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
R. Jasman Jr
April 5, 2020
Lush sound with instant vibe
Adds character and edge to drums vocals and more. Easy to use and the artist presets are a great starting point.
Read MoreP. Danel
April 1, 2020
Love at first sight....
This reverb-plugin is the best I ever had. No strange sounding clouds, but a magic help for every dry tone. I´m lucky to work with such a useful - and inspiring - "instrument".
Read MoreO. Daniel
March 28, 2020
On Point!
This has it own character. I have been obsessed by it lately. Fantastic tool guyz. Love 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
R. Jasman Jr
Lush sound with instant vibe
Adds character and edge to drums vocals and more. Easy to use and the artist presets are a great starting point.
P. Danel
Love at first sight....
This reverb-plugin is the best I ever had. No strange sounding clouds, but a magic help for every dry tone. I´m lucky to work with such a useful - and inspiring - "instrument".
O. Daniel
On Point!
This has it own character. I have been obsessed by it lately. Fantastic tool guyz. Love it!
l. ray
génial
que du bonheur,j’adore super boulot merci.
AmicalementK. Didvalis
Warm and natural sounding!
Superb reverb!
J. Daranowski
Superb reverb
Ultimate reverb in your home studio
W. Welmixpro
As Usual Its Nice :)
As Usual Its Nice :)
B. Horvat
Secret souce
If you're serious about music production, especially when it comes down to mixing, then this is one of those plugins which can give your work an additional value. It sounds great on pretty much everything from vocal, to guitars, keys and drums. Want that vintage sound on a vocal chain? Checked. Want just some extra dimension on your drums? Done. Easily on of my favourite plugins. It really is (not so secret) souce.
T. Haahr
Warm and natural sounding! wow!!
This reverb is now in every session I mix. Its very natural, warm and pleasant sounding. The five stars are for the SOUND which is awesome - The downside is the huge amount of CPU usage. One instance takes up a single chip/core in your system, so you'll need at least a quad satellite - I haven't been taking this into account in my (five star) review - I have an octo satelite and I can easily run out of processing power. Hopefully there is an answer to this sometime in the future.
J. Gellis
Do you spend a lot of time and energy getting digital gear to sound analog?
Smooth, complex, forgiving. Analog ambiance, delicious!
m. leblanc
Capitol Reverb
Perfect Reverb!! Sound great
j. VAICLE
rêve devenue réalité
très beau superbe reverbe bravo
j. VAICLE
un rêve devenue réalité
superbe reverbe un grain différent des autres très musical bravo pour votre réalisation
j. VAICLE
un rêve devenue réalité
superbe reverbe un grain différent des autres très musical bravo pour votre réalisation
j. VAICLE
un rêve devenue réalité
superbe reverbe un grain différent des autres très musical bravo pour votre réalisation
A. Kosakovski
Капитолий Палаты
Очень понравилось!!
S. Baker
Best reverb I've heard!
Seriously. The tones and reflections are fantastic! You can adjust it to your taste. I recommend putting it on an aux return channel, as it does use some resources. Well worth the price, though.
R. Leon Junquera
Best reverb
It's so useful and overall is among the best reverbs out there
서. 덕
Good
Chamber Rivers. There's nothing like this. Nothing can follow.
서. 덕
Good
Chamber Rivers. There's nothing like this. Nothing can follow.
