The LA-2A Leveling Amplifier is an audio compressor produced by Teletronix Engineering Company from 1965 until 1969, and reissued in 2000 by

Universal Audio United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields. History Bill Putnam Sr. founded Universa ...

History

The LA-2A was invented by James F. Lawrence II, founder of the Teletronix Engineering Company in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

in the early 1960s. The LA-2A had evolved from Lawrence's first leveling amplifier, the LA-1, which was favored by

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...

, and its successor, the LA-2, which had been adopted by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. In 1965, Lawrence sold Teletronix to Babcock Electronics of Costa Mesa, California, and in 1967

Bill Putnam Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (February 20, 1920 – April 13, 1989) was an American audio engineer, songwriter, producer, studio designer and businessman, who has been described as "the father of modern recording". He was the inventor of the mo ...

's company Studio Electronics (eventually renamed

UREI United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields. History Bill Putnam Sr. founded Universal ...

), acquired Babcock's broadcast division, including the Teletronix brand. Three versions of the LA-2A were made until 1969. After Universal Audio was re-established in 1999, the company re-issued an updated version of the LA-2A. The LA-2A was inducted into the TECnology Hall of Fame in 2004.

Design

The LA-2A is a hand-wired, tube-based compressor. It uses an

electroluminescent Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from ...

panel together with a cadmium-sulfide

light-dependent resistor A photoresistor (also known as a photocell, or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-conductive cell) is a passive component that decreases resistance with respect to receiving luminosity (light) on the component's sensitive surface. The resi ...

(which in the LA-2A's own terminology is called the T4 cell) to provide gain reduction. The properties of the T4 give the LA-2A its unique character by making it an entirely program-dependent design. The LA-2A has simple controls: a Peak-Reduction knob controls the gain of the side-chain circuit, and therefore, the gain reduction; a Gain Control for make-up gain; and a Limit/Compress switch which alters the compression ratio. The VU meter may also be switched to show the gain reduction or output level. The average attack time is 10 milliseconds, while the release time is about 60 ms for 50% release and 0.5 to 5 seconds for full release, depending on the previous program material.JBL vintage service manuals
UREI LA-2A service manual.
"''This Instruction Book was reprinted from text composed by the original manufacturer (complete with errors and exaggerations; for example, the specification for attack time should have been in milliseconds rather than microseconds.''" Retrieved on October 11, 2009.

In use

The LA-2A has the ability to preserve the impression of performance dynamics while performing extreme level management—a sonic character that makes it sought after by many recording engineers, particularly for use on vocals and bass guitar. Recording engineers who cite the LA-2A in their work include

Joe Barresi Joe Barresi (nicknamed "Evil Joe") is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Chevelle, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive, New Model Army, ...

Mike Clink Mike Clink is an American record producer. He began his career as an engineer at Record Plant Studios, recording such bands as Whitesnake, Triumph, Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Megadeth, UFO (including ''Strangers in the Night''), Jefferson ...

, and

Tony Maserati Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen ...

. The LA-2A was used to record

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...

's vocals on ''

Jagged Little Pill ''Jagged Little Pill'' is the third studio album by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, released on June 13, 1995, through Maverick. It was her first album to be released worldwide. It marked a stylistic departure from the dance-pop sound of he ...

'', Kurt Cobain's vocals on ''

Nevermind ''Nevermind'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a major label and the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl. Produced by Butch Vig, '' ...

'', and

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

's vocals on " Hips Don't Lie".

Joe Chiccarelli Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

used an LA-2A to add distortion to

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

's vocals on

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...

' album, ''

Icky Thump ''Icky Thump'' is the sixth and final studio album by American rock duo The White Stripes, released through Warner Bros. and Third Man Records in June 2007, with XL Recordings handling the United Kingdom release. Its first release came on June ...

''.

Software emulations

Universal Audio has offered an officially-branded Teletronix LA-2A software plug-in since 2002, when they included the first version with their UAD-1 PCI

DSP DSP may refer to: Computing * Digital signal processing, the mathematical manipulation of an information signal * Digital signal processor, a microprocessor designed for digital signal processing * Yamaha DSP-1, a proprietary digital signal ...

card. An updated version was introduced in 2013, when UA released the LA-2A Classic Leveler Collection for their UAD-2 platform, which included three different versions of LA-2A: the late-'60s 'Silver' version, the mid-'60s 'Gray' version, and the early-'60s LA-2. Bomb Factory Digital released an emulation of the LA-2 as part of their Classic Compressors for Pro Tools plug-in bundle. This plug-in has since been re-branded as the Avid BF-2A.

Waves Audio Waves Audio Ltd. is a developer and supplier of professional digital audio signal processing technologies and audio signal processing, audio effects, used in recording, mixing, mastering, post production, broadcast, and live sound. The company's ...

released a software plug-in emulation of the Teletronix LA-2A with

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

's personal presets as the CLA-2A Compressor/Limiter plug-in. Other software versions of the LA-2A include the

Cakewalk The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern Uni ...

CA-2A, IK Multimedia T-RackS White 2A, and the

Native Instruments Native Instruments is a German company that develops, manufactures, and supplies music software and hardware for music production, sound design, performance, and DJing. The company's corporate headquarters and main development facilities are lo ...

VC 2A by Softube.

References

{{reflist Dynamics processing Effects units

History

Design

In use

Software emulations

See also

References