Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor Single Channel Distressor

The Distressor is the item that began it all for Observational Labs. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and also Gain Mind (amongst others), the Distressor incorporates his favored sonic characteristics of these, along with various other special and also fascinating functions that have made it a staple for audio engineers all over the world. With over 22,000 systems in the field, it’s secure to say that the Distressor is just one of the greatest selling higher end compressors of all time … if not The Most Effective selling. A popular recording designer recently gambled that there probably was not a top 40 document made in the last five years that didn’t have at least one Distressor on it.

The principle of British Mode stemmed from an abnormal environment on the traditional UREI LN1176 limiter. The device was made to have just four percentages, each percentage being engaged by choosing one of 4 buttons. Nonetheless, as early as 1980 (or before), renegade recording designers, consistently on the lookout for something a bit more “extraordinary”, discovered that you can make all 4 buttons stay in if you pressed them perfect. Just what resulted was a really aggressive noise that had some aspects of the device’s 20:1 percentage, however with an abnormal knee and new envelope form. Someplace along the line, someone called it “British Mode”, and also the label stuck.

The EL8-X has the advantage of having the ability to uniquely apply this assertive characteristic – not simply to the brand-new “British” percentage (1:1) – to any of the ratios, just by engaging the devoted “British Method” change.