Shure Level-Loc

Name: Shure Level-Loc
Price: 79.99 USD
Author: Korneff Audio

by Korneff Audio · Compressor · Shure Level-Loc character compressor

Not rated yet

An officially licensed emulation of the Shure Level-Loc, a FET limiter with transformer saturation, made with producer Tchad Blake and modeling three vintage units.

It adds battery-drain, impedance and sidechain EQ controls, and is on sale for $79.99 (regular $149.99).

Best for: Drums, Drum Bus, Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Sound Design. Genres: Rock & Indie, Hip-Hop & Trap, Lo-Fi, Pop.

Keywords: vocals, drums, heavy, subtle, transformer, bass, FET, hardware emulation, licensed emulation, built-in mix knob, sidechain input, colored, gritty, parallel processing, room mics, broadcast, bus processing, CPU-light, drum bus, electric guitar, lo-fi, mixing, preset-driven, simple, single-band, skeuomorphic, sound design, vintage.

What it does

Shure Level-Loc is Korneff Audio's model of the Shure Level-Loc, a cheap broadcast limiter that producers adopted for heavy, squashed drum and vocal sounds. It was made with Shure and mixer Tchad Blake, and Korneff calls it "the ultimate character compressor".

Three units modelled: TB1 and TB2 from Tchad Blake's studio and DK from Dan Korneff's collection, licensed by Shure; Sound On Sound heard subtle tonal differences under heavy compression.
Front panel: input level, compression and output/mix, keeping the simple feel of the original.
Character: FET-style limiting with transformer saturation.
Battery voltage: simulates a draining battery for more saturation and bloom.
Impedance: changes gain structure and transformer response.
Back panel: adjustable release, sweepable sidechain EQ, high- and low-pass filters, and gain and dry/wet controls.
Presets: about 100 factory presets in Shure, Korneff and Tchad Blake collections.

Version 1.0.2. There is a 7-day full demo. It is currently on sale.

Source: Korneff Audio product page

When to use it

The Level-Loc is a narrow, extreme tool: a coloured squash with saturation for drums, room mics and vocals that need to sound crushed and loud. Compared with the 1176 Classic Limiter Collection or the EL8 Distressor, it has far fewer controls and less range, but it gets to an obvious, gritty limited sound faster. Unlike Pro-C 3 or The Glue, it is not built for transparent control, and its gain reduction display is basic. Its built-in dry/wet and filters let you run it in parallel and shape the tone without extra routing, and its battery and impedance options are unusual extras.

Best for: smashed room mics and drums, gritty vocals and bass, and parallel character compression.
Genres: rock, indie, hip-hop and lo-fi.
Look elsewhere if: you want transparent, precise control; Pro-C 3 or The Glue suit that better.
Tip: Tchad Blake's presets often use only 10 to 20% wet for subtle presence (Sound On Sound).

What producers say

Reviewers are enthusiastic about its authenticity and range, from subtle colour to heavy squash.

Sound On Sound (Neil Rogers) said "I'm impressed", praising the modelling, the wet/dry and filter options, and its use as a subtle tone shaper on guitars, vocals and piano; the deeper tweaks are "subtle on the ear".
Gearspace user review (2025) rated it 5 out of 5 for sound, ease of use, features and value, ranging "from very subtle" to "just plain horrific", with low CPU and latency.
Criticisms: the Gearspace reviewer found the gain reduction display "quite subtle" and hard to read, and noted an input trim issue with the dry/wet balance.

Where to buy

Korneff Audio: $79.99
PluginFox: $149.99

Tutorials and reviews

Similar plugins

1176 Classic Limiter Collection by Universal Audio · FET · $29
Smasher by Pulsar Audio · All-buttons FET compressor · $29
FETpressor by PSP Audioware · FET compressor · $87
VLA-FET by Black Rooster Audio · 1176-style FET compressor · $59
Gem COMP76 by Overloud · FET compressor-limiter (76 style) · $69
FET Compressor Mk II by Softube · FET compressor · $149
7X-500 by Lindell Audio · FET compressor · $15
SA76 by Sonic Academy · 1176-style FET compressor · $33.05
H76 by HoRNet · Vintage FET compressor · $24.97
XTComp by Kiive Audio · FET-style multi-ratio compressor · $75

All compressors