CLA MixDown - 2 bus comp flavors?

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

As with any plugin, "worth it" is a relative concept. To my ears, it does indeed sound nice, and seems to add a certain analog warmth to a track or mix. I love the bucket concept and being able to literally tweak and mix up to 8 tracks at once on the fly.

Download the demo and try it.

Still a different Plugin

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by Becharax

So is the plugin Worth it ? Sonically ?

It’s approx $42 at AudioDeluxe which ain’t much but as Donald said, try the demo first so you know what it sounds like. I would not spend that money on a waves plugin from CLA but thats me and everyone has different tastes.

[StillHollow]

CLA Mixdown is well worth the$29 it regularly goes on sale for. Granted you have less control over the compressor parameters but it gets you compression and eq nicely wrapped in a quick and easy interface.

If just getting your feet wet in regards to top down mixing this isas great place to start before graduating to something more in depth.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by amagras

It's on my wish list. I have a master chain that I'm happy with but for the price it's worth having a second option, especially for pop rock songs. I get pretty good results with the CLA Signature Series so why not? Talking about that, why is this plugin not included in the Signature Series, I don't know.

@DonaldM you are still talking about the other plugin

I realized that too late. I got confused which thread I was reading. I had only had 1 cup of coffee at the time. Not fully awake and functional yet!

[Becharax]

Thanks a lot Guys for all the feedback !! Pretty Helpful ... lately i've been reading a lot of hate for Waves

[Stephen Bond]

Well worth trying Maserati GRP before you plump for the CLA.

I have a good assortment of these mix buss plugins but rarely use the CLA MixDown. However, I use Maserati GRP a lot and really like it.

Stephen

[StillHollow]

Originally Posted by Stephen Bond

Well worth trying Maserati GRP before you plump for the CLA.



I have a good assortment of these mix buss plugins but rarely use the CLA MixDown. However, I use Maserati GRP a lot and really like it.



Stephen

That actually looks like a nice little plugin Stephen, thanks for putting it on our radar.

I would be curious to see what kind of compression is under the hood in the GRP. If Tony used an 1176 or LA2A emulation then for the 2 Bus I still would not discount CLA Mix if he wants the included SSL and Red 3 bus comp flavors. Maybe he could use both and be all set for a while, GRP for group buses and CLA Mix for 2 Bus.

[Stephen Bond]

Originally Posted by StillHollow

That actually looks like a nice little plugin Stephen, thanks for putting it on our radar.

I would be curious to see what kind of compression is under the hood in the GRP. If Tony used an 1176 or LA2A emulation then for the 2 Bus I still would not discount CLA Mix if he wants the included SSL and Red 3 bus comp flavors. Maybe he could use both and be all set for a while, GRP for group buses and CLA Mix for 2 Bus.

No problems. I'd be curious to know what is going on under the hood of the GRP too! Either way, there certainly seems to be a limiter at the end, probably one of the Waves products but it sounds much better than just slapping a limiter on the mix in my opinion. Probably some saturation/compression ,maybe multi band compression else EQ into limiting.

If you try it then here's my go to starting settings.



The original default has applied EQ which I rarely use. Not saying it isn't nice but I prefer it flat most of the time rather than hyped or to EQ upstream if required.

Check your input is below full scale by greying the plugin out (not bypassing) to start with.

Pretty much the main parameter I adjust is the "compress" knob. Depending on how loaded the plugin slots before are I usually end up about 50-70% but sometimes more or less. You can get pretty loud with this plugin if you need but generally sounds musical and pleasing to my ears.

Run the output knob at -0.3dB or the main out will go over -0.1 dB FS.

I've tried the CLA plugin a good number of times but I find the GRP always preferable. Same with the GW Mix plugin. The GW is good but hypes the boom and tizz too much. If only I could turn off all those lows and highs I would use it more. It is always overdoing it with the EQ at the higher settings on the process knob so I avoid it now.

Scheps Parallel Particles is worth a try on the mix buss. It certainly has more control. But these days I pretty much use Black Box, GRP and sometimes a bit of both in conjunction with a few others upstream like SSL comp, Kramer Tape, Massey TapeHead and occasionally LinMB or some others options.

I was glad to see Greg Wells using a similar ton of processing on his mix buss on The Greatest Showman project last year so I felt vindicated

Hope that helps.

Stephen

[StillHollow]

Excellent info Stephen! I didn’t think to research what Bus comp Maserati prefers and maybe that would share some clarity as to what is under the hood.

[amagras]

GRP is one of my favourite Signature plugs, this was the first time I used it and it hasn't leave my sessions ever since
https://youtu.be/EFQygcKl5Lc