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
P. Johnsson
April 13, 2021
Beautiful room sounds!
I love the room sounds Capitol Chambers can deliver and the EQ makes it very versatile.
Read MoreF. Valsecchi
April 12, 2021
Best reverb plugin I've tried so far
It's true that it consumes a lot of DSP, what makes it difficult tu use in some situations. Despite that, it's the best reverb I have ever tried, totally worth.
Read MoreC. Brown
April 6, 2021
Powerful and Simple
A Powerful plug-in with a clean and easy to use interface. I really love the simplicity and sounds created by this plug-in. Nice work folks. Checkout Ben's 5 min tip on the UA YouTube...
Read MoreD. Montoya
April 6, 2021
I love this reverb! Gorgeous and organic.
Very DSP hungry, but indeed worth it. Glorious, enveloping and wide spaces.
Read MoreL. Vandevert
April 6, 2021
Instantly became my favourite reverb
Yea - this is really nice! There's a beautiful quality to it that's really hard to describe. It's not an experimenting reverb,...
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
P. Johnsson
Beautiful room sounds!
I love the room sounds Capitol Chambers can deliver and the EQ makes it very versatile.
F. Valsecchi
Best reverb plugin I've tried so far
It's true that it consumes a lot of DSP, what makes it difficult tu use in some situations. Despite that, it's the best reverb I have ever tried, totally worth.
C. Brown
Powerful and Simple
A Powerful plug-in with a clean and easy to use interface. I really love the simplicity and sounds created by this plug-in. Nice work folks. Checkout Ben's 5 min tip on the UA YouTube channel for some great tips and what the animations mean when making changes. The door closing in the GUI is a nice touch.
D. Montoya
I love this reverb! Gorgeous and organic.
Very DSP hungry, but indeed worth it. Glorious, enveloping and wide spaces.
L. Vandevert
Instantly became my favourite reverb
Yea - this is really nice! There's a beautiful quality to it that's really hard to describe. It's not an experimenting reverb, but if you're looking to get a rich quality sound, this has to be the standard.
D. Garrido
Sounds amazing!
Greatest reverb on vocals!
D. Garrido
Sounds amazing!
Greatest reverb on vocals!
J. Waldman
Best in the box reverb I've ever heard!
The title says it all, you can hear it just from the default setting. SO rich and natural sounding. Only drawback is it's a massive cpu hog. Highly recommended!
P. Woehl
Nice and simple!
Simple to get a lush verb that sounds great.
P. McAnnally
Killer.
Super inspiring reverb - the best chamber reverb I've found, kind of amazing every time I use it.
A. Eriksmoen
Great verb
Smooth and gorgeous
L. Kranjc
Most convincing room model in my experience
This is my go to end of chain processing. Depending on how much you push it, it adds lush harmonics to musical recordings (i use it on vocals and el. violin). A very convincing room model that feels as if you're standing right there. Other applications work great as well. The only limiting factor for me is small number of rooms you can choose from. Would love to see them adding made up rooms with crazy specs! Anyway amazing product.
R. Walsh
Great Reverb
This came with my recent Satellite Octo purchase. What a very pleasant surprise. I own the EMT and Lexicon plus the Pure Plate. This is so different. Best "room" sound I've used. A must have
S. Roth
Oh great! Feels silky smooth
I guess by now we all have plenty of reverb‘s, but this one is really special. It just feels comfortable, like a warm blanket.
B. Tari
Tetszeni fog!
Ez azt teszi, amit kell, sem többet, sem kevesebbet!
A. Picciafuochi
Excellent natural reverb!
Capitol Chambers is an excellent natural reverb, with it I can give three-dimensionality to the sounds in my mixes!
T. Camp
Sounds incredible
It has such great character to it that is unique to any other reverb I have ever used. A lot of people go for Valhalla or the Lexicon, which is great for sure... but I prefer this and Ocean Way for adding depth and realism to otherwise dull sound sources. It works great if you print the aux send to audio and treat it as a separate room mic. I love it.
D. Willis
I'm In Love!
When the Supreme Court finally changes the law to allow humans to marry plugins, I will take this one for my bride. So much yummy audio here. Beautiful classic sound yet also sounds very modern. It just does not get any better than this. This plugin alone makes me glad I dove into the UAD universe. Can sound warm, alive, close, far, etc. Try it!
T. Gapski
Great sound! If you need Reverb you'll get Reverb.
Makes me curious to see and check the original chambers at Capitol Records .
S. Roth
it does one thing - perfectly
it's a full - lush sound - that you recognize from so many songs - I love it
