New Waves CLA Video - Compression plug-ins demo

I've been planning on finally snatching up the Waves SSL bundle soon, but now I'm thinking that these CLA plugs would be a MUCH more versatile choice...and perhaps just more awesome in general.
 
kaomao said:
Yes James he uses a lot of compression (taking a lot of db's out) but it doesn't sound like those stupid plugins which destroy a track at those insane settings lol.
Click to expand...


not sure why you directed that comment to me... unless you were agreeing with me and just worded it awkwardly, since you basically just repeated exactly what i said already :confused:

not having a go, lol... just trying to understand.
 
Fuck these compressors sound gorgeous!

Wish I had the sort of money for these
 
James Murphy said:
not sure why you directed that comment to me... unless you were agreeing with me and just worded it awkwardly, since you basically just repeated exactly what i said already :confused:

not having a go, lol... just trying to understand.
Click to expand...

I was just pointing out that doesn't sound like there's a tons of heavy compression even though he uses a lot.
To me sounds natural, well actually it sounds like he added a touch of compression.
It's a musical plugin this one!
Yeah I'm agree with you
 
this video makes me realize how terrible my drum tracking room sounds. My overheads/room mic sounds NOTHING like that....so dead by comparison.
I guess thats what spending thousands of dollars on getting someone to design out a room for you does(not to mention the amount of $ it actually takes to build said room)
 
Totally. Drums are all about the room. Nebulous and I learned that very quickly the hard way when we studied at JMC.

So I'm demoing these plug-ins currently. I decided to quickly interchange them with a few compressors I had on my quick mix of Headcrusher's track. Basically using them as CLA was demoing. 1176 black on drum bus and bass, 1176 blue on lead vox, la-3a on all guitars & la-2a on backing vox. Not a scientific test by any means, but hopefully it can give us some reference as to what these can do to a mix when not in the magic hands of CLA and his crew, haha.

Here is the 'original': http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo.mp3

Here is the 'CLA'd' version: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo-clacomps.mp3
 
Ermz said:
Totally. Drums are all about the room. Nebulous and I learned that very quickly the hard way when we studied at JMC.

So I'm demoing these plug-ins currently. I decided to quickly interchange them with a few compressors I had on my quick mix of Headcrusher's track. Basically using them as CLA was demoing. 1176 black on drum bus and bass, 1176 blue on lead vox, la-3a on all guitars & la-2a on backing vox. Not a scientific test by any means, but hopefully it can give us some reference as to what these can do to a mix when not in the magic hands of CLA and his crew, haha.

Here is the 'original': http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo.mp3

Here is the 'CLA'd' version: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo-clacomps.mp3
Click to expand...

Yeah, its obvious that the CLA version has instruments that are much more "in the pocket" so to speak. It would be extremely interesting to me if you did the same sort of approach using another 1176 type compressor plugin like Stillwell's Rocket and see how close you could come.
 
Ermz said:
Totally. Drums are all about the room. Nebulous and I learned that very quickly the hard way when we studied at JMC.

So I'm demoing these plug-ins currently. I decided to quickly interchange them with a few compressors I had on my quick mix of Headcrusher's track. Basically using them as CLA was demoing. 1176 black on drum bus and bass, 1176 blue on lead vox, la-3a on all guitars & la-2a on backing vox. Not a scientific test by any means, but hopefully it can give us some reference as to what these can do to a mix when not in the magic hands of CLA and his crew, haha.

Here is the 'original': http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo.mp3

Here is the 'CLA'd' version: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/ermz-headcrusher-demo-clacomps.mp3
Click to expand...


Wow... those plugs really made a difference in that clip !

Every different element sounded better: much more professional and more hi-fi/hi-end. With more polish, presence and individual space within the mix. Amazing plugs.
 
Actually I directly compared the Stillwell Rocket to the black 1176 plug-in directly on drum bus. Their sonic characteristics are very similar! Both 'pump' the source while adding this sense of body and fatness, that's hard to describe. I didn't toy around too much trying to match them, so I couldn't decide which I liked better, but the Rocket definitely has more to tweak, and for the price is an absolutely unbeatable bargain IMO.

I need more stuff to try the CLA plug-ins out on, but I'm running out of mixes here. I would love some more well-tracked rock stuff to really try to get into hi-fi land. Half the charm of these plug-ins is how quick and easy they are to dial. The LA's are an absolute pleasure, with only a gain and 'compression' control!... well, and a 'compress or limit' switch too but cmon it's not rocket science!

Thanks for the comments guys. The mix is still somewhat fresh and I'm too close to be able to objectively tell whether there was an improvement or not.
 
Hey ermz, I listened to both clips in my little "studio" with my Hs80m and I have to say:

the cla plugins make a big difference!!!

The mix sounds more open, and radio-ready. Very balanced and nice high-end!!!

I tried the demo too and was very impressed but I bought the studio classics bundle in early april so there is NO WAY I´m gonna buy this bundle this year;)

Also I must say the waves ssl comp is also great on the bass...
the V-comp is fantastic on vocals and IMHO there is no better software comp then the API 2500 for drums!!!
 
No no no, You showed us often enough that you make amazing results with your current setup!!!!

I was just totaly consentrated on the CLA stuff and your "cla-mix" reminded me a lot of the stuff I heard in the waves CLA-video...
 
Ermz said:
Hmm, shit. Does that mean I have to budget to be half a grand down this time next week? :cry:
Click to expand...

Bro, the CLA-ized mix sounds SO much fucking better! I really was HOPING to not be blown away be like 'eh, not much different' but Christ!

EVERYTHING is sitting better, everything glues better and for some reason, it sounds bigger? I guess because everything is tucked into it's place nicely.

Holy crap, don't tell me I gotta get these plugs. LOL.

Was this JUST swapping out the compressors for the CLA stuff or did you make any EQ changes as well?

WELL impressed! Sounds like a modern, radio rock mix!
 
I did make some level and EQ adjustments BUT it was primarily on the kick, which was way too clicky/prominent on the first version. The second bit was on the rhythm guitars (take away high mids) and a TINY bit on bass, which was just a low mid adjustment (like seriously tiny though). Everything else was untouched apart from the comp swap, and some minute level adjustments to make things 'sit' better with the new compression curves. It's just braindead easy stuff you do by instinct to adjust to new compression - nothing to magically separate the 2nd mix from the first.

To be honest I didn't hear this drastic change that you guys are talking about, but once again I was pretty close to the mix, so it goes to figure. The main benefit of these comps is that they have the right sound instantly. No fucking around - you pull them up and that's it. Slam the track and it's glued. The ease of use alone makes them worth consideration.

FWIW though I think the Stillwell Rocket does something very similar to the 1176 blacky if you tweak it right, so if you're digging a part of that sound, it's really worth considering the Rocket for how stupidly cheap it is. Having said that, I did swap out the Rocket for the blacky set to all-buttons-in mode, taking off 15dB on the room mics and HOLY SHIT. It grabs so well, and it instantly just sucked up all the ambiance into this sonic ball that sits behind the snare. Twas rather godlike.

Anyway cheers guys, and Gabriel you're too kind man. Honestly a person would read that and think you were talking about someone who knew how to engineer to save their own life, haha. I still have a long way to go. The plug-ins definitely help though. I basically just dialed them 1:1 as CLA did (or his assistant) on that video. Very similar GR to what they used (which ironically sounded the most 'correct' for a mix of this type).

But man, over half a grand in AUD.... :cry:
 
Ermz said:
To be honest I didn't hear this drastic change that you guys are talking about, but once again I was pretty close to the mix, so it goes to figure. The main benefit of these comps is that they have the right sound instantly. No fucking around - you pull them up and that's it. Slam the track and it's glued. The ease of use alone makes them worth consideration.

FWIW though I think the Stillwell Rocket does something very similar to the 1176 blacky if you tweak it right, so if you're digging a part of that sound, it's really worth considering the Rocket for how stupidly cheap it is. Having said that, I did swap out the Rocket for the blacky set to all-buttons-in mode, taking off 15dB on the room mics and HOLY SHIT. It grabs so well, and it instantly just sucked up all the ambiance into this sonic ball that sits behind the snare. Twas rather godlike.

But man, over half a grand in AUD.... :cry:
Click to expand...

Ugh, it's things like that that make me want these plugs more and more. A godlike sonic ball? Count me in bro. Haha.

See, I like compressors that you can just pull up, tweak a few knobs and bam, it's sitting close to how it should. That's why these plugs are so appealing to me.

Yes, fairly expensive though...

How were you generally setting the Rocket to sound similar to the CLA 1176? I don't have a decent 1176 emu plug around so it's hard for me to apporximate when just using my ears and having very little experience w/the real thing, or even the UAD version.

I bought The Rocket thinking it'd be a nice, cheap alternative but I don't know. I never liked how it grabbed peaky stuff. Maybe I'm fucking it up somehow?
 
This is how compressors should sound, put it on the vocal, give it the beans and bam it works. As Sigmund stated....shame it makes everybodys wallet tremble with fear!
 
I think I had the Rocket set at about 400us attack, around 100ms release, impetus at 24% or so. Ratio 4. It's just the kind of compressor that destroys stuff. It isn't so good on gentle things, but on the Untruth EP I used it on bass and it kinda did the job there. I don't know really, I've had to redefine my workflow to get plug-ins like that and the 1176 working. Took a bit of adjustment, as I used to like longer attack times.

But yeah the LA-2A was what really impressed me. Only 1 significant knob, dial the amount of compression to taste.

This is the EXACT reason the ubk fatso is so appealing to me. Hell if I had a fraction of Eddie's wealth I'd have bought about 14 of them by now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back