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BPB Dirty LA

BPB Dirty LA Is A FREE Vintage Limiting Amplifier VST Plugin

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Bedroom Producers Blog releases BPB Dirty LA, a freeware compressor effect in VST3 and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS.

BPB Dirty LA is a free compressor effect inspired by vintage limiting amplifiers. We tried to create a plugin that will deliver the same musical-sounding compression while relying on a streamlined workflow. We also implemented one of our Dirt algorithms to help you saturate the signal if needed.

While this isn’t an exact emulation of any particular hardware compressor, it takes inspiration from several classic hardware designs. We tried to get as close as possible both in terms of internal algorithms and the control scheme.

By default, BPB Dirty LA offers a relatively fast attack time and moderate compression ratio that will work great on most types of audio. A limiting mode is also included, providing faster attack times and a higher compression ratio.

The Peak Reduction knob controls the threshold value and enables you to control the amount of compression that is applied to the signal. Once you’re happy with the compression, use the Output knob to match the gain to the dry signal for easy A/B comparison.

Our Dirt algorithm was fine-tuned to deliver smooth saturation that boosts and warms up the signal while gently taming the transients. It works well in tandem with the compressor, especially on drums and bass recordings that need to stand out in the mix.

The plugin uses 4X internal oversampling when the Dirt mode is enabled. The oversampling is bypassed when Dirt is switched off to reduce CPU usage.

BPB Dirty LA also works as a parallel compressor. The Mix knob lets you balance the dry and compressed signal, so it’s easy to achieve New York-style compression on drums.

The plugin is optimized for low CPU consumption, so you should be able to use multiple instances in your projects without any issues.

BPB Dirty LA is available in VST3 and AU plugin formats for 64-bit digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS.

If you like the concept, be sure to check out our free BPB Dirty Filter, BPB Dirty Spring, and BPB Saturator plugins.

BPB Dirty LA is completely free to download and use, with optional donations on Gumroad and Patreon.

Download: BPB Dirty LA (8.85 MB download size, ZIP archive, 64-bit VST3/AU plugin format for Windows & macOS)

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About Author

Tomislav is a music producer and sound designer from Belgrade, Serbia. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief at Bedroom Producers Blog.

60 Comments

  1. Anwar

     on

    I’ve been loving your plugins especially due to their clean but sleek designs. Thank you for the plugins and I hope you’re not tired of creating more! Maybe an SSL E channel and an 1174?

    Reply

      • Paul

         on

        I know I’m a dinosaur, and maybe you get no requests, or the SDK no longer supports it, but I have liked your plugins for years and haven’t had anything new since 32 bit was deprecated. All the best,

        Paul

        Reply

  2. Zak

     on

    This is brilliant. BPB’s own brand plugins are great. A true, genuine and generous gift to the community.

    Greatly appreciated.

    Reply

    • Tomislav Zlatic

       on

      It’s dirty in a smooth way. :) Seriously, though, I wanted to highlight the fact that Dirty LA can sound both clean and dirty (when you turn on the Dirt algorithm). But the saturation is intentionally more subtle compared to our other plugins.

      Reply

  4. Attaman

     on

    Congrats guys for the nice work you done! Gotta be honest, them all are very nice plugins, got all of them!!! Keep it going wish the best reards from Brasil!!!

    Reply

    • Tomislav Zlatic

       on

      Thank you! I’m happy to hear that you like BPB plugins, and thanks for the kind words! More plugins coming soon.

      Reply

  6. Jamie M.

     on

    new bpb plug, pogpogpog
    thanks for everything you’ve done for the music community, no clue where i’d be without you all

    Reply

  7. Tomasz

     on

    1. Thank you so much for another great free plugin! Your effort is highly appreciated!

    2. Can it be revealed who programmed the plugin or BPB plugins in general?

    Reply

    • Tomislav Zlatic

       on

      1) You’re welcome! :)
      2) All BPB plugins come from different programmers. I did the GUIs and the overall design, but I collaborated with different programmers to make the plugins possible.

      Reply

  10. MRG

     on

    Aaaah! A compressor. :D For a durrteh plugin, it’s rather behaving with low CPU, a clean GUI and plays nice with Win7. That’s the kind of dirt I love to bury myself in.

    Reply

  11. PureFire

     on

    Thanks so much Tomislav, BPB for a much appreciated kind gift, and a great addition to the BPB collection, nice work 🙏😊💛
    Dirty LA is working perfectly on my system and it sounds awesome using this on a single channel so far, and also for parallel compression 🔥
    I will put this to good use in my projects, thank you so much 🙏❤️

    Reply

  12. joshmelo

     on

    Very excited to give this a shot, dirtyfilter is a staple for me. I use the filter all day, everyday. The spring verb didn’t quite tickle my fancy, but that’s ok. Thank you guys so much for all the work you put into the site and plugins. joh

    Reply

    • Tomislav Zlatic

       on

      Yeah, the spring is a bit different (I’m a big fan of spring reverbs, but they’re not very popular). Glad to hear that you like the rest. :)

      Reply

  21. Jon B

     on

    This sounds awesome on the drum bus! Tbh, I don’t get an LA2A vibe from it, it actually sounds very similar to an API 2500 in feedforward mode, or maybe an SSL G comp, but it seriously slaps hard eitherway! The saturation really brings out the room/reverb and adds tons of heft to the kick and snare.

    If it had a longer dual-stage release it could be closer to an LA2A, but that would probably make it less versatile, so this is a good compromise while still retaining the simple control layout of the LA2A.

    You really succeeded in making it super-lightweight on the CPU. Even with dirt enabled (hence 4x OS) it never goes above 0.1% CPU usage on my Intel NUC i7-8559u. That’s almost on-par with Reaper’s stock plug-ins!

    It will easily replace many of my more expensive and CPU intensive compressor plug-ins. Easily your best so far!

    Reply

    • Tomislav Zlatic

       on

      Thank you so much for the detailed review. I’m so glad to hear that BPB Dirty LA delivers exactly what I intended it to: a lightweight and convenient compressor that slaps! Thanks for the kind words.

      Reply

    • MRG

       on

      No, you don’t. You need a wrapper and so all the VSTs are yours now. The only ones I can think of are :
      DDMF Metaplugin
      Blue Cat’s Patchwork
      Seriously, it’s a much better bet than waiting for each plugin to -eventually- get AAX (blame Avid).

      Reply

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