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Description
Dive into the rich, sonic tapestry of the past with the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter, a meticulously engineered emulation of not one, but two iconic studio classics from the 1960s. This plugin brings the authentic warmth and punch of the legendary hardware units to your digital workstation, offering you a seamless way to infuse your tracks with vintage character.
Designed in collaboration with renowned mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge, the CLA-76 captures the essence of both the "blue" and "black" revision units, renowned for their distinctive tonal qualities and revered in studios worldwide. Whether you're looking to add subtle dynamic control or push your tracks with aggressive compression, this plugin has you covered. Its intuitive interface is ideal for both beginners and seasoned professionals, offering a user-friendly experience without compromising on the depth of sound.
Key Features:
- Faithful emulation of two legendary 1960s studio compressors
- Includes both the "blue" and "black" revision models
- Developed in collaboration with Chris Lord-Alge
- Ideal for a wide range of musical genres and applications
- Intuitive interface for easy and effective use
- Compatible with major DAWs and operating systems
Product specs
| Available since | October 2016 |
| Los artikel / bundelartikel | Los artikel |
| Delay | No |
| Dynamics | Yes |
| Effect Filter | No |
| Encoder/Decoder | No |
| Equalizer | No |
| Guitar amps/-effects | No |
| Channel Strip | No |
| Metering / Analysis / Correction | No |
| Modulation Effects | No |
| Multieffect / Plugin-Host | No |
| Overdrive/Distortion | No |
| Preamp / Saturation | No |
| Psychoacoustic tool / Enhancer / Exciter | No |
| Restauration | No |
| Reverb | No |
| Special FX | No |
| Summer / Mixing Consoles | No |
| Tape Simulation | No |
| Pitch Shifter / Harmonizer / Timestretching | No |
| Transient Processing | No |
| Vocoder / Vocal effect | No |
| Mastering Tools | No |
| Hardware Controller | No |
| Download | 1 |
FAQs
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What is the difference between the blue and black versions of the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter?
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The blue version, often referred to as "Bluey," has a more aggressive sound with slightly faster release times compared to the "Blacky" version. Both versions offer distinct tonal characteristics, making them suitable for different mixing needs.
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Is the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter suitable for vocal processing?
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Yes, the Waves CLA-76 is highly regarded for its ability to add character and presence to vocal tracks, making it a popular choice among producers for vocal processing.
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Does the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter plugin work with all major DAWs?
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The Waves CLA-76 is compatible with all major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, and Cubase, as long as they support VST, AU, or AAX plugin formats.
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What are the main features of the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter?
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The Waves CLA-76 features fast attack and release times, offering a classic analog sound. It includes both "Bluey" and "Blacky" models, providing versatility in compression styles.
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How does the Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter handle dynamics?
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The CLA-76 is designed to manage dynamics effectively, offering precise control over gain reduction while adding a distinctive analog warmth to the audio signal.
Videos
White Sea Studio
Waves CLA-76 (Comparison with ANALOG!)
Reviews
PROS
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Excels on vocals, guitars, and drums
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Offers a unique tone distinct from stock DAW compressors
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Particularly effective in rock and metal production
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Useful for achieving a warm 90's R&B vocal sound
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Highly regarded for its aggressive compression style
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Versatile across various music applications
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Great substitute when real 1176 hardware is unavailable
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Known for adding punch to tracks, especially in parallel compression
CONS
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Does not perfectly emulate the natural compression of hardware 1176
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Takes time to learn and fine-tune settings
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter.
Comparisons
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Klanghelm's DC8C is praised for offering a versatile 1176-style compression with a "weight" that some find lacking in Waves' CLA-76.
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IK Multimedia's emulations are preferred by some for sounding closer to analogue counterparts compared to Waves' offerings.
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The CLA-76 is considered more versatile than the CLA-2A due to its greater control and parameter options, making it suitable for a wider range of applications.
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Features and functionality
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The CLA-76's ALL mode is noted for effectively "destroying" drums, providing a unique sound when blended with a clean signal.
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Serial use of CLA-76 followed by CLA-2A can effectively catch peaks and provide smoother leveling for vocal tracks.
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The CLA-76 is noted for its very fast attack times, ranging from 50 milliseconds to 1.1 seconds, suitable for catching fast transients.
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It's noted for being a versatile compressor, likened to a "hot sauce" for audio tracks, indicating its widespread application across different instruments.
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Use cases and applications
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The Bluey version of the CLA-76 is favored for vocals, attributed to its distinct mid bite that enhances vocal presence.
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CLA-76 is used lightly on snare buses to add "beef" to the snare's crack, with adjustable attack and release times enhancing the hit and ring-out.
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The CLA-76 is favored for making transients pop in hip hop/trap vocals, ideal for aggressive and up-front vocal mixes.
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CLA-76 is often used as the primary compressor for lead vocals, with CLA-2A used for parallel compression or background vocal smoothing.
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Owners highlight its effectiveness on electric guitar tracks, offering a more saturated tone ideal for aggressive, expressive compression.
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The CLA-76 is rarely used as a bus compressor, but some find it useful for compressing multiple snare tracks simultaneously.
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User experience
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Some users prefer CLA-76 for its low-latency operation in digital audio workstations like Logic, especially when multiple instances are needed in a session.
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Critic Reviews
5.0 out of 5
Based on 4 Reviews and 33 Ratings
129
Close to the Real Unit But Still Unique
As an owner of a real 1176LN I can attest to how close these waves plugins get to the real thing. It is really a great substitute when I'm already using the 1176. However this plugin has it's own sound as well. Which is part of the reason why I really like it.
161
drums
This thing sounds so damn good on drums. Put it on a parallel bus and slam the piss out of it. Thank me later
Artist usage
Add artist
You can see the waves CLA – 76 at the 10 minute 19 seconds into the video on the left-hand side.
He is using it in his vocal track inthis video https://www.facebook.com/charlieputh/videos/10155345387884433/?t=3 of making of attention.
Used for J. Cole's feature on 21 Savage's "A Lot", as mentioned by producer Maddmix in this March 2019 Sound on Sound article.
"The session was originally a 21 Savage track, and they later decided to add J Cole. His engineer sent me J Cole's vocal session with reverbs and delays already set, so I pretty much imported his vocal auxes, and just matched that to the mix that I had already going. However, the inserts are all mine, and similar to what I used on 21. There also are four Pro-Q2s here, plus two instances of the C6 multiband, and the Clariphonic EQ. The 'Slap' is a send to one of my aux effect tracks, just with a 30-millisecond EchoBoy delay, to widen the vocals a bit. I stripped all the other sends down, to match J Cole's vocals with a track that was more on the dry side, and actually disabled all the sends apart from the 'Slap' on the J Cole aux group track, 'Leads'. Finally, both '21 Leads' and 'Leads' go to the 'Lead All' [40] and parallel 'MadVoxComp' [41] tracks, and the latter has the Waves CLA-76 and L1, both for more presence and volume."
In this video at 1:50 the protools analysis of her unreleased song "Fantasize" shows the use of this plugin
Used on "Apeshit", as stated by producer Stuart White in this September 2018 Sound on Sound interview.
The first four aux tracks feature SoundToys effects, namely Little Microshift, two EchoBoy delays, and a delay from the Little PrimalTap. Next are a Hall Reverb aux and a Church Reverb aux, both using Waves’ RVerb, an EMT plate from Audio Ease’s Altiverb, four aux tracks with the Waves H-Delay and various other plug-ins on them as well, and four more reverb auxes with the Avid Revibe II, two Avid D-Verbs and another RVerb.
White: “I use the Little Microshift in pretty much every mix, with the left-right micro pitch-shift effect that’s similar to the classic effect in the Eventide H3000 shift where you pitch one side down six cents and one side up six cents to create width. It’s a good way to get your vocals wider without them being out of phase. It thickens up vocals, and is kind of like a doubler. I do quite a lot of filtering on some of the EchoBoy delays, for example with the Waves REQ, and I am adding colour with the SoundToys Devil-Loc, which is great if you want to colour the delay so it is separate from the main vocal, and compress it with the UAD LA3A and mix that in to taste.”
(...) Beyoncé’s lead vocal tracks consist of three aux tracks, four ‘dirty’ and eight ‘clean’ audio tracks. The audio tracks only have the EQ3 on the inserts and a few of them have a send to the Church Reverb. All White’s processing is done on the three aux tracks. “All lead vocals are sent to the ‘B Aux’ track and the ‘B Parra Aux’ tracks. On the former I have the McDSP DS [sic] 555 de-esser. I use the Waves de-esser the most, but in this particular track, because I wanted to compress her voice really hard, I felt that the 555 would work the best. I am rolling off until 6144Hz into what it is detecting; it’s like a side-chain filter. The FabFilter Pro-DS is doing a little more gentle look-ahead de-essing.
“After that there’s some pretty heavy EQ from the EQ3, with a high-pass at 142Hz, a 9dB cut at 244Hz and a 2dB cut at 3kHz. My cut at 244Hz is because she is singing in this husky, low voice, so there’s not a lot of energy in that. I get the energy from the RComp compression, and the EQs, including from the SSL E-Channel, are there to make her sit in the track, rather than making it sound filtered. I love the RComp, mainly because it doesn’t sound like compression to me. The SSL E-Channel adds a bit more compression, and the [Crane Song] Phoenix II Tape Emulation is really cool because while it doesn’t actually sound like tape, it smoothes out transients in a signal just like much analogue equipment does. It enables me to get a fatter vocal sound that again makes the vocal sit in the mix. The final EQ3 has a notch at 3.2kHz to take out some harshness. I also have sends to the Verb aux track, which are the D-Verb and [Waves] H-Reverb, and the Delay 1-4 aux, with the EchoBoy.
The other aux track, ‘B Parra Aux’, is a parallel compression track, with the RCompressor and the CLA 76, which I mixed in low. Both these aux tracks then go to the ‘LD ALL Aux’, on which I’m doing some more surgery with the McDSP AE400 [dynamic EQ], which allows you to set a threshold, just like on a compressor. It’s like turning a volume knob down on a frequency the moment it gets out of control. Finally, there’s the Waves C4, for some control, to keep the vocal even. This track has a lot of energy, so this is an example of using compression for energy, mood and attitude. I also worked a long time to get the compression on Bey’s breaths to pump on the beat. I wanted her breaths to be another percussive element in the track, and getting the attack and release on the compressor right was key to getting that feel and pumping effect.”
Five of the 22 Beyoncé ad lib, backing and harmony vocals below her lead vocals also go to the above-mentioned aux tracks, while the rest have their own signal chains. These audio tracks are sent to several aux tracks, often with tons of plug-ins, and all aux vocal tracks in the end get sent to the ‘Voc All’ group aux right at the top of the session, which has an RCompressor, with ratio at 10:1. There are more group aux tracks, like ‘TrackAux’, ‘FX Voc Aux’, ‘FX’ and ‘Music Aux’, which all get sent to the ‘All Aux’. This in turn gets sent to the ‘no limiter’ mix print track, and finally there’s a Stereo Master track.
In an Instagram post by Chocolate Puma, the Waves CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter is visible in the left channel, highlighting its use in their production process.
"I am always using the Waves CLA-76 compressor, and the C4 compressor; and I am a huge fan of the Renaissance AXX, especially on guitars – it’s great on electrics, but it’s absolutely phenomenal on acoustics; it’s a really nice, idiot-proof compressor – so straightforward to use. Also, something I call up all the time, especially when Shirley is doing her vocal in the studio, is the Waves RVOX. It works so good. For a fast compressor, you literally just put it on, and pull the threshold down, so it’s kicking down 4 or 5dB, and the peaks are 6dB, and it helps it sit right in the track. Again, it’s just really, really musical, as is all of the Waves kit."
In this article Hellberg says: "This is my go-to compressor. Waves always makes quality products, and this one is no different. The CLA-76 sounds amazing and comes with a lot of presets that are usually pretty much perfect from the get-go, which makes the plugin very quick and easy to use and helps me focus on the actual song - which is what I personally am the most interested in - instead of zoning in on the attack or the ratio settings of the compressor. I love to use the CLA-76 on vocals especially.”
Album Usage
The Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter has been featured on the following albums:
BREAK MY SOUL
Beyoncé (2022)
Ex Machina
Metrik (2020)
KIRK
DaBaby (2019)
Old Town Road (Remix)
Billy Ray Cyrus & Lil Nas X & Mason Ramsey (2019)
Gravity
Metrik (2019)
Be Honest (feat. Burna Boy)
Jorja Smith (2019)
Be Honest (feat. Burna Boy) [Acoustic]
Jorja Smith (2019)
How Does It Feel
M-22 (2018)
Bodak Yellow (feat. Messiah) [Latin Trap Remix]
Cardi B (2017)
Bodak Yellow (feat. Kodak Black)
Cardi B & Kodak Black (2017)
Half-Light
Rostam Batmanglij (2017)
Alone
Alan Walker (2016)
Turn It Back
Deepend (2014)
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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