Waves artist series plug-ins are products that have been produced by Waves in collaboration with a number of well-known talented mixer and producers in the music industry. These plug-in are designed to enable users to quickly achieve signature vocal mixes, instrument or mix tones based on the tastes of the collaborating artists. The GUI of Waves artist series plug-ins are either very striking or simple in design and usually feature a simple set of controls with most of the audio processing being done in the background.

What I love about Waves Artist series plug-ins is that I can very quickly dial in "mix ready" results if I have the right artist plug-in loaded on a track.

In this article, I list my top 5 Waves Artist series plug-ins along with mix applications I find each plug-in most useful in.

CLA Guitars

The Waves CLA Guitars plug-in is best suited for clean, dirty and overdriven electric guitar mixing. It features all the controls I need for getting muddy sounding guitars sitting in a mix. Each of the main fader controls has a set of three unique options above that help me to shape the tone of guitars quickly without the feeling that I'm being chased down a rabbit hole. The reverb and pitch effects are particularly special in this plug-in as only a little bit of each goes a long way for getting guitars to sound perfectly placed in a mix. Re-Amplify is also a cool "get out of jail free card" for guitar tracks that have been recorded using only a DI.

Watch our free tutorial - Sitting a Guitar In a Mix Using Waves CLA Guitars.

Greg Wells PianoCentric

When I first heard examples of PianoCentric on YouTube I wasn't that impressed until I tried it on my own acoustic piano recordings - It just goes to show that trying a plug-in demo is more beneficial to making a proper judgement than watching reviews. The main piano themed dial in the middle controls the tone of the piano from lo-fi creative tones right up to bright sparkly sounds. The name PianoCentric doesn't do this plug-in much justice as I find it is also quite good at shaping other keyboard instruments such as organs and Rhodes.

Watch my 15 Minute Mix Challenge using the Greg Wells Signature Series plug-ins to hear how this performs on other keyboard instruments.

Butch Vig Vocals

The Butch Vig Vocals plug-in is a unique looking and sounding vocal channel strip that produces distinctive lead vocal tones that help me focus and define energetic melodies in busy mixes. I reach for this when my vocal tracks need some edge or driven tone. It features two types of saturation that I like to use sparingly so that a little weight can be added to vocal tracks if needed. The main lows, presence and air fixed EQ controls sound great when sweetening the tone of vocal tracks.

Watch our free tutorial - Mixing Female Rock Vocals With Butch Vig Vocal Plug-in By Waves

Manny Marroquin Delay Plug-in

The Manny Marroquin Delay plug-in is a very cool creative music tool. It features a very nice effects section that applies nice colours to the delays - reverb, distortion, doubler and phaser. The Manny Marroquin Delay is like H-Delay by Waves as it is also a straightforward plug-in that enables me to get my delay effects sitting in a mix quickly.

Watch my 15 Minute Mix Challenge using The Manny Marroquin Signature Series Plug-ins to hear this plug-in in action.

Tony Maserati DRM

The Massarti DRM plug-in is a great tool for binding all the elements of a multi-tracked drum recording together. Like other Waves artist series plug-ins, DRM does all the processing in the background. DRM features 3 extended controls between the input (sensitivity) and output controls. I use this in a very slapdash way when mixing drums. I select the drum instrument I'm working on, balance the sensitivity and adjust the snap control for getting more punch out of the drum instruments.

Watch our free tutorial - How To Use Waves Maserati DRM Drum Slammer Plug-in On Kick Drum In Pro Tools

Have Your Say

• What Waves artist series plug-ins do you use in your mixing workflows?
• Have you used any you didn't like, if so why?