Universal Audio Studio & Home Studio

The Universal Audio LA-610 is one of the best channel strip processors on the market. But beware, its pricey so you will be paying for a great piece of equipment. Not really anything negative to say about this piece of software. I have used it several times over the last few years and never had any issues with it. The LA 610’s preamp will really warm your songs up, it adds great depth to your music with out any effort. The way it brings your music together with the warm is a quality that I havent been able to find in any other channel strip on the market. Though there are probably some that are just as good, but cost even more than this on. UTILIZATION The Universal Audio LA 610 is based off of technology that was developed back in like the 60’s or the 70’s. There have been a lot of major songs recorded with this piece of gear and it is still being used in many major studio’s around the globe. I really don’t see the need to have something this powerful in your home set up. Unless you do all of your work out of home and want the best quality you can get. SOUND QUALITY Sounds great, we ran almost anything you can think of through this thing and it did the job over and over again without any issues. Its pretty easy to set up as well, just a few knobs and you really wont need a manual unless you want to read one. The knobs are self explanatory like “peak reduction” “Gain” . You can pretty much just go with it and get a good sound. OVERALL OPINION Overall, the LA 610 is worth every single penny if you can afford it. If you look around online you can get it in a package with a mic too. That’s probably the best deal instead of just paying that much just for the channel strip itself you mine as well get a mic too. The Universal Audio LA 610 is great and versatile. You will have no complaints with it. Save up and purchase it for the studio!

This is an analog unit with the typical xlr and trs connections. Unlike the 4110, this unit sadly does not have the instrument input. UTILIZATION Utilization is super simple- pre and post gain and 3 voice selection on each of the 8 preamps. Typical phase, lo cut, and 48v phantom power switches also available on each. SOUND QUALITY Sound quality is fantastic; truly a beautiful reproduction of sound with the ability to impart lovely character as needed. The three shape selections, along with the range found in the pre and post levels, yield a plethora of fantastic tones. Position OFF is clean setting; this is a very transparent sound with immediate attack that is perfect for modern tones. It’s hard to make a mistake in this setting and super easy to get a good clear level. You could track the majority of your work with this setting; sprinkle in some character pres and you will have a slammin’ track. This brings us to position 1: the vintage position. This is the character pre that I loved to use. I have experience with a 6176, and that unit may have had too much vintage character. This 8110 vintage setting is a goto tone that I crave on many applications, but mostly electric guitar. This vintage sound stands up well to character competitors such as the Chandler germanium. Really cool grainy tones when mixed with higher pre settings, as well as just a hi9nt of flavor when used with lower pre settings. Position 2 is a controversial setting. It adds an additional loading to position 1 that sounds like a more gained up compressed sound. Many people will trash this sound, calling it unusable. I kind of liked it on toms, but yes, it may sacrifice too much clarity in its quest for character. You could likely never use this position and be perfectly happy with the clean and vintage settings OVERALL OPINION Best thing is the ability to have 8 versatile pres packed into one rack. The diverse sounds are excellent and totally top notch. Value for the price is a question, as these originally sold for around 6k. I found mine on eBay as leftover stock for just a little more than half off. At that price, it is a phenomenal deal for someone looking for 8pres. The only competition may be the True precision8, which is a great clean pre at around 2k, but lacks the character found in this now discontinued UA. Eventually I realized that too much of my studio budget was spent on this piece, and my studio was devolving from a public money making operation into my own individual tracking station….so after about 2 years I sold it off, albeit for about the same price I originally paid. I am now rocking 2 inexpensive GAP73 preamps, and while I totally miss the 8110, and have to say I am content with the GAPs. So bottom line: the price makes 8110 reserved for upscale commercial studios. I enjoy having a GAP, few more guitars and some bills paid as opposed to being lopsided with eloquent pres and disproportionate quality elsewhere.

The Universal Audio Limiting Amplifier 175 is a single channel of a high end limiter. It is an analog piece of gear and isn't a new product. I don't know the type of connections it has in the back, but it has 1/4" in the front for input and output. It is rack mountable and will take up two spaces. UTILIZATION The configuration of the Universal Audio Limiting Amplifier 175 makes it generally easy to use. Like many of the classic compressors and limiters made by Universal Audio, it has main parameters for input level and output level (gain make up). It is pretty much as simple of a limiter that you will see, so if you understand the basic concepts behind a limiter, this won't present a problem for you. I don't think a manual is necessary at all for the 175. SOUND QUALITY The Universal Audio Limiting Amplifier 175 is definitely in the same vein as most of the Universal Audio dynamic processors out there, as it sounds very smooth on just about anything that you use it on. I like it best on vocals, but it will certainly work well with a lot of different instruments and voices, depending of course on your taste. While there is a trade off between how much control you have and how easy it is to use, I will take the small amount of parameters with the 175, as you don't really need any more parameters with it. OVERALL OPINION The Universal Audio Limiting Amplifier 175 isn't the most common compressor or limiter out there made by Universal Audio, but it is a sleeper and in general a great sounding piece of gear. The price won't be cheap, as will be the case with any Universal Audio piece of gear, and this one is generally priced a bit higher since it isn't as easy to find. However, if you're looking at buying the 175 I assume that you understand all of this. The bottom line is that the 175 is a not notch piece of gear that is definitely worth the price if you can afford it.

The Universal Audio 2-610 is a dual channel mic preamp. It is an analog based unit and is rackable - it will take up two rack spaces. It has a built in 1/4 inch input in the front for direct input use and it also has XLR connectors in the back. It also has built in EQ for each channel. UTILIZATION The configuration of the preamp is easy to follow, even though there are a few different things going on in each channel. On each of the preamps you have a gain knob, a switch to choose between mic, line, or hi-z input, a leveling knob and two preset EQ knobs, with the ability to add gain or attenuate six different frequencies. It also has a phaser switch. The manual is pretty complete, but this should be easy enough to set up and use that most won't need to use it. SOUND QUALITY The sound quality of this the Universal Audio 2-610 is clean and has a full body sound to it. It won't color your sound and will portray an accurate sound from your microphones. It is easy to get a quick good sound from this, and you can further shape your sound with EQ that has smart frequency choices and is clean as well. The 2-610 contains two high quality preamps, and is definitley backed up by the sound. OVERALL OPINION I've been using the Universal Audio 2-610 mic preamp for about a year. It is always great to have a dual channel external mic preamp that will give you a different sound than that of your board or audio interface. Universal Audio is one of the best when it comes to making outboard preamplifiers and compressor and the 2-610 fits right in with that. Since these are top notch in terms of how well they are built, it isn't the cheapest set of preamps on the market. This being said, for the professional that is looking for top quality, this is probably worth the price. The Universal Audio 2-610 is a pair of great sounding preamps with a lot of versatility to them.