Empirical Labs® EL8 Distressor
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Get the colorful sound of the world’s most popular compressor.
The Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor is revered in studios the world over as the modern, “must-have” compressor. Versatile with tons of color, the Distressor picks up where the legendary UA 1176 and Teletronix LA-2A compressors leave off — giving you a modern tool that’s equal parts utilitarian and creative, as heard on thousands of hit records.
Included Versions
UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.
- Track and mix with the only authentic emulation of the EL8 Distressor — the world's most sought-after modern compressor
- Radically shape guitars, drums, and vocals with nearly infinite gain reduction variations
- Harness plug-in-only features like Dry/Wet parallel processing and Headroom for user‑customizable operating level
- Creatively color instruments and vocals with famous “Dist 2” and “Dist 3” modes
- Embellish, pump up, or destroy bass, synth, and room mics with custom detector filtering
- Mix with presets from Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes), Vance Powell (Jack White), Jacquire King (Kings of Leon), Jimmy Douglass (The Rolling Stones), and more
TAKE A LISTEN
Learn how to Add Energy to Drums
Grammy-winning engineer Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather) and the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor plug‑in.
Shape with the Only End‑to‑End Distressor Emulation
The EL8 Distressor Compressor plug-in gives you all the features and tone of the original hardware. Simply compare other Distressor emulations for yourself, and contrast the original hardware’s ultra-fast attack time to quickly hear where most plug-ins fail, and the authentic UAD Distressor succeeds.
Find the Perfect Compression Ratio
The crux of the Distressor are its staggering variations in compression — 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 10:1, 20:1 and Nuke — each offering unique sounds. Use the 1:1 ratio to gently warm up synths or strings without compression, while adding musical harmonics. Conversely, the Nuke setting gives explosive excitement to room mics or your entire mix.
Add Color with Distortion Modes
The Distressor's iconic Dist 2 and Dist 3 modes give you a wide palette of compression textures, letting you shape sources with even or combined even/odd-order harmonic distortion, from delicate thickening to burnished tape to fully saturated.
Focus Dynamics with Powerful Sidechain Controls
The Distressor’s sidechain control gets rid of unwanted low-frequency pumping — perfect for drum bus processing — while Band Emphasis tames strident vocals and harsh “power region” instrument peaks. You can also harness "plug-in only" features like Dry/Wet Mix for easy parallel compression on a mix bus or instrument group.
“The UAD EL8 Distressor feels just like the hardware, giving me results that I’ve been missing in the box.”
– Jacquire King (James Bay, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits)
“The Distressor is capable of such radical compression tones, that it becomes its own instrument. I’m confident the UAD version will become just as useful as the hardware.”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“The Distressor is the perfect all around compressor, and no studio should be without a few of them. Now with the UAD Distressor, you can have as many as you need!”
– Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs)
“From subtle compression to destruction, the Distressor handles everything with style.”
– Hector Delgado (A$AP Rocky, Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey)
“The Distressor truly is the desert island dynamics tool, for controlling levels or creatively reshaping instruments into sounds that couldn’t be heard otherwise.”
– Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House, Future Islands)Watch The Reviews
5-Min UAD Tip
In this video, learn how the EL8 Distressor compressor can transform your mixes into something truly special.
Customer Reviews
D. Urq
May 15, 2024
A Lot of Mojo
Nice difference from other compressors, esp. on vocals and drums. Great for parallel comp.
Read MoreM. Le Borgne
May 15, 2024
Atypique et top
Compresseur atypique et étonnant, une machine qui permet de sortir des sentiers battus.
Read MoreE. Lopez
May 14, 2024
Amazing
I use mine on vocals and I love it, just inserting this plug in on my vocal buss brings my vocals where they need to be. Caught this one on Sale and only wished more plug ins dropped to...
Read MoreI. Gratton
May 13, 2024
I just does a thing...
The Distressor works great on kicks and snares - and so many many other things.
Read More -
Customer Reviews
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
M. Martinsen
Good stuff!
Does exactly what it says on the tin.
D. Urq
A Lot of Mojo
Nice difference from other compressors, esp. on vocals and drums. Great for parallel comp.
M. Le Borgne
Atypique et top
Compresseur atypique et étonnant, une machine qui permet de sortir des sentiers battus.
E. Lopez
Amazing
I use mine on vocals and I love it, just inserting this plug in on my vocal buss brings my vocals where they need to be. Caught this one on Sale and only wished more plug ins dropped to this level of affordability.
C. Lauer
Allrounder / Must-Have
Einfach mega für alles ;P
I. Gratton
I just does a thing...
The Distressor works great on kicks and snares - and so many many other things.
H. Sato
Correct pedigree of this product as EL8
I sense the correct pedigree of this product as EL8.
HR and Mix are very useful.
I wanted MS mode.c. rivera
Perfect
Perfect
p. gonka
Distressor
Best of the best of the best.
S. Giles
Easy to dial in
Love the distressor, I’ve seen it in so many studios and always wondered about it. Now I know why it’s in every studio. Dialling it in is so easy and it is so versatile for different sources. It just works. It compresses in such a natural and smooth way. Love it.
C. del Rosario
Really Great
I love using it
W. Sanson
A must have
One of the best emulation. I use this on every track.
U. Soto
Amazing plugin!!!
This has become a must in my mix chains. Go get it now!!!!!
A. Marangoni
Simply the best!
Excellent emulation of the famous and expensive Distressor! the most versatile and efficient compressor I have ever tried! I really use it on everything and it works on everything! Super recommended!
M. Ottinger
Fatten up drums
I use this to compress my drum buss and mix it back with my drum tracks. Thickens up the sound and fattens up the Drums
K. Kaspersen
This one rocks!
Need a perfect compressor? It is DISTRESSOR!
D. Thompson
Should have bought this sooner.
Sounds great on everything. From subtle to smashed in a few clicks. Should have bought this sooner.
s. salman
nice
I really liked it. I think I got a very nice sound, especially when I added dist 3 to the compression. It became one of my favorites. I just think the sizing can be reconfigured.
P. Mues
Stuck with 5 redundant compressors :)
Let's say I have 6 compressor plugins and I only use 1 since I bought the Distressor .
P. Phorun
Very versatilely compressor.
Good compressor and very good preset to get start. I love this .
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