WAVES CLA Vocals Plugin User Guide

: June 7, 2024
: WAVES

Table of Contents

Introduction
Quickstart Guide
Interface and Controls
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

WAVES CLA Vocals Plugin User Guide

Introduction

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.

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 6 plug-ins, each designed to handle a specific mixing task.

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

Concepts and Terminology

Sensitivity Control/Sensitivity LED

The 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.

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.

A Few Words from Chris

“The most important part of any song is the vocals. The CLA Vocals plug-in makes this part of mixing an absolute joy. I have taken the very best settings which I use in my everyday mixes and crafted them into this chain. It works great on all styles of singers and, best of all, they will want that sound every time! You also get three flavors of the top six effects you need: the right amount of bass, treble, compression, reverb, delay, and chorusing/doubling.”

Components

Wave Shell 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 Vocals has two components:

CLA Vocals Mono-to-Stereo – Mono in to Stereo out component
CLA Vocals Stereo – Stereo in to Stereo out component

Quickstart Guide

Insert the CLA Vocals plug-in on a vocal track.
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.
Adjust Reverb, Delay and Pitch 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.

Interface and Controls

Interface

Controls

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)

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 dynamic range.
Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)
Default: 0

Compress Color toggles between 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 (Tight), Blue (Large), Red (Chamber)
Default: Green (Tight)

Delay controls the delay wet mix.
Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)
Default: 0

Delay Color toggles between delay times and characters. Please note: Delay time
syncs to the session BPM.
Range: Clear (Mute), Green (Slap – 1/16 note), Blue (Eight – 1/8 note), Red
(Quarter – 1/4 note)
Default: Green (Slap)

Pitch controls the pitch modulation wet mix.
Range: +/- 10 (in 0.1 steps)
Default: 0

Pitch Color toggles between pitch modulation types.
Range: Clear (Mute), Green (Stereo), Blue (Wide), Red (Spreader)
Default: Green (Stereo)

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.

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.