Category: Waves Soundgrid

Welcome to a new series I’ve entitled “Top 5.” So many times people ask what plugins people use the most or one they should definitely get when they first starting out. This is what that series aims to answer, at least from my viewpoint. Keep in mind, these are my top 5 favorite plugins, and they are that way because of the context that I’m working in. I’m sure a studio guy might have a different set or someone that mixes monitors might have even another different set of tools they use the most. I wanted to share them though because in learning how someone else uses their tools, you might learn something new or try something new. So read these posts with that in mind. Second on my list of quick disclaimers for the series is that these plugins should never be the things that your mix depends on. Practically, what you do with the faders and eq settings on your console should get your mix most of the way there. The plugins are the “icing on the cake.” Your cake must be mixed well, formed with intention, and baked perfectly (isn’t the analogy great?!?!?) before you put the icing on it. A lump of flour and sugar or a burnt piece of whatever is not magically made into a cake with the addition of icing. Great mixes are possible without the use of outboard plugins. All that aside, enough people ask, here is my answer. I’ve looked through my multirack templates, looked at what I go to when I need that extra something, and came up with 5 plugins that I’ve ranked appropriately. This week I’ll start with number 5.

My 5th favorite plugin is the CLA-76. The waves website describes it pretty well so I’ll drop in a quick quote that sums things up really well. Here it is:

The CLA-76 is modeled after one of the best renowned solid state compressor/limiters in music history, which uniquely used Field Effect Transistors (FETs) as gain control devices. Some 8,000 units were originally manufactured, and went through at least 13 revisions during their run. Waves modeled two of these highly-regarded revisions: 

-Revision D-LN (Low Noise), also known as the Blackface. It is perhaps the most famous version of this classic compressor. 
-Revision B, also known as the Silverface Bluestripe. The unit we modeled is CLA’s personal favorite. 

The main differences between the two units are slightly different gain stages and time constants, as well as THD and noise levels. For the CLA-76 plug-ins, we modeled the original pre-amp noise. 

Mechanically the CLA-76 works a bit differently than most compressors with a set threshold and adjustable input and output gains. I drive the input up until I’m getting the amount of compression I’m looking for and then adjust the output until I hear it sitting where I want. For vocals I’ll run a slower attack (lower numbers) and a faster release (higher numbers). For next level transparency I’ll crank that release up all the way. I’ll also run 4 or 8 ratio for vocals and 12 or 20 for instruments. For something like a snare drum I often find using the all-buttons option. Just be careful, this can be a really big gain stage if you aren’t watching your input and output levels.

I use this plugin on all four kick and snare inputs, occasionally trade it in for my main bass compressor (over my standard CLA-2a), and on any and all vocals as the final stage of compression. It does make its appearance on a few tracks inputs as needed as well.

But why is it my favorite you ask? Well the biggest reason is just the speed that this compressor works. Not only is it a zero latency plugin but it’s also incredibly fast when turned up all the way. It doesn’t slow down a whole lot when you turn the attack and release times down but it still covers such a broad area it makes it incredibly versatile. The speed of the attack and release also serve to bring the image of the input right up in front. This is why it’s great for vocals! When you compare it to other heavy hitting compressors that have a large user base like the Hcomp or the Rvox, the CLA-76 stands above the rest as this plugin just sounds better, cleaner, and in some cases more natural (likely a result of the speed that it can release the compression). Probably it’s only real issue is that it is very easy to over-compress with this plugin. As we use more and more tools it’s hard to watch and monitor them all. Add to that the ability for this thing to respond so quickly it’s easy for it to do too much. For that reason, I’m usually parking on the instance of the CLA-76 that’s on my lead vocal so I can make adjustments on the fly as necessary. 

So what do you guys think about the CLA-76? Do you use it a lot if at all? Any uses for it that departs from the mainstream? If you’re curious about waves plugins head on over the waves store and check some of them out at this link (referral link). Please leave a comment below or on Facebook and let us know. I know I write these articles as much to learn from you as to share what I know. Next week I’ll dive into number 4 as we discuss a tight race to my favorite harmonics plugin. Be sure to subscribe at this link to be informed when that post goes live. Thanks again for stopping by! See you next week and happy mixing! 

Welcome back to the final week of our Waves Troubleshooting series. Over these last few weeks I’ve detailed a few things you can do to cover some common problems including how you can monitor your setup and how you can start to diagnose issues without the need to call waves tech support. This week I’m just going to share a few last tips I’ve learned over my last few years of multirack and waves gear in general.

The first is in regards to using  a waves soundgrid server. In both the multirack preferences and I believe the same in the LV1/Soundgrid Studio settings you can set the option to manually reconnect the server. This pertains to what happens when your control machine (i.e. the computer running multirack or LV1) crashes and you restart the program. Setting this setting to automatic tells the control software to automatically connect at the first available option. Which sounds great, but remember the server continues to process audio if the software dies and will interrupt audio when it connects. This is why I prefer the manual setting. If a crash occurs, I’ll get the software restarted and ready to go and leave the dialogue box alone until a time comes along when I can interrupt the audio and it not be noticed, then reconnect. Whatever setting you choose, be sure it works for your situation (multirack users should probably use manual while LV1 users should use automatic so you can get audio back asap).

Waves software makes good use of presets and templates. Use them! Having a template can save valuable setup time and get you started quickly. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile you’ll know that I’m all about using templates not only to save time but also to bring consistency and focus to your mixes. Outboard gear can be a tremendous help but it can also be a distraction from what we should really be working on: moving faders and mixing fundamentals. Mixing should have our complete focus during the the show and whenever the band is playing. Therefore, outboard gear, tools, plugins, etc should all be ready to go whenever we need them so we don’t waste band time by patching or experimenting. This should all be done before any music has ever been played. Sure, we will tweak as the show goes on but in all reality our hands should be on the faders and our eyes on the band so we can be dynamically mixing. So, take some time right now, makes some templates, makes some channel presets, get yourself setup. You’ll thank me later.

For those of you with more complicated waves networks, my experience has taught me two things which will dramatically improve reliability. The first is to run difference soundgrid networks where possible. Not only will that ensure that your network is only moving one set of channels but also that there isn’t any transport limits being hit. That leads me to my second point. Just by having unused devices on your soundgrid network can cause issues occasionally. Waves tech support will say that you should only see the soundgrid devices that you need. Each console should have their own soundgrid network if at all possible. Less is more in this case. The moral here is that don’t leave unused soundgrid drivers or equipment running when they aren’t needed as that might cause audio issues.

I’ve mentioned this before but it’s just that important, clock the waves network externally whenever possible. Using an LV1 takes care of this but if you’re using a different console and connecting with a madi device (not directly connected with a waves card as the cards take care of clocking the network) use wordclock and keep everything together. Even if you are clocking from your madi connection now, put in a wordclock cable if you can. When we installed our MGO with our SSL L500 it was clocking just fine with madi but recently it started crapping out on us. After a quick call to waves after some extensive troubleshooting we discovered the suggested setup was to use wordclock from our console to clock the waves network. Just like that, all issues disappeared. I had chased server issues, network issues, gear issues, etc but it turns out it was a simple clocking issue. Long story short, if you can externally clock, do it now!

Well that’s it for this week and series. Hopefully you’ve gleaned some helpful info for your own setups or gigs. If I missed anything that you think should have been mentioned, go ahead and drop me a comment below or on facebook or email me at daniel@studiostagelive.com. Next week I’ll have a fresh “From the Booth” episode for you to enjoy. If you want to get an email when a new post is live, subscribe at this link! See you next week!

We are finally here. Over the last few weeks I’ve spent some time setting this post up a bit. In week 1 of this series I talked about getting your soundgrid network setup and addressed a few things you should do to increase network stability that waves doesn’t talk about. Then, last week I talked about monitoring your network and the tools that you have available to do that. This week I’m going to talk about properly identifying your issue and then write a bit about troubleshooting in each arena (networking issues, clocking issues, server issues). Let’s get started!

I bet the first question you’re asking is how you know what exactly the problem is…well, after last week you’re actually monitoring your network a bit. The best indicator I can give you is to watch processing load. This gets a bit harder on the LV1 but at least within multirack there are a few places you can watch this. I love having the system monitor window open so I can keep an eye on the meters. What you’re looking for is consistency. If you’re seeing your load bar jumping erratically, perhaps with large percentage hops (both up and down), you might have a server issues. From that same system monitor you can monitor network usage and again you’re looking for consistency. If you have a network issues, you’ll like have huge hops up and random dips followed by an overload. Running in LV1 this is harder to monitor and look for but you can watch the windows “task manager” and keep an eye on the network tab. Lastly, if both of the networking and cpu usage seems stable, it’s probably time to check on your soundgrid clocking setup. It is important to note that networking and clocking issues look pretty similar so that’s why I’m addressing both this first week.

In fact, that’s why I’m starting with networking/clocking issues because the vast majority of soundgrid networking issues are an issue with the physical network (either the setup or gear related) or with clocking issues. So let’s dig into the network side of this problem. Before you dig too far into testing, be sure that you are using certified gear for your soundgrid network. Networked audio, especially at this scale, is extremely fussy. Waves has taken the time to test and publish a list of gear that will work without issue (assuming it’s properly functional). After you’ve done that than it’s time to start messing about. The first step is to systematically check the hardware/cabling involved. I usually with start with a simple cable tester and about twenty minutes of cable testing. Since we are supposed to be using STP (shielded twisted pair) I’ll also go grab a multimeter and check the shield for conductivity to make sure that is still effective as well. If that all checks out, I’ll see if this perhaps is a switch issue. Now unmanaged switches (the majority of soundgrid approved switches are unmanaged) are extremely stable and usually work like a charm but sometimes they just need to be power cycled and the cables moved to another port (this exercising the jacks and connectors). I know, it seems stupid to just switch ports or unplug and plug in but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve solved an issue just by unplugging and plugging a cable back into the same jack. If you’ve done all that you may need to find an IT buddy and do some packet sniffing to see what’s happening. In about 5 years I’ve actually had a switch and an intel PCIe network card fail so don’t be afraid to get aggressive with your testing. Typically issues will show up in windows as well. When my network card was dying I noticed by soundgrid connection was no longer a gigabit connection, it had been slowed to just 10/100. You can find this by going to your adapter settings in windows, than click on your soundgrid network adapter and choose, “status.” Make sure it still reads 1 Gbps.  

If you’ve stepped through the basic network checks and you’re still having issues, or worse, audio dropouts (the most visible indicator of issues) be sure to start with checking out the verbose log we saw talked about last week. See if there is anything of note, but at this point you may be looking at a soundgrid clock issue. I don’t have the time to explain what audio clocking is but I found this great and brief article to summarize what clocking is and why it’s important. If you’re running and LV1 system you need to check and make sure one of your I/O devices has been set to the master clock and the others are slaving from that. In a multirack setup, you need to clock to the console your inserting your plugins into. With waves you have three options to clock your system digital (clocking through the madi cable), external clock (i.e. wordclock), and what waves calls SoE (Soundgrid over Ethernet, allows waves devices to clock from other devices on the soundgrid network, you’d use this with waves cards inserted in your console). In my case I’m using and MGO (different version of the MGB) and when I set it up I was clocking digitally. But over time issues developed here (either on how SSL handles madi or within the firmware of the MGO) that made me switch to externally clock the MGO with a wordclock signal from my console. I was fortunate enough to have a wordclock output on my console that allowed this easy fix. I say all that so that if you jump down the networking hole and don’t find anything, verify your clocking setup. I chased what I eventually learned was a clocking issue for over 4 months while I was experimenting with latencies, cabling, switches, etc when all it was was a clocking issue with soundgrid. After discussing this issue with waves tech support, the tech I spoke with mentioned that externally clocking is the preferred clocking setup. I’m not sure if that’s in the manual but if you can externally clock your I/O with your console via a vehicle like wordclock, you should. If you’ve inserted a waves card into your console, your network will run on SoE so you just need to make sure any devices are correctly slaving to that card. You’ll see an SoE settings blank to tell you that status of your setup.

The last area you can have issues is within your server. The waves servers are incredibly sound and bulletproofed before they are shipped. But if you are seeing random overloads in your server you’re likely just hitting it too hard. Some types of plugins (i.e. reverbs, delays, etc) draw on the cpu a lot less consistently so it’s important to watch your usage over time not just after the plugin loads to make sure your server can handle the load. If your usage is in the yellow, consider your server maxed out. If it hits red, you’ll likely start experiencing dropouts simply because the server can’t handle the work. But, the are a few ways around this. If you’re in a live setting you’ve likely lowered the latency settings down to the lowest possible to reduce the travel costs of the external processing. If you just need that extra bit of processing, consider dropping the latency down a step or two. If you’re using multirack live with an MGO or something similar, you just need to the adjust the network latency settings. The driver latency only applies if your setup requires the use of the soundgrid network driver (which usually only applies to soundgrid studio usage). One or two ticks up in this menu can get you another 15-20% processing capability and still be unnoticeable in a live environment. Some experimentation required as to what feels good in your room but there is flexibility here. The goal is to find a balance that works in your room for your setup.

If you’re still having issues, don’t be afraid to call waves tech support. The wait on the phone can be a bit long at times so be ready to be on the phone for a bit. Sometimes you’ll hang up the call and be a bit frustrated with the answers you’re getting but I’ve never ended a call without something I can try if not a solution. They can also remote into your soundgrid controller and take a peak at your setup. I’ve found this to be particularly helpful. Note that they have a different number to call for live sound issues. You can always call the main line but they try to prioritize live sound issues a bit higher than studio issues because of the time sensitivities involved.

Well that’s it for this week. I hope you’ve learned something. If not, or if you have some questions, please leave me a comment below or on facebook. I’d also love to follow up with you if you email me at daniel@studiostagelive.com. Next week we’ll wrap up the series with a short post of some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the few short years I’ve used waves in a live setting. Be sure to sign up at this link if you want to be notified when that post goes live. See you next week!