WAVES CLA Drums Plugin User Guide

WAVESCLA DRUMSUSER GUIDE

Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1 Welcome

Thank you for choosing Waves! In order to get the most out of your new Waves plugin, please take a moment to read this user guide.To install software and manage your licenses, you need to have a free Waves account. Sign up at www.waves.com. With a Waves account, you can keep track of your products, renew your Waves Update Plan, participate in bonus programs, and keep up to date with other important information.

We suggest that you become familiar with the Waves Support pages:www.waves.com/support. There are technical articles about installation, troubleshooting, specifications, and more. Plus, you’ll find company contact information and Waves Support news.

1.2 Product Overview

The Waves Artist Signature Series is our exclusive line of application-specific audio processors, created in collaboration with the world’s top producers, engineers, and mixing engineers. Every Signature Series plug-in has been precision-crafted to capture the artist’s distinct sound and production style. For experienced and aspiring audio professionals alike, the Waves Signature Series allows you to dial up the sound you’re looking for quickly, without interrupting the creative flow.

The CLA Artist Collection consists of six plug-ins, each designed to handle a specific mixing task:

  •  CLA Vocals
  •  CLA Drums
  •  CLA Bass
  •  CLA Guitars
  •  CLA Unplugged
  •  CLA Effects

1.3 Concepts and Terminology

Sensitivity Control/Sensitivity LEDThe Sensitivity LED’s 3 colors indicate when appropriate levels are reached:

  • Led Off (too low)
  •  Green (good)
  •  Yellow (optimal)
  •  Red (very hot)

Push the Sensitivity Control upwards until the LED lights up. We recommend adjusting the Sensitivity Control as soon as you open the plug-in, using the section of your song with the highest peaks for best results.

In most cases, the Sensitivity LED indicates that your levels hit the processor in a way that will give you the intended output result.  However, it’s important to keep in mind that optimal results for your source material may be achieved even when the Sensitivity LED does not display “optimal” levels (yellow). As always, trust your ears.

Modes

The CLA Drums plug-in is designed primarily for multi-track drum kit recordings. Each of the plug-in’s six Drum Modes is optimized for a different element of the drum kit or microphone position: Kick, Snare, Toms, Cowbell (also suitable for cymbals, hi-hats, and bells), Overheads, and Room.

Color

Each fader on CLA Artist Signature Collection plug-ins controls a specific function, such as compression or reverb. Each function has a  color-coded selector which controls the internal characteristics of that function, resulting in a different sound character or “Color.” You can mix and match different colors across the different faders.

1.4 A Few Words from Chris

“One of my favorite activities is to work on drums. When creating the CLA Drums plugin, I had one thing in mind: Anyone who uses it can get a great drum sound for any song and any mix and just have fun! There are six different modes: Kick, Snare, Toms, Overhead, Room, and, of course, my favorite, Cowbell. There are three color-coded presets for bass EQ, treble EQ, compression, and reverb, plus a noise gate so you can even get rid of leakage. The faders let you control the amount of each effect and, especially important for drums, we’ve included a phase switch so you can find the best setting for the kit.”

1.5 Components

WaveShell technology enables us to split Waves processors into smaller plug-ins, which we call components. Having a choice of components for a particular processor gives you the flexibility to choose the configuration best suited to your material.

The Waves CLA Drums has two components:

  •  CLA Drums Mono-to-Stereo – Mono into Stereo out component
  •  CLA Drums Stereo – Stereo into Stereo out component

Chapter 2 – Quickstart Guide

  •  Insert the CLA Drums plug-in on a drum track.
  •  Select the correct Drum Mode.
  •  Adjust the Sensitivity control until you achieve proper levels, as indicated by the Sensitivity LED and the input meter.
  •  The current plug-in settings now represent Chris’s default setup.

Tweak the following controls to fit your mix:

  •  Adjust the Bass and Treble faders. Toggle through the Colors to find the EQ that works best for the song.
  • Use Compress for dynamic range control. Toggle through the Colors to find that which works best for the song.
  • The Gate is used to reduce spill or bleed from other elements of the kit. Choose hard or soft gating.
  •  Adjust Reverb and Delay effect levels. Toggle through the Colors to find that which works best for the song.

Please note:

  • When all colors are set to clear (Bypass/Mute), some fixed processing as designed by Chris is still active.
  • EQ adjustment will take effect once the EQ faders are moved. At zero, cycling through the EQ Colors will have no effect.
  • All other faders are active and set to Chris’s default setup when at zero.
  •  Delay control is available in Cowbell mode only; Gate control is not available in this mode.

Chapter 3 – Interface and Controls

3.1 Interface

3.2 Controls

Drum Mode toggles between the six drum types.Range: Kick, Snare, Toms, OH (Over Heads), Room, Cowbell (cymbals, hi-hats and bells).
Input Sensitivity is used to achieve optimal plug-in input level.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Input Meter displays input signal peak level.Range: -26 to 0 dBFS Clip LED lights up when levels exceed 0 dBFS. Click inside the meter area to reset.
Balance adjusts the offset between left and right signals. (Stereo component only)Range: +/- 6 dB (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0 
Sensitivity LED indicates the presence of proper levels.Range: LED off (too low), Green (good), Yellow (optimal), Red (very hot) 
Phase Switch engages input phase reversal.Range: On/OffDefault: Off
Bass controls low-frequency gain.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Bass Color toggles between low frequency filters.Range: Clear (Bypass), Green (Sub), Blue (Lower), Red (Upper)Default: Green (Sub)
Treble controls high-frequency gain.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Treble Color toggles between high-frequency filters.Range: Clear (Bypass), Green (Bite), Blue (Top), Red (Roof)Default: Green (Bite)
Compress controls the dynamics range.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Compress Color toggles different compression characters.Range: Clear (Bypass), Green (Push), Blue (Spank), Red (Wall)Default: Green (Push)
Reverb controls the reverb wet mix.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Reverb Color toggles between reverb environments.Range: Clear (Mute), Green (Studio), Blue (Club), Red (Hall)Default: Green (Studio)
Gate controls the gate threshold. (Not available in Cowbell mode.)Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Gate Color toggles between gating shapes. (Not available in Cowbell mode.)Range: Clear (Bypass), Green (Soft), Red (Hard)Default: Green (Soft)
Delay controls the delay wet mix. (Cowbell mode only.)Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0
Delay Color toggles delay times and character. (Cowbell mode only; delay time syncs to session BPM.)Range: Clear (Mute), Green (16 – 1/16 note), Blue (Dot Eight – Dotted 1/8 note), Red (Quarter note)Default: Green (16 
Output controls the output level.Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)Default: 0

Output Meter displays output signal peak level.Range: -26 to 0 dBFS

Clip LED lights up when levels exceed 0 dBFS. Click inside the meter area to reset.

 

 

 

3.3 WaveSystem Toolbar

Use the bar at the top of the plugin to save and load presets, compare settings, undo and redo steps, and resize the plugin. To learn more, click the icon at the upper-right corner of the window and open the WaveSystem Guide.

Waves CLA DrumsUser Guide

References

[xyz-ips snippet=”download-snippet”]

Posted

in

by

admin

Tags:

,