Waves Audio (NAMM booth 15302) has announced the CLA MixHub plugin, developed together with GRAMMY winning engineer Chris Lord-Alge.
Said to be the first plugin of its kind, CLA MixHub captures the smooth console workflow and rich analog sound of Chris Lord-Alge's mixes. Mix up to 64 tracks – all from the same plugin window – using channel strips modeled from CLA's personal console. Mix musically, within the context of a song, as swiftly and effortlessly as your ideas come.
Plugins normally work on only one channel at a time. CLA MixHub works in buckets – groupings of up to eight channels, in up to eight buckets in total. In other words, you can mix up to 64 channels from one CLA MixHub plugin window. By mixing tracks side by side in the MixHub's buckets, you'll gain a mixing perspective that lets you immediately hear how one track's processing affects others within a song.
The channel strips are meticulously modeled from the ground up with the latest technology, directly from Chris Lord-Alge's personal console – the same console that Chris has used to mix a huge number of hits, from Green Day, Muse and Sugarland to Keith Urban and many more.
Once CLA MixHub is inserted on the channels in your mix, you can assign your tracks to buckets and begin making adjustments on the fly – mixing dynamics, EQ, saturation and more at a free-flowing pace without needing to switch plugin windows in your DAW.
While mixing, you can flip between two plugin view modes: Bucket view, with control of up to eight channels at a time, or Channel view, focusing on a single channel's processing chain.
Each channel consists of five sections: Input, dynamics, EQ, output, and an insert point. Each processing module can be expanded to reveal additional functionality:
- Input Section: The input section handles high- and low-pass filtering and switchable harmonic distortion. The "line" control models the line amp in Chris's console, adding light saturation. For more extreme drive, kick in the mic pre. This, in effect, is like running a line-level signal through the console's microphone preamp.
- Dynamics: The dynamics section includes two flavors of compression: the console's built-in compressor, as well as Chris's favored "Bluey" (Waves CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter) compressor. Also included: a gate, expander and ducker with a "hold" control and flexible sidechain options for shaping a sound's envelope – as Chris calls it, it's a "super-gate.".
- EQ: The EQ section includes four bands of parametric EQ, from wide bells to narrow boost and cuts, loaded with the console's original ballistics and Q characteristics.
- Output: The output section includes a VU meter and plasma-style PPM meter, plus a stereo imaging control and an output fader.
- Insert Point: In MixHub's channel view, the insert point can be used for adding an additional Waves plugin to your MixHub's chain, making it a one-stop solution for your entire mix.
Chris Lord-Alge comments, "Mixing in buckets means the world to me. It's one of the secrets to my success and to my fast-paced, decisive mixing. By creating this plugin, I'm able to give others access to that same quick workflow in a plugin, pushing the envelope of in-the-box mixing to the next, CLA-approved level."
CLA MixHub features:
- Mix with the console workflow and rich analog console sound of legendary mixer Chris Lord-Alge.
- Meticulous hardware modelling of Chris's console with added functionality.
- Mix swiftly and efficiently with a clear perspective.
- Control up to 64 channels from a single plugin window: Build up to 8 "buckets," each containing eight channels from across your mix session.
- Flip anytime between bucket view and single-channel view.
- Insert slot: Load an extra Waves plugin within each CLA MixHub channel strip.
- Re-order your processing chain within the plugin.
- Flexible dynamics sidechaining.
- Includes Chris Lord-Alge's personal presets.
Intro Price: $69 (Reg. $199).
The CLA MixHub plugin is included in the Waves Mercury, SD7 Pro Show and Pro Show bundles.
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