Waves CLA Nx

Waves CLA Nx - Studio Monitor Simulation Plugin | Recreate Grammy-Winning Mix Engineer Chris Lord-Alge's Mix LA Studio in Your Headphones

Mixing on headphones has often been considered a compromise compared to working in an acoustically treated room with world-class monitors. However, Waves CLA Nx completely changes the traditional headphone mixing experience. This groundbreaking plugin, powered by Waves' exclusive Waves Nx spatial audio technology, precisely recreates the acoustic environment of Grammy-winning mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge's (CLA) legendary Mix LA studio. Now, without having to be in Los Angeles, you can experience the three-dimensional soundstage of a top-tier studio on any pair of headphones, making your mixing decisions more accurate and reliable.

CLA Nx is more than just a spatial simulation; it's a complete mixing reference system. The plugin includes EQ correction curves for over 270 popular professional studio headphones, effectively correcting your headphones' frequency response deviations to provide an objective, standardized monitoring reference. No matter where you are, you can use this powerful studio simulation tool to check how your mix performs on different monitoring systems, ensuring your work achieves excellent mix translation on any playback system and saying goodbye to mixing issues caused by headphone monitoring limitations.

Core Advantages & Use Cases

Create Mixes That Translate Perfectly on Any System
While convenient, headphones can easily lead mix engineers to make errors in judging spatial depth, stereo width, and low-end, such as adding too much reverb, making extreme panning settings, or misjudging the amount of bass. CLA Nx provides a professionally calibrated virtual mixing environment, placing you in the "sweet spot" of the Mix LA studio to make more balanced and accurate mixing decisions, ensuring your work sounds just as great when played back on speakers.

Switch Between Three Custom Monitor Speaker Systems
CLA Nx faithfully models three iconic monitor systems from Chris Lord-Alge's studio. You can make fine adjustments on CLA's custom NS10 near-field speakers, switch to his custom Ocean Way HR1 main monitors to experience a massive soundstage and full-range dynamics, or check your mix on his Sony Boombox for a "real-world" playback simulation. Switch with a single click to meet all your monitoring needs.

EQ Correction Curves for Over 270 Headphone Models
To provide the most accurate simulation experience, CLA Nx uses the state-of-the-art Harman Headphone Target Curve method to provide dedicated EQ correction data for over 270 professional studio headphone models on the market. Covering dozens of renowned brands like Sony, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, AKG, Audio-Technica, Audeze, and Focal, it effectively eliminates the headphone's own coloration to restore the most authentic studio sound.

Establish a Standardized Collaborative Mixing Environment
The breakthrough of Nx technology means you now have a standardized, ideal studio sound for team collaboration. When you're working remotely with other musicians or producers on a project, CLA Nx ensures that every member is listening and working in the same acoustic environment, eliminating communication barriers caused by different monitoring setups and making the collaborative workflow smoother and more efficient.

Tech Specs

• Core Technology: Waves Nx® Spatial Audio Imaging Technology
• Modeled Environment: Chris Lord-Alge's Mix LA studio
• Modeled Monitor Systems:
  • CLA's custom NS10 near-field monitors
  • Ocean Way HR1 main monitors
  • Sony Boombox
• Headphone Correction: Built-in EQ correction curves for over 270 professional studio headphone models (based on the Harman Headphone Target Curve)
• Head Tracking Support: Supports computer camera or Waves Nx Head Tracker (sold separately)
• Personalization: Supports head/ear anatomy data input to optimize the 3D audio effect
• Plugin Formats: VST, VST3, Audio Units (AU), AAX Native
• Operating System Support: macOS and Windows (please refer to the official Waves website for the latest system compatibility information)