Get the UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor Free. Learn more ›

  • Overview
  • Features
  • Customer Reviews
  • 4.3/5
    (274)
Try it Free
$349.00

Get the authentic sound of the world's most famous rock & roll studio.

Produce music in one of the most famous recording studios in history — including the room, mics, iconic console, and outboard gear — as heard on classic records from Nirvana, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Rage Against the Machine, and more.*

Add the vibe and character of this legendary space to your drums, guitars, vocals, synths and more — right in your own bedroom or home studio.

Included Version

UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.

UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.

  • Place your drums, guitars, vocals, and more inside Sound City Studios' famous Studio A
  • Transform your sources with a collection of vintage hit-making mics
  • Sculpt perfect guitar tones with expertly placed cabinet and mic setups
  • Get the authentic tone of an iconic '70s custom British console, including 3-band EQ and inline compression, based on the legendary Sound City Studios' desk
  • Smash your tracks with Sound City Studios' collection of analog outboard gear including "secret weapon" Dolby A-style effects**, 1176 limiting, and more
  • Put your sources in Sound City Studios' lush-sounding reverb chamber

Want to Try It?

Use this plug-in free for 14 days and find out if it's right for you.

Try it free

TAKE A LISTEN

Immerse Yourself in a Historic Room

Immerse Yourself in a Historic Room

Sound City Studios' famous Studio A is the birthplace of hundreds of hit records. Voiced with original multitrack recordings cut at Sound City Studios, we expertly captured the distinct "warts and all" character — with historical setup guidance from engineers who used it everyday — so you can easily put your productions in the same space where magic was made.

Easily Find Your Sweet Spot

Easily Find Your Sweet Spot

Simply choose your source — vocals, drums, guitar, ensembles, or piano — and get proven room and mic setups, from the big reflective sound used on Nirvana's Nevermind to Tom Petty's intimate "wood" corner.* You can even re-mic your guitars with a selection of perfectly placed cabinets and room mics.

Reposition Vintage Mics with Dynamic Room Modeling

Reposition Vintage Mics with Dynamic Room Modeling

Go far beyond historic setups and customize your space by moving a stunning collection of classic condenser and ribbon mics from AKG, Neumann, and RCA — in realtime for authentic room sounds beyond the original chart-topping positions.**

Explore a Legendary Custom British Console

Explore a Legendary Custom British Console

The centerpiece of Studio A since the early '70s, Sound City Studios' custom-made console artfully colored everything that ran through it. Now you can get the same satisfying analog character and tone with perfect emulations of a vintage British 3-band EQ and bus compressor on all your sources.

Crush, Gate, or Add "Air" with Secret Weapon Compression

Crush, Gate, or Add "Air" with Secret Weapon Compression

Along with the legendary limiting of the iconic Rev E 1176 compressor, Sound City Studios gives you the first-ever emulation of the Dolby A301** noise reduction system — a multiband EQ/limiter used and abused by Sound City Studios' engineers — so you can get the same glossy-to-hyped background vocals and explosive drum sounds heard on decades of hit records.

Add Chart-Topping Ambience with Iconic Reverb Chamber

Add Chart-Topping Ambience with Iconic Reverb Chamber

Put the finishing touch on your tracks with the same natural, open-sounding reverb used by Queens of the Stone Age, Phoebe Bridgers, Death Cab for Cutie, and more. Plus, you can season your ambient space using perfectly placed pairs of dynamic, small-diaphragm condenser, and ribbon mics.*

*Use of artist names does not constitute official endorsement of Sound City Studios software.

**All trademarks are property of their respective owners and used only to represent the effects modeled as part of Sound City Studio software.

Disclaimer: The famous Sound City Studios is located in Van Nuys, California where it was originally founded. Sound City Studios has no affiliation with Sound City Amplification, LLC. For information on Sound City Amplification products visit their website at soundcityamp.com.
UAD Sound City Studios Tour
UAD Sound City Studios Tour

UAD Sound City Studios Tour

Learn how to add classic drum ambience, re‑amp guitar tones, and craft unique airy background vocals using the UAD Sound City Studios plug-in.

Key Benefits

Place your drums, guitars, vocals, and more inside Sound City Studios' famous Studio A

Transform your sources with a collection of vintage, hit-making mics

Sculpt perfect guitar tones with expertly placed cabinet and mic setups

Get the authentic tone of an iconic '70s custom British console, including 3-band EQ and inline compression, based on the legendary Sound City Studios' desk

Smash your tracks with Sound City Studios' collection of analog outboard gear including "secret weapon" Dolby A-style effects**, 1176 limiting, and more

Put your sources in Sound City Studios' lush-sounding reverb chamber

Customer Reviews

UAD Sound City Studios Plug-In

Overall Rating

4.3/5
(274)

C. Leitao

February 18, 2025

A full studio within a click

A must have plugin.

S. Svoum

February 16, 2025

Value for money

Easily make recording simple sounds to feel like professional.Very good plug-in for amateur home studios.Buy it and make the difference to your creations.Love it ❤️❤️❤️

L. Diossy

February 15, 2025

The best plugin in the world!!!

The best plugin I've ever used! I can't do without it anymore.

シ. クヌギ

February 12, 2025

As expected

I don't think any other plugins are needed. amazing !!!!!

D. Batty

January 27, 2025

sound city

its great, started to use it the same day I got it , no fuss it just works.

A. Lubinski

January 15, 2025

Amazing, game-changing plugin

Awesome, from practicing guitar for it feeling more natural, to busing the drums or even giving some air to the whole mix, very versatile and amazing sounding plugin

M. Vergeade

January 14, 2025

So Natural !

Incredible ! The way all the instruments find their place is stunning ! TSound City is magic !!!

E. Berger

January 13, 2025

Requires a bit of patience- but it delivers!

I used up most of the trial period before I decided that I want to buy it. In my Experience, it takes some time getting used to it.
The Plugin adds a very good sounding Room reverb, combined with the Impulse response of several classic Microphone set- ups.
I have used it on a close- miced Guitar Cab (Single Sennheiser E906 few cms from the grille), and that is one of the instances where it works really well.
However, certain samplers, for example have a lot of processing built into the samples themselves.
Sound City Studios adds a lot of character, so it is best to start off with a very dry and unprocessed signal. Close- miced sources work the best, and if there is the possibility to eliminate all kinds of reflections and colorations during the recording process, The plug- in can work it's magic.
The inbuild Impulse Responses of a Greenback- Loaded 4x12 and an AC30 Cabinet are among the best I have tried.
As others have stated, CPU usage is quite high.

J. Ambrose

January 13, 2025

Big difference in my drums and acoustic guitars.

This is my first UAD plugin. I run a small commercial studio in Hickory NC. This plugin really helps with my drums. My drum room is tightly mic'd and small. I mainly use drum replacement and reverb/eq. This has really opened up my drum recordings.

H. Alkobi

January 11, 2025

The excitementer.

brilliant plugin that makse you better person.

j. Pitts

January 10, 2025

Sound City

This plugin is the secret sauce! It makes everything better

B. Roza

January 1, 2025

Strong plug-in

The sound city plug-in can be applied for lots of purposes. Besides that it can be a source of inspiration for setting up a mix.

L. Skipper

December 27, 2024

Flexible, versatile reverb

I have another studio reverb that I use on every mix, so I didn't think I needed this. But a trial on one of my mixes convinced me that this studio reverb is flexible enough to allow me to try out presets, and then dial in a reverb studio sound that gives the track just the sound I want.

P. O'Neill

December 20, 2024

Sound city Studio

I'm not a professional just a music room person. This plugin makes a big difference to the playback sound....like a professional recording.

A. Dimeck

December 16, 2024

Literally Plug & Go, Absolutely Love This Amazing Plugin !!!

Absolutely Love This Amazing Plugin !!!
For years I have heard successful working Producers & Mix Engineers talk in online video's about putting a particular VST plugin or piece of hardware gear on Your audio project to instanlty take it to the next level.
I put the UAD Sound City Studios Plugin on My Master Stereo Buss and for the 1st time ever My audio project's are now being taken to the next level !!!
This experience has gifted Me with an added confidence to continue to learn and keep improving My audio projects !!!

R. Christe

December 9, 2024

Great Sound , but as a native plugin hardly usable.

It sounds awsome but even with powerful PCs there are problems with dropouts and crackles if it is not used as the only plugin with only one instance in a project. It really is CPU-greeedy. UAD should offer a UAD-2 DSP version asap.

R. Christe

December 9, 2024

Would be a great plugin on UAD-2 hardware

A great sounding plugin but as a native hardly usable even on powerful PCs . It should be adapted to UAD-2 hardware urgently.

A. Corbino

December 8, 2024

Best plug-in

Best plug-in

S. Salo

December 4, 2024

Instant Vibe and Character

I just got this about a week ago and I am really starting to get into it. I love what I can do with this to guitars. Another cool thing is to remic a VST-instrument through this to get a more natural and acoustic vibe sound the room and the mics, the sound of which can be further sculpted straight from the excellent tools within the plugin itself. Aside from being fun to just play with as I have discovered, Sound City Studios is also very immediately useful for color and vibe purposes - I have also found it to be a quick solution for getting stacked rock guitars to sit nicely in a mix. Highly recommended!

C. Swift

November 28, 2024

Amazing reverb that kills CPU

I love the sound of this plugin, it's amazing but it comes at a cost. The CPU hit is too much. Please can UAD look into this and make it more usable on windows?