Why the EL Distressor is actually the GOAT.

There are few compressors I find myself reaching for than the Empirical Labs Distressor. It's unique flexibility and varied feature-set make it a fantastic choice for a wide range of pop and rock production needs. The ability of the unit to produce subtle compression effects, while also being able to give your recordings an absolute beating (with it's 'NUKE' and built in distortion modes) mean it is an absolute Swiss army knife for mixing.

It's uniqueness lies in the smooth distortion you get when you turn up the input gain, it gives sounds such a juicy flavour, and can go from subtle to completely obnoxious. You don't even have to compress anything - just set it to the 1:1 mode and let the circuitry do its thing. If you do want to compress it though, you have all sorts of settings and modes to play around with. It offers ratios from 1:1 all the way through to 20:1 (and the 'NUKE' mode), attack and release controls that make it work like an optical compressor when maxed out, and an "all-buttons in" 'Brit Mode', that juices up the VCA for more agressive compression. It can do pretty much anything you need from a distortion/compressor (Dist/ressor? damn.). Unfortunately however, it will set you back £1689 for a real one, but I find the UAD plugin version does the job more than adequately (with the addition of a dry/wet control - it's mint).

I wholeheartedly believe that if I had to choose only one compressor to have in a studio, the Distressor would be my number one choice. If I could only have two compressors, I would probably just get another Distressor. The ability to stereo link a pair of them means that they are perfect for cranking the input gain, putting it into 'NUKE' mode, and obliterating drum buses to one's heart's content. Even outside of stereo possibilities, having two Distressors means that if they were all you had, you could use them in series to recreate the classic 1176-LA2A vocal chain, setting the first to a 10:1 ratio with a fast attack to catch the peaks, with the second on the 'Opto' mode to give the vocal that smooth smooth sound. Two is even more expensive, setting you back around £2800 for a calibrated stereo pair - it does save you about £500 if you buy two, which is a pretty wicked multi-buy offer if you happen to have three grand lying around, and are in the market for some analogue compression and distortion. Like i mentioned earlier, the UAD version will absolutely scratch the itch - but if you do happen to have some spare money knocking around, i'll happily take £2800 off your hands.