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14-day money back guarantee included if product is not activated
You can purchase from Gear4music with complete confidence and peace of mind. All of our digital products come with a 14-day money-back guarantee as standard.
If you decide you don't want your order, you can return it within 14 days of receiving it. Provided your product hasn't been activated in that time, you can exchange it for a different product, or get a refund.
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This does not affect your statutory rights.
For more information, please refer to our Returns and Refunds Information.
If you decide your order isn't suitable for any reason you can return it - just let us know within 30 days of receiving it. Please keep hold of all the original packaging until you're sure you want to keep the order.
Eligibility for Money Back Guarantee
For hygiene and software licensing reasons, some items are only eligible for our Money Back Guarantee if they are returned to us unused and sealed in the original packaging with all software still "unregistered."
Details of exclusions are shown within the product descriptions.
Products include:
- Monitors and Headphones
- Earplugs and Ear Protection
- Reeds and mouthpieces for woodwind and brass instruments
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We can collect your return for a small fee, or you can send it back to us yourself. The collection fee can be found in the returns information on each product's page on Gear4music.
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This table provides an overview of your statutory consumer rights, compared with our standard returns policy and optional extended money back guarantee and warranty.
| UK & Europe | EU Standard | Gear4music Standard | Gear4music Optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return Period | 14 days | 30 days | up to 180 days |
| Standard delivery charges refunded? | Yes | Yes | Yes, up to 30 days |
| Upgraded delivery charges refunded? | Standard costs only | Standard costs only | Standard costs only |
| Free collection on cancellation | No | No | Yes, up to 30 days |
| Free collection if defective, delivered damaged or incorrect item | Yes, within 14 days | Yes, within 14 days | Yes, within 30 days |
We are unable to accept returns of any custom made items designed to work together as a unique package and some items are only eligible for money back guarantee if they are returned to us unused and sealed in the original packaging. For full information on our returns policy, please refer to our returns and refunds information guide.
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Key Features
The Relab Maselec MLA-4 is a triband multiband compressor/expander plugin, designed in collaboration with the hardware designer, Leif Mases. The only officially endorsed recreation, it captures the behaviour of the original hardware while adding practical software enhancements. You can shape dynamics across three bands without upsetting the tonal balance, thanks to Auto Spectral Balance working quietly in the background.
Each band offers both compression and expansion, letting you tighten low-end energy, recover transients, or open up high frequencies with control. Per-band THD also gives you the option to introduce harmonic colour exactly where it’s needed. With detailed monitoring options, including band solo and channel-specific listening, you can make adjustments with clarity and confidence rather than guesswork.
Product Ref: 343799
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Multiband compression can sometimes do more harm than good, introducing phase issues, softened transients, or uneven tone. The MLA-4 takes a different approach, giving you precise control while keeping your mix intact. You can manage low-end weight without losing punch, bring clarity to the mids without harshness, and recover depth in flattened material. It responds in a way that feels natural and predictable, so you’re not constantly correcting side effects. Each adjustment supports the music rather than fighting it, helping you move quickly and make confident decisions.
This processor goes beyond standard multiband tools by combining compression and expansion across each band. You can shape dynamics in a more flexible, musical way, tightening bass while opening up the top end or restoring life to over-processed audio. With ratios available for both processes, you’re free to control and enhance at the same time. It all happens in real time, so you can hear changes as you work. Whether you’re refining balance or adding movement, it gives you a level of control that feels both detailed and easy to manage.
Detailed per-band controls let you fine-tune how the MLA-4 reacts to your signal. Threshold, ratio, attack, and release are all available across each band, so you can shape lows, mids, and highs independently. This makes it straightforward to tighten the bottom end, keep midrange detail clear, and smooth out the top without overprocessing. The response stays consistent and musical, avoiding pumping or dullness. From subtle mix bus work to final mastering adjustments — you can focus on shaping the sound rather than correcting it.
Most multiband sidechain behavior is an afterthought, either all bands react together or don’t. The MLA-4 redefines that approach with a five-mode sidechain linking system that adapts compression and expansion behavior to the material. Need full-band cohesion? Engage full linking. Want surgical control? Keep bands independent. But the real magic happens in the in-between modes, where low frequencies can shape mid and high-band compression and expansion maintaining clarity without overcorrecting dynamics. The difference is immediate: more control, fewer compromises, and a dynamic response that feels like the mix is breathing, not just reacting.
Balancing multiple bands can quickly lead to unwanted tonal shifts, especially when applying heavier processing. The MLA-4 avoids this with Auto Spectral Balance, which applies gain compensation across low, mid, and high bands as you work. This keeps your overall tone consistent without constant manual adjustment. You can also use Auto Level to decide whether to maintain the original balance or reshape it. The result is controlled, transparent processing that refines dynamics while keeping the character of your mix exactly where you want it.
Where other multi-band processors are clean and pristine, with MLA-4, you can add harmonic excitement and colour whenever you want. Per-band THD control lets you add a subtle amount of warmth and richness to any of the three bands, meaning you could keep the highs pristine and add some depth to the low-end. No excessive saturation, no compromises!
If you can’t hear the problems you’re working with, there’s no way to fix them. MLA-4 expands on the original hardware with per-band solo and left/right cut to give you a deeper insight and control over your dynamics processing. Left and right cut functions let you focus on a single channel’s contribution to the processing, making it essential for fine-tuning stereo balance. Per-band soloing allows you to isolate lows, mids, or highs to hear exactly how compression or expansion is affecting each frequency range.
The MAselec MLA-4 has been at the centre of high-end mastering studios for decades. Shaping dynamics with precision and ultra-low distortion, this exclusive tool for typically reserved for elite studios and veteran engineers. Its price tag of close to £10,000 cemented its fate as hardware for the big-time players. Now, for the first time, the same uncompromising quality, control and musicality are available inside your DAW as software, without the price tag.
Built to offer the same experience and tone as the hardware, the MLA-4 delivers the same compression/expansion interplay that mastering engineers relied with the hardware, and the uncompromising sound quality as the original. Made in conjunction with the original designer and the only software to be official endorsed, the MLA-4 was made with Leif Mases to create something that’s unlike any other generic multi-band processor.
Packed with features that go beyond the original hardware, you’re getting even more value than what was previously possible. Manual gain compensation, unwanted tonal shifts and constant adjustments? All gone. The MLA-4 works seamlessly to keep your mix intact. Once you hear what it can do for your mixes, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it!
"The Maselec MLA-4 plug-in feels just like the real thing. The way it handles compression and expansion is effortless—no added color, just pure control. Relab doesn’t just emulate hardware; they capture what makes it special. Their plug-ins are the only ones I trust to replace the real gear." - Justin Gariano – Producer / Mixer / Engineer (Billy Joel, Toto, Reignwolf)
"This is a beast on mix buss. Ultimate fixer-upper." - Richard Chycki – Mixer / Engineer (Rush, Evanescence, Skillet, Mick Jagger, Aerosmith, Dream Theatre)
