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Published on 12/14/12 at 11:04Waves C1 is a software effects plug-in to be used in a DAW. All Waves plug-ins can be installed by downloading them off the Waves website. Authorization is completed using a USB stick as a dongle, or using an authorization manager application if your computer connects to the internet.
Waves plug-ins are know for being stable, and rarely have any bugs. The 'C1' plug-in has been around a long time and doesn't have any problems running in all popular DAWs.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The C1 is definitely a 'transparent' dynamics processor. Waves has plenty of plug-ins for compression, gating, and de-essing that intentionally add some analog 'color' to a signal (SSL, V-comp, H-comp, CLA comps). This plug-in is useful in the situations where it isn't appropriate to add some analog 'flavor'.
Aside from being a 'transparent' compressor, my favorite parts of the plug-in are the other features. I love using the expander/gate to filter off the 'sustain' of drums tracks. This really helps them punch in a mix. It is really easy to use the C1 to do this.
I also really like to 'de-ess' with this plug-in. In fact, the C1 is a more versatile 'de-esser' than the Waves DeEsser plug-in. The C1 allows for split-band de-essing. Therefore, a specific frequency band can be compressed rather than compressing all frequencies. I like this technique better for vocals. My favorite use of this technique is to actually 'de-ess' distorted electric guitars. For this, I find the problematic resonant frequency between 1k-4k. Then I compress just that frequency range, and leave the rest of the signal unprocessed. I find that I like this result better than just eq-ing out the problematic frequencies.
OVERALL OPINION
The Waves C1 plug-in was designed to be a complete dynamics processor. It can be used for compression/limiting, gating/expanding, and even de-essing. Waves includes a few different versions of the software in the package - a compressor only, compressor with gate, compressor with side-chain, and a version with all the settings. These individual modules can be useful if you want to save on CPU processing during mixing.
Waves plug-ins are know for being stable, and rarely have any bugs. The 'C1' plug-in has been around a long time and doesn't have any problems running in all popular DAWs.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
The C1 is definitely a 'transparent' dynamics processor. Waves has plenty of plug-ins for compression, gating, and de-essing that intentionally add some analog 'color' to a signal (SSL, V-comp, H-comp, CLA comps). This plug-in is useful in the situations where it isn't appropriate to add some analog 'flavor'.
Aside from being a 'transparent' compressor, my favorite parts of the plug-in are the other features. I love using the expander/gate to filter off the 'sustain' of drums tracks. This really helps them punch in a mix. It is really easy to use the C1 to do this.
I also really like to 'de-ess' with this plug-in. In fact, the C1 is a more versatile 'de-esser' than the Waves DeEsser plug-in. The C1 allows for split-band de-essing. Therefore, a specific frequency band can be compressed rather than compressing all frequencies. I like this technique better for vocals. My favorite use of this technique is to actually 'de-ess' distorted electric guitars. For this, I find the problematic resonant frequency between 1k-4k. Then I compress just that frequency range, and leave the rest of the signal unprocessed. I find that I like this result better than just eq-ing out the problematic frequencies.
OVERALL OPINION
The Waves C1 plug-in was designed to be a complete dynamics processor. It can be used for compression/limiting, gating/expanding, and even de-essing. Waves includes a few different versions of the software in the package - a compressor only, compressor with gate, compressor with side-chain, and a version with all the settings. These individual modules can be useful if you want to save on CPU processing during mixing.