely, an obvious difference. Alot of plugins I find myself listening critically for the changes and to see how vintage or analog they sound. This is like piping your mix into a chamber. It's so natural. Listen to old capital label records and that's it.
Long story short I bought the octo satellite as this and the new compressors were on my list. At 150 a piece on sale, it's like paying 600 for more dsp.j. campos
Technological Marvel
To my ears the most natural reverb that I've heard in plug in form. Best if used as an bus send/retrun as it does require some DSP to operate, The sound though, is worth the processing requirement. I've been able to tailor the settings to suit just about any and all of my reverb/dimensional needs. very transparent and fully variable. UA is my go to for quality audio products both analog and digital. Thanks for all of the hard work !!!
M. Seitz
Oh yeah!
Amazing rooms - amazing modeled...
Nearly on all my tracks since I got it...J. Westra
Really wanted this
It provides more than enough on any setting almost too much. DSP eater. Couldn't run four of these in a mix with other plug-ins on 24 tracks for me.
S. McFadyen
Yes, yes, yes.
I've cast a bit of shade on some UAD plugs. To my ear, there are a number of emus that could really use an update, or never really lived up to their promises. It's kind of sad when you know the tool you're instantiating is not up to the current standard. It kind of tarnishes the collection as a whole.
This one however, is a jewel in the UAD crown. For me this one is setting the pace for the rest. With this one the others will be catching up for a while.S. Pomeroy
Beautiful Reverb
A great sounding and versatile Reverb. Well chuffed.
y. perroux
BEST REVEB EVER
Great work !
y. perroux
BEST REVEB EVER
Great work !
s. yang
I fell in love with you
I am so happy to meet you legendary.
I am very excited to work with you in the future.
Thank you for always Universal Audio.
If you sell a little more often, I don't want anything more. :)J. Chase
A Capitol Investment!
Liked demoing this enough to make a purchase.
Tried the Capitol Chambers plugin on 12 tracks of strings, sax, vocals, acoustic guitar, and fell in love with the richness and pleasing tails.
Good set of simple controls makes tweaking to taste very easy.
Thanks again U.A.D. Yudin
Great
How much reverb do you need? it has everything!
s. watanabe
最高！！
奥行き、深み。この音像はこれでしか作れないのでは？
A. Bingham
Perfect.
This thing is just so great sounding. Endless tweaks, but just so easy to dial in.
O. Dramaretskiy
AMAZING!!!!
Sound like a magic!!!!! Great work UA!!!
V. Beqo
Awesome
Super
