Teletronix® LA-3A Audio Leveler
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A refresh for a legendary solid-state electro‑optical compressor.
If you took the gentle optical compression of the Teletronix LA‑2A, and fused it with the solid‑state clarity and punch of the UA 1176, you would have the Teletronix LA-3A — a "secret weapon" compressor with a unique character capable of moving sounds right to the front of your speakers.
Now featuring improved user interface graphics and sonic appointments, the refreshed Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler for UAD hardware and Apollo interfaces takes its rightful place alongside the pillars of classic compression hardware.Easily shape signals with the definitive solid‑state optical compressor
Add energy and harmonics to vocals and acoustic guitars
Make snare drums pop out of the mix
Add grit and texture to bass guitar and soft synths
Sculpt your sounds further with new HF Emphasis sidechain filter and parallel Dry/Wet Mix
Mix with artist presets from Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, Fleetwood Mac), Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy), and Eric J Dubowsky (Flume, Odesza) and more
LA-3A History
The Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler made its debut at the 1969 NY AES show, and marked the departure from the tube design of the Teletronix LA‑2A. The LA‑3A incorporated components and design concepts from UA's solid-state driven 1176LN Limiting Amplifier, while also harnessing the LA‑2A's optical compression design, giving the LA‑3A its own distinctive sound and expanded versatility.
Faithfully Capturing a Classic
Immediately embraced as a studio workhorse, the LA‑3A is still widely used today. Engineers and producers the world over favor the LA‑3A for its unique compression characteristics and sonic signature. Modeled from a unit in UA’s vintage collection, the Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler plug-in faithfully captures the rare hardware, working magic on vocals, guitars, and even drums.
New Modern Features
By adding the hardware’s original HF Emphasis sidechain filter, you can now easily use the Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in to punch up your drum bus without triggering the threshold of the compressor with the kick drum. Plus, a new Dry/Wet Mix control lets you easily add parallel compression on an instrument bus, allowing you to season your productions with legendary Teletronix LA‑3A attitude.
“The Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in adds juicy, chewy tone to vocals, bringing them forward in a relaxed, yet commanding way. ”
– Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy, The Killers)
“I love the updated Teletronix LA‑3A Audio Leveler plug-in. It's a top contender for not just tracks and auxes, but my stereo bus as well. And with the new sidechain filter, it's even more useful.”
– Jeff Balding (Taylor Swift, The Eagles, Dan+Shay)
“The UAD LA-3A plug-in is one of our favorite sound design tools. We use it to destroy reverb tails for interesting atmospheric effects.”
– The Glitch Mob
“The Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in gives you smooth optical compression, but with the aggression of a transistor circuit. It's perfect for shaping rock vocals, acoustic guitars, even orchestral instruments.”
– Joe Chiccarelli (Jason Mraz, Beck, The Strokes, Morrissey)
“I love the Teletronix LA‑3A's compression on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals. Now I can love it all over again with a beautiful new interface!”
– Chris Zane (Passion Pit, St. Lucia, Holy Ghost!)
“An industry standard, the Teletronix LA‑3A plug-in will make guitars pop, level out bass, and do it all with the vintage tone of the original.”
– Richard Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater)
“The LA‑3A plug-in has a sort of liquid buoyancy that I like, especially on guitars and vocals. ”
– Chuck Zwicky (Prince, Soul Asylum, Reggie Watts)Customer Reviews
J. Seabrook
November 4, 2022
Everything I Want in Compression
To start, I like compression to be simple. I'm not interested in complex envelopes. I want to make adjustments quickly and intuitively, and if something's not right, change the comp or...
Read MoreJ. Song
July 21, 2022
Awesome Plugin
LA-3A is REALLY nice Using it on my drums BUT I kind of prefer the LA-2A a bit more
Read MoreC. Preston
July 15, 2022
As it says on the tin!
Amazing tool for levelling out peaks and troffs. Another excellent emulation and a key tool for tracking and mixing.
Read MoreT. Cerniglia
July 4, 2022
Just like the pro’s told me!
The pros said the LA-3A works great on electric guitars. They were absolutely right. Not sure why I took so long to purchase this unit. Don’t waste your time with other compressors for...
Read More -
Key Features
Definitive solid-state optical compressor combining LA-2A gain reduction and 1176 clarity and punch
LA-3A Audio Leveler plug-in modeled from a unit in UA’s vintage studio gear collection
Easy to use and unique autoformer T4 gain reduction useful on a wide variety of sources
Featuring simple Gain and Peak Reduction controls with Compression or Limiting
Expanded features include original High Frequency Emphasis filter and digital-only Dry/Wet Mix parallel processing
Includes artist presets from Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, Fleetwood Mac), Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy), and Eric J Dubowsky (Flume, Odesza) and more
Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator or UA Audio Interface, available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Teletronix® LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler
J. Seabrook
Everything I Want in Compression
To start, I like compression to be simple. I'm not interested in complex envelopes. I want to make adjustments quickly and intuitively, and if something's not right, change the comp or change the instrument/performance. This one is just that. Quick. Easy. It usually works, but if it doesn't dial in quickly, then I swap in something else. And for that reason, it's my go-to-default.
Also, for my money, it's close enough to the real thing that I'll never need to buy another "Real" unit... until G.A.S. kicks in, but that's a different problem to solve. ;)M. Park
Use it all the time
I really like LA 3A
T. Basso
Nice plugin
Top plugin on my kick drums
J. Song
Awesome Plugin
LA-3A is REALLY nice
Using it on my drums
BUT I kind of prefer the LA-2A a bit moreC. Preston
As it says on the tin!
Amazing tool for levelling out peaks and troffs. Another excellent emulation and a key tool for tracking and mixing.
T. Cerniglia
Just like the pro’s told me!
The pros said the LA-3A works great on electric guitars. They were absolutely right. Not sure why I took so long to purchase this unit. Don’t waste your time with other compressors for electric or acoustic guitars. Get yourself one today!
E. Shacham
very transparent and usefull -
a lot of times I want to use copm/limiter and regret due to the additional characteristics that influence the sound 2 much. the L3A is like looking in a mirror. WYSIWYG with additional soft warmth.
A. ikuma
The advantage is that there is no color.
"Compression without color" can be easily used for various tracks while having a sense of saturation. The advantage is that there is no color.
LA-3A has a natural compression and does not change the balance of each instrument or the mutual groove relationship.
Compared to that, the LA-2A has an impressive sound of the tube, so the track used is conspicuous. We both want to have.Y. Zolberg
Crystal clear!
I use it toglue a guitars grp. But I'm sure it would be great for snare as well and other things.
C. Jones
Hi quality
Smooth those curves! Superb at pushing sounds through the mix.
L. Petersen
Very good
This is a very good product. Surprisingly versatile. I use it a lot on guitars.
K. Oforha
Ah! That Tone!
Worked like magic immediately I placed it onto my vocal chain, everything just came alive. Since then it's been set as a default plugin on my console. Oh! And the presets are also awesome. Combined with the Neve 1073 and the Struder Tape plugins... 7th Heaven!
F. Galvano
TOP ON THE GUITAR
makes the guitar sound professional
UAD User
Great
Best la3a plugin of them all
S. Kavlentakis
Smooth and warm sound!
Excellent!!
J. Geary
Good, but not a 3A
First and foremost I love UA and get lots of mileage out of all their plugins including this one. I also appreciate the recent update with retina support and additional features ! With that being Im not sure why UA decided to model such an uncommon "golden unit" for this plugin. Compared to my OG 3A as well as a pair of DIY 3A clones the modeled T4 attack time is MUCH faster giving it a character I dont commonly associate with the 3A. (plugin is ~1.5ms while my hardware and other 3A plugins sit ~30ms) Is the plugin still useful? of course! But Id greatly appreciate the option to switch between both attack times
F. M
a thing of beauty
So many compressors, but this one is so smooth (and simple to use), and it doesn't alter the tone as much as some others do.
B. Sirijamonkul
Great Classic
Level Very nice
V. Basyul
Good stuff
Качество не передать словами!
M. Bilderbach
Super Great All Round Comp!
This was a recent add for me and its been really great. It's super musical just like an la2a is concerned but seems to be a bit more subtle. I am a huge fan!
