if your final mix downs are sounding a little stale or bland you may need to
add some finishing touches to your master track or your mix buss whatever you want to call it
in this video i'm going to show you 7 waves plugins that i use on the master track
in my projects not all at the same time i'm zane welcome to simple green tech and
links to each of these waves plugins that i mentioned in this video are down in the
description so you can go down there see the latest pricing and also get some more information
on each one of these i've also included a link to the waves deals page as they often have some
great deals over there that you don't want to miss out on so be sure to check that out
and another thing i alluded to earlier is you may not want to use all seven of these plugins on
your master track at the same time but you can create a chain of two three maybe even four of
these plugins and first up on the list is greg wells mixcentric this plugin may look simple
as it has one big knob and a couple of sliders for input and output but that one knob controls a more
complex algorithm that applies common mastering techniques to your track it applies eq compression
and harmonic distortion to process your master bus or your groups that you add it to greg well's
mixcentric enhances and balances the tonality of your mix add a limiter plugin after this
one and as long as your mix is decent you can have fully mastered audio so let's check this out now
this next waves plugin is a simple limiter it's the waves
l2 ultramaximizer the l2 gives you look ahead brick wall peak limiting
level maximization and ultra high resolution add this at the end of your master chain and you'll
get maximum clear gain without clipping this is a plugin that you may want to use on every mix
next up is the waves abbey road j37 tape plugin the j37 is a model of the same machine used to
record many of the greatest songs in modern music this is a tape saturation plugin that can really
glue your mixes together by adding desirable harmonic distortion and giving your music an
analog sound in addition to emulating the machine waves have also emulated three
different types of tapes each one changing the sound slightly i personally use tape
saturation on every mix either with this plugin or the waves kramer tape plugin
and if i take it off the mix sounds really bare but you can also use the j37 on
individual tracks and buses too but right now let's give it a listen on the master
this next waves plug-in is another one from the abbey road collection this is the abbey road tg
mastering chain this is a modular mastering chain plug-in that's being modeled after the emi tg1241
and that's been used in abbeyroad's mastering suite since the early 70s
you can create custom processing chains with the tg mastering chain and it comes with some
decent presets to get you started use it on the master bus or on individual tracks and buses
it even has a stereo spreader knob so you can make your mixes wider let's give it a listen
wonder now you're all right
next on the list is the waves s1 stereo imager the waves s1 is a fairly easy plugin to use
it allows you to spread the stereo image on individual tracks or on your entire mix you
can also use it creatively by adding dimension to your tracks and your mix make your mixes
sound bigger by adding width with the waves s1 so let's check that out
up next we have waves cla mixdown this is a simplified mixbus plugin that makes it
super easy to make your mixes sound polished it includes two switchable compressor models
that chris lord algae goes for in his mixes and this is under the glue control
then there are what cla calls his perfect eq curves for both the base
and treble frequencies and then you also have the drive setting which is modeled after an
analog console overdrive for increasing harmonic distortion you can turn any of these channels on
and off and you can dial in as much as you need from each channel so let's give it a try right now
this next plugin is one that you won't have turned on during your final mix down but it can create a
huge difference in the overall sound of your final mix this is the waves abbey road studio 3. because
a lot of us home studio musicians and producers are making music in our bedrooms and basements
that really aren't acoustically sound this plugin allows you to reference your mix
in abby road studio 3. this makes it sound like you're listening to your track in their studio
which can be great if you like to mix with your headphones on like i do so you want to add this
plugin to the end of your master bus and use it while you're making changes to your mix
if you can get it sounding good in here then it's likely going to sound good elsewhere so you
can have a final mix that you're proud of just make sure you turn off the abbey road studio 3
plugin before you're doing your final mix down so here's what it sounds like when you're using it
waves audio gives you high quality plugins at a decent price and if you want to check out
more waves plugin reviews click up here or click down here to see what youtube recommends if you
like this video please give it a thumbs up also subscribe to the channel for more videos like this
thank you so much for watching for simple green tech i'm zane keep creating and we'll talk soon