Waves CLA MixDown

Waves CLA MixDown - Plugin | The Ultimate Mix Bus Magic from Grammy® Winner Chris Lord-Alge

Before mastering, the Mix Bus is the final stop for your musical creation. Experienced engineers often make subtle adjustments at this stage, such as adding a low-frequency shelving EQ to enhance thickness, using a high-frequency EQ to add air and shine, applying a "glue" compressor to bring all tracks together, and imparting warm analog color through console emulation. Now, this entire complex process is condensed into Waves CLA MixDown—the ultimate mix bus plugin that integrates, optimizes, and expands upon all these processors.

CLA MixDown was designed by the legendary, multi-Grammy®-winning mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge (CLA), whose work spans countless top artists from Foo Fighters and Bruce Springsteen to The Rolling Stones and Green Day. This plugin is more than just an effect; it represents decades of valuable experience and unique taste that CLA has accumulated on the front lines of mixing. It integrates CLA's two favorite mix bus processing chains, allowing you to apply the final, crucial polish to your mix before mastering. With simple controls, you can achieve a sound that is punchy, cohesive, and professional, while its built-in console emulation injects an analog soul into your digital audio.

Core Advantages & Use Cases

The Master's Touch
CLA MixDown perfectly encapsulates the power and detail of Chris Lord-Alge's favorite mix bus processors. This plugin is more than a stack of effects; it represents the deep experience and unique sonic aesthetic CLA has developed over decades of mixing for music superstars.

Choose Your Mix Glue
A "glue" compressor binds all your tracks together, creating a unified and cohesive listening experience. With the MixDown's Glue fader, you can choose the compression style that best suits your music: Style 1 delivers a modern and punchy sound, while Style 2 is vintage and controlled, with longer time constants, perfect for solidly gluing the entire mix together.

Precise EQ Coloration
Effective equalization requires applying the right amount at the right frequency with the right slope. The Bass control provides an idealized shelving EQ, adjustable from 'big' to 'booming,' while the Treble control creates a perfect bell curve to add the necessary sparkle and clarity to your mix.

Drive Your Mix Bus to the Max
The Drive controller simulates the drive circuit of a classic SSL console mix bus. Keep the Drive low for a natural sound, push it slightly for a touch of pleasant harmonic distortion, or crank it to the max to inject intense character and grit into your mix.

A Model of Simplicity
While co-developing MixDown with Waves, Chris Lord-Alge emphasized the importance of speed in the creative process. Despite the extremely complex modeling technology 'under the hood,' its transparent and intuitive interface allows you to get your desired results very quickly, without getting bogged down in tedious parameter tweaking.

Features & Core Processors

Tech Specs

• Supported Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz
• Channel Components: Mono, Stereo
• Plugin Formats: VST, VST3, Audio Units (AU), AAX Native, AudioSuite
• Activation: Online via the Waves Central application, or offline to a USB flash drive
• macOS System Requirements: macOS Catalina 10.15, Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13, Sonoma 14 (Supports Intel & Apple Silicon)
• Windows System Requirements: Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 11
• CPU: Intel Core i5 / AMD Quad-Core / Apple M1 or higher
• RAM: 8 GB RAM or more recommended
• Disk Space: 16 GB free installation space
• Screen Resolution: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 or higher recommended