UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor

The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in for UAD hardware and UA Audio Interfaces provides everything from a velvet touch to an iron fist — making it a go-to on records by Muse, Green Day, Gnarls Barkley, and more. Designed by Brainworx, the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in is a thorough emulation of the high-end hardware.

Few pieces of audio hardware are as revered as the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor. Created by enigmatic mastermind, Peter Reardon, this five-rackspace behemoth tempers dynamics and tames transients like no other compressor in history. With its serial, two-stage dynamics control and switchable output transformer matrix:

• Mix and master with an emulation of the legendary Shadow Hills Compressor, endorsed by Peter Reardon.
• Harness Nickel, Iron, and Steel transformer types for a wide range of distortion characteristics and transient limiting.
• Use separate Optical and Discrete (VCA) dynamics sections for two-stage serial dynamics control.
• Employ 90 Hz sidechain filtering for musical compression of low-frequency program material.

Three Majestic Compressors in One

The genius of the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in is its ability to control dynamics in two stages — an Optical and Discrete (VCA). Both sections can be bypassed, effectively providing three compression sounds (Optical, Discrete, and combined) in a single unit.

The Optical section is highly program dependent, with basic Threshold and Gain settings, and a two-stage release time akin to the classic LA-2A — perfect for gently taming dynamic range. The Discrete section takes over where the Optical section leaves off, provides precise control over gain, threshold, ratio, attack, and release.

Switchable Output Transformers — Nickel, Iron, and Steel

The Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plug-in's tonal palette is enhanced by a unique matrix which allows selection between three output transformers — Nickel, Iron, and Steel. By switching the selected transformer type in and out of the signal path, you can hear the different frequency response, distortion characteristics, and transient limiting of each transformer — going from "clean" (Nickel), to "colored" (Iron), to "dirty" (Steel).

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