The SSL Compressor from the SSL 4000 bundle is one the best compressors I have ever used, and many who have used it would gladly agree. Modeled after a top of the line SSL console channel strip, the SSL Compressor delivers that beautiful, textured warm sound that all musicians are seeking to achieve from their mix.

Waves plugins have been an industry standard for a great many years.

The vast majority, if not all, iconic producers use at least a few of the waves plugins in their mixes and they have become industry standard for pop music production.

• Waves SSL collection goes on sale every now and then for like $250. Should I save for the waves or can IK Multimedia do everything the Waves emulator can do? I also want the Bus compressor.
• Watch the second part 'The Glue Compression with Cytomic: What's different?' : Save an additional 10% off any purchase at Waves w.
• SSL G-Master Buss Compressor is a plug-in that comes with the Waves Ltd. SSL 4000 Collection of plug-ins, but I believe it's also available on it's own if you only want this individual plug-in (I'm not 100% sure on this). The plug-in is designed after the classic SSL 4000 Gconsole compressor.

If you listen to any even slightly commercial music, chances are waves plugins and effects were used to mix and master the track.

So in light of their ongoing sales, we’ve decided to assemble what we believe to be the best waves plugins currently available.

If you’re busy, the table below summarizes our findings:

Note: The prices described above are as of date of publish and can change.

It’s also worth noting that waves just released their new FLEX program, which allows you to rent-to-own your favorite waves plugins.

This means that instead of paying the full fee upfront, you can choose to pay monthly until you fully own it.

The programs start at 9.99$/month and can be cancelled at any time, so if the price of some of these plugins is prohibitive, definitively check out flex:

It’s a subjective list to be sure, so I invite you to share your best Waves plugins as well in the comments section. Now, in no particular order, here they are:

Waves F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ Review- Intuitive EQ for all levels

One of the most recent releases from Waves is the F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ. The first thing I noticed about it was the immaculate interface with various parameter knobs along the bottom. But it goes far beyond just being eye candy, this is a truly flexible and high quality dynamic EQ.

Each of its 6 bands can be either a hi/low shelf or bell and have independent controls for frequency band, Q, gain, range, threshold, attack and release.

The range control is unique because it compresses or expands depending on the position of the knob. Turning the knob left will compress the signal, while turning it to the right will expand the signal.

The F6 can be used in either mono, stereo or mid-side mode as well so you could throw it on a bus or even on your master chain.

Personally I wish it had a frequency spectrum, but I guess you can’t have everything. Maybe we’ll see it in a future update perhaps?

At any rate, it’s still a fantastic tool to have at your disposal.

Waves Center Review- A simple solution for a complicated issue

I’ve been using Center on every mix since I bought it. It allows you to enhance the stereo width of your mix by blending the hi-end/low-end levels of your signal between the sides and the center.

You can also blend the transients to the sides or center of your mix to add punch.

Center is a one trick pony, but it’s the best plugin I’ve found for easily adding focus and punch to busses and overall mixes. It’s extremely easy to use and once you start using it, it’ll become an indispensable tool in your arsenal.

Waves SSL E-Channel– A classic SSL Logic 4000 emulator

The iconic SSL E-Channel has been around for as long as I can remember and probably needs no introduction.

A couple of weeks ago I was one of the lucky folks that caught this baby being sold separate from the bundle of plugins it’s normally included in and it was a great find let me tell you.

Based on the Solid State Logic 4000-Series analogue consoles, the SSL E-Channel features the same all-discrete design and Class A, VCA chip as its hardware counterpart.

Additionally it has a 4-band parametric equalization section, Hi Pass/Low Pass Filters and a dynamics sectionwith a compressor/limiter as well as an expander/gate.

The equalization section is based on the Black Knob equalizer developed with celebrated producer, George Martin in 1983. As on the original hardware, the dynamics section can be placed pre or post EQ via the (CH. OUT.) button.

Automatic gain make-up, calculated from the Ratio and Threshold settings, is applied to maintain a steady output level.

Upon trying it out on a drum bus, I noticed a warm analog sound and it gave my drums a noticeable punch which I’ve read the SSL E-Channel is famous for.

The generous number of presets offer a great starting point with contributions from Grammy Award Winning audio engineers and mixing gurus such as Dave Pensado and Chris Lord-Alge.

Here’s a great video from Graham Cochrane showing how to turn your computer into a virtual SSL console by instantiating the E-Channel on every track of your mix:

CLA-2A Compressor/Limiter– The rockers compressor

Another household name for any experienced producer.

The CLA-2A is the compressor of choice for many top notch producers and for good reason.

Works great for bass, guitars, and vocals, though it’s an extremely versatile compressor / limiter. It has a slower release than some of its competitors which gives it its signature sound.

Comes with Chris Lord-Alge’s (Rolling Stones, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, etc) presets. We’d recommend having a look at his Signature Series, which contains 6 great plugins.

Brauer Motion– Auto-panner for the masses

Another recent release from Waves, Brauer Motion is an innovative circular auto-panner that moves an audio signal within the two- or three-dimensional spacebetween the listener and the loudspeaker.

It was created in close cooperation with Grammy Award winning mix engineer, Michael Brauer and combines his signature panning methods with Waves’ plugin engineering expertise.

The whole idea behind this plugin is for the end user to be creative with movement on instruments and vocals in your mixes and there are a generous amount of parameters to achieve this.

The GUI alone makes me want to tweak and see what kind of unusual movement I can get from my synths.

I haven’t gotten a chance to play around with this one yet, but I can tell there are a bunch of creative uses for Brauer Motion.

Here’s a demonstration from Michael Brauer showcasing how this great plugin works along with a few creative tips:

Kramer Master Tape– Vintage tape machine emulator

Kramer Master Tape is an emulation of a rare ¼” reel-to-reel vintage tape machine. I haven’t seen any mention of which tape machine it models, but this plugin is surprisingly flexible and can be used for a variety of tasks.

It has adjustable parameters for wow & flutter, tape speed, bias, flux and noise. You would normally add a plugin like this when you need to eliminate some of the harshness that digital signals generate, making the mix sound cleaner.

While Kramer Master Tape delay excels at that, it also can be used for delay throws, slapback delay and noise saturation.

A good alternative to the Kramer Master Tape is the h delay, which is a great hybrid solution that works great on those old school sounding tracks. Check out the h delay user guide here.

The preamp section on the bottom left of the interface has adjustable knobs for input (RECORD LEVEL) and output (PLAYBACK LEVEL).

These knobs can be linked so that turning one knob will affect the other, so you can really dial in how much signal you want coming in while taming the output level.

Try using this on virtually any channel and go through the presets. Listen to what it does to the signal and tweak to your liking. I’m pretty sure you’ll be pleased with the results.

This is one of the best plugins to achieve a clean mix, and is surprisingly easy to use.

Abbey Road Plugin Collection– The iconic beatles bundle

Lastly, if you’re undecided and looking for a complete solution of plugins, the abbey road studios plugin collection might be what you’re looking for.

It contains emulations of the studios’ REDD and TG12345 consoles, the RS56 Passive EQ, J37 Tape, Reel ADT, the King’s Microphones, and Abbey Road’s echo chambers and reverb plates.

One of the highlight of this pack is the signature signal chain, available with just a few clicks.

As the name suggests, this is a great set of plugins to emulate the classic beatles sound, recorded in Abbey Road.

It’s a bit pricier, but still a great deal when compared to the cost of buying the individual plugins.

There’s also currently a massive sale going on (over 70% off) so definitely worth checking, in our opinion.

Scheps Omni Channel

Legendary engineer Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adele, Jay Z, Metallica) partnered with Waves to produce a series of plugins, of which the channel strip is probably our favorite.

If you can afford only one plugin, we’d suggest going for this one, as it delivers most of the important elements in the mix- EQ, compression, and gating.

It is comprised of 6 modules:

1. Pre module- 3 kinds of analog saturation.
2. Compression module – Choose from 3 compressors: fast, slow and smooth. Plus A Wet/Dry control.
3. EQmodule: 4-band equalizer.
4. DS2 module.
5. Gate module: Threshold, attack and release. Plus maximum noise reduction.
6. Insert slot: Add any extra Waves plugin, including another instance of the Scheps Omni Channel.

Our tip: Use the saturation on the pre-channel to add energy to vocals and leads without adding too much noise to the sound.

Final Thoughts

The above listed plugins are a great starting point to make the most out of the waves eco system for mixing and mastering your tracks.

If you’re interested in trying out waves, head out to their website and start a free trial.

The list is in no way complete and could have also easily included their vocal rider, the j37 tape delay, and their g-master plugin, but we decided to keep this post short and sweet.

Got any more recommendations? Feel free to leave a comment, we’d love to hear them!

I was going through my Waves plugin library the other day and I was surprised because there’s really only a handful that I use most of the time. These 5 plugins I would say get used on at least 95% of my mixes.

These plugins make a difference in my mixes and just seem to work whenever I put them on a track. At this point I’m more than used to how they sound so they are hard to replace.

Some of these Waves plugins obviously get used more than others but I would say a good portion of my sound comes from these 5 (besides my ears of course).

Another interesting thing to mention is that all of the plugins, listed in this article, are fairly simple to use. Most, if not all of them, have a very limited amount of controls, which really talks to my mixing style.

I really try to keep things simple so I’m focused more on the music and less on the gear.

Before I get into the top 5 Waves plugins I use, I would mention that I don’t only use Waves Audio products in my mixes. I use plugins from other companies like Izotope, Slate and even the good old stock plugins from Avid.

Remember that Waves is just one company that offers great tools for mixing. There are plenty of other companies out there offering some great sounding plugins.

Onto the list…

The Waves RCompressor, at this point, is considered a staple compressor and is used by many audio professionals. It can be used subtly to correct certain tonal qualities or it can be used to the extreme to get something crunchy.

I would consider this my go-to compressor for a “smoothing” type of sound.

My Favorite uses for the Waves RCompressor:

• I like to use it when mixing vocals for general tone shaping/fixing
• It sounds cool on synth sounds, when you really push it, to get them to play nicer in the mix
• It can also be used in parallel with a lot of success.

*tip* The output has an L1 style limiter built in to protect it from clipping so I will actually drive the output to get a crunchier sound.

The Waves L1-Limiter, again is another staple for me. The thing I like the most about this plugin is that it really only has two controls – the threshold and the output ceiling. Of course these aren’t the only controls but they are really the two I focus on.

Another thing I like about the Waves L-1 Limiter is that it truly does sound musical. You can put this plugin on a sound and shave off peaks anywhere from 2-4 dB and you don’t notice it. I don’t hear the sound losing dynamics, it just sounds very elegant in the way it processes the peaks.

My Favorite Uses for the L-1 Limiter:

• It sounds really nice at the end of a vocal chain to keep the odd peaks in check
• I like it at the end of a parallel chain when using some whacky compression techniques that have increased the dynamics.
• I’ve also been known to use it while I’m mastering my mixes but shhh, don’t tell anyone.

I probably should have put this one first on the list because I think I tend to use this one the most when mixing. In fact, I probably use it on every mix. It just sounds so good and often times is exactly what I need to get something to play nice in a mix.

The Waves C1-sc is a form of dynamic equalization, meaning that you can focus in on a certain frequency range and target a “problem” area. It isn’t just limited to that as it has many functions and uses but that is the function I use it for.

My Favorite Uses for the C1-sc:

• Vocals, vocals, vocals – Always! I use this on basically every vocal to clean up the junk
• I also use this on vocal to extract any harshness in the midrange.

I feel like this definitely an under utilized plugin by many engineers. It might be the fact that the interface is mediocre at best, I’m not sure, but all I know is that this compressor sounds mean. I find that the RenAXX is better suited for an aggressive situation.

The beautiful thing about this plugin is that you it’s super simple to dial in. Just fiddle with the threshold and attack sliders and you should find the sweet spot pretty easily.

My Favorite Uses for the Renassaince AXX:

• This sounds greats on guitars, especially when used for mixing acoustic guitars. If the guitar is dull, it really does a nice job of shaping the transient
• I love what this thing can do to a drum group. The built in release does a nice job of holding onto the drums to make them move a lot nicer.
• In Parallel on vocals AND drums – enough said!

TIP: Don’t be afraid to let the output of the plugin clip. It does some really nice crunchy things to the sound.

Waves Ssl E

This is one of the earliest plugin DeEssers to see the light of day and for some reason it just sounds good to me. I think maybe because the sound of the plugin is a kin to the L-1 and the RComp that I feel comfortable with it. I’m not sure but if you know what you are doing, this Waves DeEsser works really well.

I tend not to use this plugin at face value like most people would. I like to use a combination of techniques to handle the Ess’s and this is sort of like a limiter for the ess’s. It’s the last line of defense in handling the sibilance.

My Favorite Uses for the DeEsser:

• Even before I throw this plugin on, I like to use the clip gain as my first option for fixing the Ess’s and it compliments the Waves DeEsser nicely.
• I just set it up like a normal DeEsser and is usually near the end of my chain. I’m usually focusing on 4kHz – 8kHz.
• Another cool trick is to set up a DeEsser and use it on hi hats. Try it out instead of an EQ next time.

Like I mentioned earlier, I like to keep things pretty simple and despite how some of my sessions look, I really am a simpleton at heart.

The Waves Audio plugins I mentioned in this article, I feel, are the core of my sound even though they aren’t the flashy “cool” sounding plugins. These audio plugins are meant to be my bread and butter in a mix session and I can always add texture or colour with other tools.

I would say they get used on most, if not all of the sessions for the mixing services I provide for my clients

I know that even these older plugins can be pretty expensive for the average person and you really don’t need them but I prefer to have them because I like the sound.

Waves Ssl Bus Compressor

All of these plugins can be found in the silver bundle package, which goes for $600, last I checked. But if you are patient and wait log enough, you can get the silver package on sale for about $150. This super sale comes up once or twice a year so be on the look out for it.

Waves Ssl 4000

I guarantee you will get a lot of mileage out of these plugins.