Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor

You'd be hard-pressed to find any studio worth its salt without at least one Distressor in its outboard racks, and the reason for that is quite simple -- Empirical Labs' original product is a tried and true piece of gear, a chameleon capable of about a million-and-one tricks. From subtle transient shaping to all out harmonic distortion war, smooth LA-2A-style curves to the much more aggressive "NUKE" setting, the Distressor is the right tool for almost any compression job.