Produce Warm Acoustic Instruments

It's hard to make things sound good, especially when the source is some wooden or metal body. This is why acoustic instrumentation requires specific mixing techniques. Moreover, many records use heavy acoustic instrumentation like acoustic guitars, percussion, or drums, and the mix engineers spend many hours mixing.

Mixing Acoustic Instruments

CLA Unplugged is a to-go solution for mixing a variety of acoustic instruments. This plugin has been developed by Waves in collaboration with Chris Lord-Alg,e who is a famous mix engineer for artists like Foo Fighters, Green Day, U2, Bon Jovi, Santana, etc.

How Does CLA Unplugged Work?

First, this plugin combines equalization, compression, deal,y, and reverb in a tried and tested signal chain. At the same time, the algorithms are designed to replicate the best acoustic sounds found on the records that Chris Lord-Alge has worked on. Regardless of how this plugin might seem basic, it adds a fantastic flavor to the sound, making it stand out and sound strong in the mix.

Main Parameters

This is how the plugin looks:

Starting from the left, the parameters are as follows:

Input Sensor

It determines the amount of sound entering into the plugin. It helps to balance the overall gain and volume of the sound.

Reverb 1 & 2 Pre-Delay

These two knobs help to determine the amount of time between the dry sound and the onset of reverb.

Bass & Treble

As the name suggests, these two faders are the basic equalization parameters. Moreover, both have three different settings that can be seen right on top of the fader. These are three sub-settings with additional Qs and center frequencies.

Compress

This is the built-in compressor fader. The fader lets you choose the threshold, and the ratio is decided by the three fixed settings right on top of it.

Reverb 1 & 2

These help you select the amount and type of reverb.

Delay

This fader helps to control the amount and type of delay. The three types of delays available are slapback, Eights, and quarter.

Output

This fader lets you decide the output gain.

Practical Use With Audio Examples

Below is a raw recording of an acoustic guitar plucking that I made. You will notice that the plucking sounds dry and poorly recorded. Also, see how less detailed it sounds.

Now, If I add just the CLA plugin, you will notice the sound becomes much more significant, and every detail is highlighted perfectly. It also adds a nice and warm low end to the sound.