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
M. Garbulinski
July 25, 2021
Great but!
Would love a slightly smaller version to be able to run with a 1073 and capitol rooms on an arrow. otherwise great for a bus post record. minus one star for the lack of workable version...
Read MoreT. Tesluk
July 23, 2021
A Thing of Beauty
Words cannot do justice to this *beautiful* technological achievement. But "rich", "dimensional" and "otherworldly" scratch the surface.
Read MoreR. Gicomeng
July 20, 2021
Impressive! But at $349, Pricey!
I like the way this plug-in modulates higher frequencies, particularly the percussion in Techno, Deep Tech, Progressive and Melodic House digital WAV/_AIFF- files-, but I haven't figured...
Read MoreJ. Santos
July 7, 2021
Often brilliant!
Doesn’t work for everything but when it does work, it’s as good as it gets.
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
M. Garbulinski
Great but!
Would love a slightly smaller version to be able to run with a 1073 and capitol rooms on an arrow. otherwise great for a bus post record. minus one star for the lack of workable version with preamp on arrow.
T. Tesluk
A Thing of Beauty
Words cannot do justice to this *beautiful* technological achievement. But "rich", "dimensional" and "otherworldly" scratch the surface.
R. Gicomeng
Impressive! But at $349, Pricey!
I like the way this plug-in modulates higher frequencies, particularly the percussion in Techno, Deep Tech, Progressive and Melodic House digital WAV/_AIFF- files-, but I haven't figured out how to balance low and mid range frequencies which lose clarity and sound muddy. _-_A 14-day demo isn't long enough. I thought it was offered at $175 and I would have purchased that already, but -$349 doesn'-t fit my budget- just to find out that it is another p-lugin I wo-n'-t use aga-in. It co-mes very close.-
C. Coffie
Capital Chambers
I haven’t used it yet but I will
L. Tian Siung
nothing can beat this
best of its class
H. Chung
Bad Reverb for Classical strings Recording
This Reverb works great for Voice and guitar however it sounds very unnatural when using for classical music strings such as violin and cello.
If you are a pop singer you'll love it if you are trying this for strings never ever get this reverb.J. Santos
Often brilliant!
Doesn’t work for everything but when it does work, it’s as good as it gets.
P. Lordo
Highly Recommended
The width and spaciousness this had is amazing. I’ve got every reverb plug in you can imagine. This is different.
V. Garcia
Super!!!
Excelente plugin para darle el toque final a tus instrumentos
M. Moryń
Game Changer
This Plug-In is a total gamer changer in aspect of vocal & instruments mixing.
Highly Recommended!R. KMIEC
Best reverb plugin for retro vibes
My voice never sounded so good and warm as with the Capitol Chambers.
It really adds a vintage 50s/60’s vibe to your vocals, gives instruments a live feel, and also can be used on the master bus, to add these sixties Phil Spector sounds to your mix.
Very DSP hungry though, be sure to have enough processing. I keep 5 stars because I imagine you need a lot of power to run such powerful plugin.G. Westwood
Just Lush!!!!
A unique space with amazing results from a plugin.
Sounds fantastic on vocals and guitar.F. Lagacé
Amazing
Beautiful on vocal
w. wilkenm
wilkenm
Beautiful
w. wilkenm
wilkenm
Beautiful
I. Hamilton
Capitol Chambers
I was initially looking for a reverb comparable to Sunset Sound’s chambers to get that Van Halen reverb, and just a kiss of this does the job pretty well. I dislike a lot of reverbs (both pedals and plugins) so to find one I actually like is quite nice (and rare)! It has a far more authentic room sound than any reverb I’ve experienced and that goes a long way for me. Usually I rely on a hint of delay rather than reverb to not muddy the tonal waters but this doesn’t seem to present that kind of problem based on my use so far. I’m looking forward to getting more creative with it!
J. Brown
Beautiful
Gorgeous warm ambient reverb that just makes things sound so much more real. Makes you feel like you are in the room with any digital instrument. Also a great nostalgia plugin as many won't be able to visit Capitol in person. I love this plug in!
R. Neville
I love it!
This one is probably my favourite reverb that I own from uad so far.
T. Baize
Capitol Chambers GOOD!
GOOD!
K. Frost
Capitol Chambers where history was made.
Presets offer good starting points. The controls are not hard to understand and make it easy to fine tune. It definitely has a lushness to it. I have only had it a short time, I did put it on some tracks that I am currently working on. On some tracks it was “what was missing”. On others it was good, but not much better than what I was already using on other tracks. Just like 480, it has its place, like all the reverbs do.
I did find a great blend with Vocals on Capitol Chambers and Acoustic guitar fed to the Cooper Time Cube, the “space” that each offers blended well together on that mix. Hope that made sense. Anyway as I am learning there is “no” one stop shop in this craft. Take time learn the plugins you have, read the manuals, they really help, then you turns knobs with understanding and use your ears.
