Waves Audio CLA MixHub User Guide

CLA MixHub

User Guide

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Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3

Components ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Views ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Channel View .................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Bucket View ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Quick Start ......................................................................................................................... 7

Interface ............................................................................................................................ 9

Channel View Layout .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Bucket View Layout .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Using Channel View .............................................................................................................................................. 11

Using Buckets View .............................................................................................................................................. 12

The Buckets Panel ........................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Track Menu ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

The WaveSystem Toolbar: Manage Plugin Presets ........................................................................................................................ 15

Controls ........................................................................................................................... 17

Processing Modules ............................................................................................................................................. 17

Top Section (Common to Input, EQ, and Dynamics Modules) ........................................................................................................ 17

Input Module .................................................................................................................................................................................. 20

EQ Module ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Dynamics Module ........................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Using the Side Chain ....................................................................................................................................................................... 24

Module Level Indicators ....................................................................................................................................... 25

Channel View Output Section .............................................................................................................................. 26

CLA MixHub / User Guide

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Introduction

CLA MixHub from Waves is an innovative mixing tool that helps you to better visualize, understand, control, and mix

your tracks. It’s the first plugin that lets you arrange your tracks side by side in one window and work with them together.

This workflow comes naturally on analog mixing consoles, since channel strip modules are usually mounted in the

console frame in sections of eight or more channels. These groups of adjacent channel strips came to be known as

“buckets,” and organizing tracks by buckets was a natural way to control tracks that should be mixed at the same time.

This is what MixHub provides. One plugin can control eight buckets of eight tracks—up to 64 DAW tracks—so you can

see, compare, and mix many tracks from one plugin instance. This lets you interact with your tracks in the same way you

do on a mixing console.

MixHub was developed in close collaboration with multiple Grammy® winner Chris Lord-Alge, who has mixed a steady

flow of rock masterpieces. To make his mixes more productive and focused, Chris developed a workflow that groups

together the tracks he needs to concentrate on simultaneously, so he can mix them in context. In other words, he mixes

with buckets. This helps him understand and control how his mix elements work together.

Organization alone does not make for a good mix. You need great tools to make a great mix. With that in mind, Waves

precisely modeled Chris’s mixing console to provide a plugin that helps you find his signature sound and use it as part of

your own. When Chris began working with Waves to bring his mixing technique to a plugin, he decided to add a few

more features to his tried-and-true console:

• The Gate/Expander section was improved to have a continuous attack time and a hold control, as well as a ducker

mode for full control over the envelope of the gate/expander process.

• There are two compressor types: Desk and Bluey. These modes have different dynamic behaviors and distinct

sonic signatures. These processing modes make up much of the character of CLA MixHub’s dynamics

processing.

• There is a dedicated sideband EQ section that does not hijack channel EQ.

CLA MixHub / User Guide

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You can use the MixHub processors in buckets or as a channel strip with all of one track’s processors in one view. When

you adjust a MixHub track, you’re actually controlling a high-quality channel strip plugin. You can think of a bucket as a

virtual controller of the eight separate plugins. All processing takes place on the individual plugin inserts, not in the

buckets themselves. Every move you make in MixHub can be automated on the plugin and saved with the session.

Any track with the CLA MixHub plugin is available for assignment to a bucket and is displayed in the Bucket

Assignment menu. Once tracks are assigned, the Input, EQ, Dynamics, and Output sections of all members of the

bucket are shown together and organized by processor type.

Components

• CLA MixHub mono

• CLA MixHub Stereo

Mono and stereo instances can be assigned within the same bucket.

Views

There are three views:

• Channel View shows all sections of a selected CLA MixHub track insert.

• Bucket View shows the Input, Dynamics, EQ, and Output sections of all the tracks that make up a bucket.

• Expanded View is a focused view of a processor. On stereo tracks, the Expanded Mode shows L/R (or M/S)

on separate panels. With dynamics processors, side chain EQ processing and dynamics are on separate
panels.

CLA MixHub / User Guide

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Input
Dynamics

EQ
Output (Buckets) Output (Channel)

Insert Slot

The Channel View (above)—Shows
all of the processors in a typical analog
console channel strip.

The Bucket View (far right) shows
four layers of processors, with up to
eight tracks per bucket.

Channel View

The Channel View displays one channel strip from Chris Lord-Alge’s analog mixing console. Signal flow in the

console is from left to right. Drag an EQ, dynamics, or insert module to change its place in the signal flow. Input and

Output modules cannot be repositioned.

CLA MixHub / User Guide

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Bucket View

In this example, eight tracks in the host DAW are assigned to one CLA MixHub bucket. Note the corresponding track

names. With supported hosts, track names will automatically copy to the MixHub assignment menu. If not, rename

the tracks from within MixHub. To the right is the Track Assign list used to add tracks to the bucket. Track

assignment does not need to be sequential. Tracks in a bucket can be mono or stereo and these can be mixed

together in one bucket.

Click on a bucket tab to move between buckets. Double-click on a bucket name box to rename the bucket.

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Quick Start

This quick start shows you the basics of setting up mixing buckets with CLA MixHub. The MixHub interface is a

controller. It’s not processing sound, but rather it’s controlling the parameters of the plugins that are assigned to

each bucket.

1. Prepare your DAW session. We recommend that you use track names that contain six characters or less.
MixHub must abbreviate longer track names, so start out with something short that makes sense to you. If this
is not possible, you can rename the tracks from within the plugin.

2. Insert a CLA MixHub plugin on every DAW track that you will assign to buckets. You can mix mono and stereo
tracks. MixHub can control up to 64 host tracks. You can also insert MixHub on other DAW tracks, just to use
its channel strip. If this is first time you’ve opened this instance, MixHub will open with the Channel View of
that track—you will see that track’s complete channel strip. The name of the current track is shown in the
Input module; the processing modules are identified at the top. Signal flow of the Channel View is from left to
right. Drag an EQ, dynamics, or insert module to change its position in the signal flow. Feel free to use the
Channel View as you would any channel strip.

3. Adjust the input level. Use the Analog and Noise controls to add THD to the signal. These are important
elements of the console’s character, so we advise that you use them unless you are seeking a very clean
sound.

4. Experiment with the two compressor types (Desk and Bluey) and the Gate/Expander/Ducker types.

5. Click Bucket View and select one of the Modes (i.e., Input, EQ, Dynamics, Output). If this is a new session,
all buckets will be empty.

6. Name each bucket by double-clicking on a bucket name. This helps you organize your tracks.

7. Click the Assign button to open a list of all the tracks in the session that you can assign to buckets.

8. Assign the tracks to the open bucket. If you’re just getting started, this will be Bucket 1. Assigned tracks are
color-coded to match their bucket’s color.

9. Repeat this for as many buckets as you need. Click again on the Assign button to exit the Assign Mode.

10. Choose a processing mode using the four Bucket View buttons. This displays the same processing mode for
all tracks in the selected bucket. Use the Bucket Select buttons to move between buckets.

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11. If you like, click the Channel View button to adjust the entire processing chain for one channel. To make sure
that you’re controlling the correct channel, note the Track Name box in the Input Section.

12. To see a module’s Expanded View, click the small expand icon at the top of any processor. This is a focused

view of the track’s processing. Stereo tracks are shown L/R (or M/S) and side chain processing is revealed in

the Dynamics mode.

CLA MixHub / User Guide

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Stereo Mode Select—Sets

input format: L/R, Duo, M/S.

Input—Controls input level and

filters.

EQ—Four-band EQ section

Dynamics—Compressor,

gate/expander/ducker, and SC

EQ

Plugin Insert—Insert an

additional Waves Plugin.

Output—Select meters: in, out,

or gain reduction; control pan

and stereo width; output matrix.

Control Panel—Move between

Bucket and Channel views,

select bucket, and add current

track to a bucket.

Interface

Channel View Layout

(Stereo component shown)

CLA MixHub / User Guide