For the letter Y in our ongoing series of the A to Z of Waves I have chosen not to talk about a particular set of Waves plug-ins, instead, I'm going to share my reasons behind why I love using Waves plug-ins in Pro Tools.

My Introduction To Waves Plug-ins

In 2008 the band I was in at the time booked into a very plush studio in West London to record and mix a handful of songs. The studio was running Pro Tools HD TDM and the engineer used only Waves plug-ins found in the epic Waves Mercury Bundle. My little bedroom studio in 2008 was running a very basic Pro Tools LE system with Digi 003 interface. I couldn't afford third-party plug-ins so I used only the Pro Tools free plug-ins bundled with the Digi 003.

I remember watching the engineer very closely as he mixed our music using only Waves plug-ins. I learnt quite a lot about mixing by watching him work but what the engineer did for me without me even noticing at was he opened my eyes to what appeared to be an endless pallet of mix opportunities in Pro Tools using Waves plug-ins. In short, I was instantly hooked on Waves and told myself "One day I'll own a Waves plug-in bundle."

Some Years Later

In 2012 my business was one year old and work was going well. I had developed a strong list of returning clients in a short amount of time and work was coming in thick and fast. I was getting more and more mix jobs from clients who used Waves plug-ins in their Pro Tools sessions that I had to mix from. It was this increase in mix based work that gave me that small push to invest in a Waves bundle but I remember not being too sure which Waves bundle to invest in.

Mercury has been Waves flagship "everything bundle" and the price has always reflected that. Waves Diamond and Silver bundles follow Mercury yet both had, at least at the time, very different sets of plug-ins that made it hard for me to choose either or. Luckily, the Waves Horizon Bundle, in my opinion, sat between the two as I felt it had the best selection of plug-ins that were geared towards mixing music. The cost of the Waves Horizon Bundle also proved to me to be the best bang-for-buck as well.

Why I Use Waves Plug-ins

In all honesty, there is not a single Pro Tools session in the last five years that I've worked on that does not feature at least 3 Waves plug-ins. I still feel the same about Waves plug-ins as I did in 2008 when I was first introduced to Waves - I love Waves plug-ins as I still feel that Waves plug-ins offer me an endless pallet of mix opportunities. The Horizon bundle didn't give me just a single compressor, no, it gave me a vast selection of different styles of compressor that I've learnt and use across different mix applications. I've always found Waves plug-ins to be very easy to learn. Being able to learn a plug-in quickly is really important to me as plug-ins that become established in my "go to" plug-in lists are plug-ins that don't complicate processes - they embrace and enhance processes.