I am, at this point, a heavy Waves user. I had an SC48 with me on my very first tour, where I used Waves plugins quite a lot. I’m currently on tour with an Avid S6L where I am using Waves plugins even more. In between I’ve used them with a solid handful of DiGiCo desks (one such setup can be found elsewhere on this blog) and even with the relatively new setup on an M32 (another setup video I go into here). Come to think of it, I’ve had Waves plugins on almost every tour I’ve done. The fact that I have been able to have studio quality plugins in so many live sound situations is just a major kudos to Waves in how accessible they’ve made their products in the live market. Weather or not Waves are the best plugins, the best sounding, the most whatever metric you’d like to pick; they are at present, the most widely adopted and most popular third-party-plugin provider in the live world by a sizable margin.

So this list is more like a top 5 Waves desert island plugins. If I had to run a show with only 5 different plugins, what would I go for and/or what are the first ones I load up.

1.      C6 Multiband Compressor

No real surprise here. The C6 is a master swiss army knife. You can use it on so many sources to correct so many problems that EQ just doesn’t quite nail. I have used C6 on almost every source imaginable; bass, acoustic and electric guitars, any number of computer-sourced tracks, and of course vocals. For guitars I think it’s great when a guitarist might have clean and distorted patches and maybe one patch just gets too harsh and one too tubby and s/he may switch back and forth a lot. I don’t want to take away from the low end in a big driving rhythm tone, but I don’t want to take away from the clarity of a clean tone. The C6 will allow me to only compress those frequencies when they’re too much. And for vocals, a big fat band at the bottom for plosives and other handling noise, and a narrow but deep cut available for sibilance that at this point serves as my de-esser in the same plugin. And for tracks, because some dude making a trap-hop beat in a bedroom studio has no idea what it’s going to do at 103dB thru PA du jour in god-only-knows what venue.

-Full disclaimer, F6 may be the way of the future and I really do love the RTA feature, but I can really move quickly on a C6 in a way that I’m really not sure is possible on the F6. Maybe someday.

2.      SSL E-Channel Strip

Again, mega swiss army knife. I think the filters sound great- both hi and lo pass. The compressor can be really cool, and the gate is very smooth. The EQ is the centerpiece.

I was once on a tour that was really not going well. For whatever reason the production manager just had it out for me. Any tiny adjustment the artist wanted during soundcheck-he made out to be a serious failing of my abilities as an [monitor] engineer. One night, just to see what was going on, he took an-in ear pack to listen in on the artist’s mix. He was silent the whole night, and at the end of the show all he said to me was “bro, your snare sounds amazing.” Pretty much the only thing I had a Waves plugin on, and it was the SSL channel.  That is all to say, even your harshest critics may have to come clean when something sounds good.

3.      H-Delay

Studio and live, I will always be running H-delay. It just has so much character! Play with the low-pass filter to give a nice warm separation between your dry vocal and the repeat. I almost always hook up some kind of tap tempo device, put it on a half-note and ride the delay return to add tons of depth to vocals, especially in ballad-y slow songs that have some extra space.

4.      Renaissance Verb (Rverb)

Just a super solid, low-DSP usage reverb. The plates are awesome; check out the warm large plate, add a little pre-delay and it’s a big fat snare drum delight.

5.      CLA-76

I’m definitely a fan of the 1176 compressor. I tend to start with this one in the “blacky” mode as I like them fast and aggressive that can really show the teeth of a source if you want. But I’ve also found the “bluey” mode really pleasing and harmonically rich. I like bass guitars to be rock solid and full of harmonics and the CLA-76 can really do that. And if you just really need a snare drum to sound like cannon, look no further.

So there are my top 5 waves plugins. I’ve put a link here to check out all the Waves plugin options - using my code will save you 10% on a purchase of $50 or more, and you’d be helping me out in the process!

So what about you? What are you liking? What’s in your top 5? What can you not live without? Let me know in the comments!