Waves Native Power Pack

What issues specifically are you having? Perhaps some folks here can help out wiht some condensed tutorials.

If you want to use the IR-L, you should order the two CDs of IR files that you get access to a Waves customer. They only cost you $10 and they have some really nice IR files on there. Once you install them, you'll have plenty of good reverbs to play with.

On the TrueVerb, there are three buttons on the right side there. One turns on or off the direct signal, one the reverb tail , and one the early reflections. Just turn off the direct signal and that only leaves the reverba nd reflections.

But definitely IR-L is HUGELY superior to TrueVerb, though TrueVerb is good for that type of verb. So definitely get those IR files.

But IR-L on a bus and just use a Send on the tracks that you want to have reverb. IR-L defaults to a completey wet signal, so it's setup correctly upon insertion for a bus-style reverb usage.

Now I understand....the IR-L defaults to a completely wet signal. Is there a way to use it if your are not utilizing a bus set up?

If you are putting it on a track, you'd just use the slider that's in the lower middle of the interface, and pull it down to the desired mix of wet and dry signal.

Can you expain, with the C1 classic compressor how is the 'makeup' determined? Do you set the C1 output to taste?

It's completely arbitrary. The assumption is that you will want to often flip back and forth between the original signal and the processed signal, to get a feel for how it is affecting the sound of that track or buss. For this to work, you need them both to be at the same volume. The compressor lowers the volume, so you need to boost it back up to get it back to the same volume again.

Just do it by looking at the track level numbers. Play a little of the track without the compressor and not the maximum level it reached. Turn on the compressor and play the same part of the track and see where it's at. The difference is the amount you need to raise the makeup gain to get it back to the same level (assuming that the part you played was representative of the dynamic of the overall track.) Normally, it'll come out something like half of the maximum compression level, in that ballpark.

How do you best determine what the input or output should be when using any of the plug-ins? Is it just a matter of trying different amounts as you go, or is there some general reason why one would do it a certain way?

One useful way to go about it is to do a rough mix before you apply any processing. Get everything sounding about where you want it. Then if you follow the above strategy to make the overall volume of the track the same after processing, then that tells you were the put the output level, it's what's required to keep the level the same.

There are exceptions. If the track was recorded too low for some reason, then you have to boost it. Or, some particular plugin might work better if driven harder, so you might let one plugin boost it up and the next plugin make up for that boost by lowering the output (or it might naturally suck up some of that higher signal.) An example of this is a distortion plugin or a tape saturation pluging, which might do better if given a hotter signal sometimes.

But there aren't really many rules here. It's mostly 'whatever works'.

BTW, when I said just look at the numbers above, that's not always going to work. Sometimes the same numeric levels don't sound the same volume-wise because you've changed the frequency balance. So you might have to adjust by ear somewhat sometimes, but mostly it works out pretty well that way. I just do it first by the numbers as a matter of discipline, because that way I know for sure I've not affected the output of the track by applying the processing, and therefore I won't affect the final levels should I decide to remove a processor at some point. But if that ended up making it ear splitting because it's all high frequency now for something like that, then I'd adjust it more by ear, but I've not had that really happen often that I can remember.

Ya know, You can also download the impulses from www.acoustics.net (waves impulse site), they have some impulses that are not included on the CDs, Though you need to keep yourself updated with the Waves update plan in order to continue downloading after a year.

To use the files, download the zip file, extract it, and drag the file directly into your acoustics.net foled (which should be in the Waves IRL folder) the files will appear under the appropriate folder in the IRL "Load" dropdown menu.

Try to find the Disney Concert Hall, sounds incredible.

I am an advocate for reverb on a bus exclusively. I think it is just the best way to maintain control. A 50/50 dry/wet signal is probably the most you will ever need in natural sounding reverb, and you can control the ammount by the bus send level.

As a newbie.... thank you for your additonal comments about the wet/dry slider. It's starting to make a lot more sense.