UAD Powered Plug-Ins Manual - 152 - Chapter 15: LA-2A
CHAPTER 15
LA-2A
Overview
The LA-2A Classic Leveling Amplifier long ago achieved classic status. It’s a
given in almost any studio in the world – relied upon daily by engineers
whose styles range from rock to rap, classical to country and everything in be-
tween. With so many newer products on the market to choose from, it's worth
looking at the reasons why this classic remains a necessary part of any pro-
fessional studio's outboard equipment collection.
The basic concept of a compressor/limiter, is of course, relatively simple. It's
a device in which the gain of a circuit is automatically adjusted using a pre-
determined ratio that acts in response to the input signal level. A compres-
sor/limiter “rides gain” like a recording engineer does by hand with the fader
of a console: it keeps the volume up during softer sections and brings it down
when the signal gets louder. The dynamic processing that occurs at ratios be-
low 10 or 12 to one is generally referred to as compression; above that it's
known as limiting.
Modern day compressors offer a great degree of programmability and flexi-
bility; older devices such as the LA-2A are more straightforward in their de-
sign. Perhaps it is this fact that has contributed to its appealing sound and the
longevity of their popularity.
Compressor Basics
Before discussing the LA-2A plug-in, this section will cover some compressor
basics. A compressor automatically adjusts the gain of a signal by a prede-
termined ratio. In a sense, a compressor “rides” gain—much like a recording
engineer does (by hand) with a fader—keeping the volume up during softer
sections and bringing it down when the signal gets louder.
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