Every DAW comes bundled with at least one compressor plug-in which generally do the job of dynamics processing well. In some cases stock compressors can be a bit bland sounding as they typically don’t behave like the analogue compressors of old which many audio engineers revere.
Over the decades the audio production world has been blessed with many powerful outboard compressors, many of which have been modelled and recreated faithfully in plug-in form.
In this article we suggest a small selection of cool compressor emulations along with free tutorials demonstrating each in action for you to check out if you feel the need to use a different style of compressor from your DAW’s stock compressor.
Waves CLA-2A
For nearly six decades the original Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier has been a popular compressor choice in audio production, known widely for its abilities to apply instant and smooth sounding compression with ease.
The LA-2A is a tube electro-optical attenuator. It handles gain reduction with barely any harmonic distortion side effects. Vocal tracks are the main order of business for any LA-2A or emulation as their compression characteristics generally help to push vocals to the front in most styles of music.
Two simple controls dial in LA-2A compression. Peak Reduction and Gain which makes LA-2A compressors one of the easiest dynamics processors to set tastefully. Simply reduce the Peak Reduction while increasing the Gain to level compensate, and the rest is down to what amount of dynamic squeeze you feel your tracks need.
Over the years the LA-2A turned out to be quite a popular device in the software world being modelled by many third-party plug-in developers, most notably by Waves who emulated Chris Lord Alge's own favourite unit.
Watch our video below to hear Waves CLA-2A plug-in against a modern-day Universal Audio hardware LA-2A.