Products, Broadcast, Empirical Labs

Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor
Single Channel Distressor with British Mod and Image link feature

The Distressor is the product that started it all for Empirical Labs. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting…

Empirical Labs EL-RXV DocDerr Module
API500 series module with INST pre, 4-band EQ, compressor & tape saturation circuts. Vertical faceplate for EL500

An extremely low-noise preamp capable of working with line level or instrument level signals, is followed by four sections of EQ combining a two position high pass filter with three parametric bands, each with its own set of carefully tuned frequency presets. An internal jumper can turn the DocDerr…

Empirical Labs EL7 Fatso JR
FATSO- 2 Channel analog tape simulator/optimizer

The FATSO (Full Analog Tape Simulator and Optimizer) is a digitally controlled analog device that gives musicians and engineers easy access to many of the desirable characteristics exhibited by older tube and Class A electronics and magnetic tape mediums. This two channel audio processor musically…

Empirical Labs ELDS-V DerrEsser Module
API500 series module with Desser & dynamic section from ELQ Lil Freq. Vertical faceplate for EL500

The DerrEsser is a multi function dynamic filtering device. Available in vertical or horizontal versions. A perfect fit for our EL500 powered rack. In its basic “DS” mode, it is an effective, level insensitive “de-esser” - a device that will adjust the high frequency gain on…

Empirical Labs EL-RXH DocDerr Module
API500 series module with INST pre, 4-band EQ, compressor & tape saturation circuts. Horizontal faceplate for EL500

An extremely low-noise preamp capable of working with line level or instrument level signals, is followed by four sections of EQ combining a two position high pass filter with three parametric bands, each with its own set of carefully tuned frequency presets. An internal jumper can turn the DocDerr…

Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor
Single Channel Distressor, harmonic distortion and classic knee compressor

The Distressor is the product that started it all for Empirical Labs. Born of founder Dave Derr’s love of classic compressors like the 1176, LA-2A and Gain Brain (among others), the Distressor incorporates his favorite sonic characteristics of these, along with other unique and interesting…

Empirical Labs EL9 Mike-E
Mike-E - Digital Mic Pre

The Mike-E, a high performance transformer-coupled mic preamp with a noise floor far below any microphone’s self noise, combined with a one-of-a-kind compressor/saturator circuit that delivers classic knee compression as well as versatile tonal ‘coloring’ that can replicate many…

Empirical Labs ELQ Lil Freq
Lil Freq- Analog Eq

The Lil FrEQ Equalizer takes a somewhat unique approach to its job. Instead of daisy chaining several equalizers and frequency processors, we combined most of the sound sculpting tools an engineer needs into a compact single rack space box, while still offering the highest performance of any design…

Empirical Labs ELDS-H DerrEsser Module
API500 series module with Desser & dynamic section from ELQ Lil Freq. Horizontal faceplate for EL500

The DerrEsser is a multi function dynamic filtering device. Available in vertical or horizontal versions. A perfect fit for our EL500 powered rack. In its basic “DS” mode, it is an effective, level insensitive “de-esser” - a device that will adjust the high frequency gain on…

Empirical Labs EL500 Rack
1U, 2 module rack for API500 series modules.

As far as value, it’s hard to beat 500 Series compatible modules. Their smaller physical size let you get a lot of performance out of a smaller space, they tend to cost less than their larger counterparts, and – the best part – you can customize your own combinations of them. When…