The fact you couldn't tell the difference between UAD and Waves makes me happy. The CLA classic compressors still hold up to this day. I'm not a waves fan but their old plugins like CLA, Renaissance & MV2 etc. They just got right 💯
@@waynewav Hey wayne, how do you feel about all this AI stuff, I 've seen it almost do what an engineer does; leveling, mixing audio, synchronize etc, also I asked chatGPT to make me a hiphop beat in FL studio and it gave me a detailed instruct list, it was pretty crazy. I could see in 10years a LOT of people being moves out and forced to compromise or die.
First off, I like the organic jumping around of the test. I like that you're actually listening as you go. In real life, if I had these things all here, I would be doing all this stuff and much more. Secondly, there's a lot about this test that we, as viewers, just have to take your word for: that you're pushing each compressor the same amount, at the same threshold, with the same post gain. One solution is to record a long-form secondary video, with minimal edits, of you setting it all up, narrating your decisions, just so crazies like me can see and hear you setting it all up. Thirdly, I want to know why you like what you like, and why you don't like others. In an A/B comparison, I want to know more about your reasoning, and even any things why, say, you like one, but it's still flawed. Fourthly, the test itself is incredibly messy. You don't keep the starting letters, and ProTools doesn't keep color on track, but rather just order (I don't think you can change this, so it's not your fault, but is not good and makes the test really messy and difficult to keep track of). I did like how you didn't go through the whole recording for each compressor, and compared single phrases between different compressors. I wish it were exhaustive, where you'd keep track of winners and order for each phrase, and talk about where each compressor excels or has a different flavor, and where each compressor fails or pumps in a bad way (because just because it pumps doesn't mean it's bad, that can be used strategically). Furthermore, I also wanted to post the starting letter correlation to your guess, to the actual, just so others might have a chance to keep track or to rewatch without having to do their own lists (please keep more organized tests in the future): STARTING ORDER: A - HISGUESS:UAD - ACTUAL:Slate B - HISGUESS:ProTools - ACTUAL:ProTools C - HISGUESS:Slate - ACTUAL:UAD D - HISGUESS:Hardware - ACTUAL:Hardware E - HISGUESS:Waves - ACTUAL:Waves FINAL ORDER: D - HISGUESS:Hardware - ACTUAL:Hardware A - HISGUESS:UAD - ACTUAL:Slate C - HISGUESS:Slate - ACTUAL:UAD E - HISGUESS:Waves - ACTUAL:Waves B - HISGUESS:ProTools - ACTUAL:ProTools As somebody who specifically wants to research what these expensive hardware units sound like, and have good faith direct comparisons to emulations, clickbait articles are really frustrating and annoying. Like... your target test is nearly EXACTLY what me and lots of people like me are looking for, you don't need to obfuscate that behind "misleading" and hype titles and thumbnails. You're offering REAL information that people really want, and your presentation of it, as messy as it is, is REALLY usable and really helpful - don't polish that away, it SHOULD be long and messy, like a dry scientific paper, but targeted at the actual purpose: trying to compare and define the x factor for producers and engineers that don't have access to all the options. This all being said, you should do this shootout for all the major pieces of equipment and plugins :)
Bruh, every time I watch one of your videos, I learn ALOT! Biggest takeway from this video; you don't need to buy hardware as the differences are negligible. You saving alot of people money dogg!
Without looking throught the comments. I think D is the real LA2A and A is the UAD. The rest, I don't know. It would have been nice to see the Warm Audio 2A in this shootout.
The Slate was my favorite. Slate are my go-to plugs, so I'm probably used to that sound. I've never used a real LA-2A, so I appreciate this comparison. Seeing how close these plugins are to the real thing is nice!
Cheers Wavy, a great comparison. I guessed the hardware, but certainly didn't expect the other plugins to beat the UAD. The Slate sounded very close.. I'm going to have to take a look at that! Ps.. that is how to do a A/B short clips not long selections with changes, you lose context that way. This was perfect! Bless. 💯
Great video! Everyone loves the waves plugin, and for my taste I always preferred the slate one, I feel a more satisfactory result with it, the difference it makes is more audible
I have the Slate version, the CLA, the stock Pro Tools version and the Golden Age Project hardware version and I never really gave the Slate Digital version a real chance. I’ll try it out again
Wavy, I'm not surprised at all that the Slate version is marginally close to the real McCoy. Folks been hating on Slate for some time now but at the end of the day why would you pay that kind of loot for UA if you don't have to? The hardware would be nice but retirement budget reality sets in. I figured Waves and Protools stock plugin would be bottom feeders as you can clearly hear in the blind test. then again if I could hear everything on my own system with each plugin I would be able to gage it just a little bit better then listening on youtube. And of course someone with your experience would be able to tell the real deal from the emulators. But I would say probably bout over 50% blindly wouldn't be able to tell that much of a difference. Thanks for all you do for the recording industry keep up the great work Mane!!!
I preferred the UAD LA-2A in this experiment, perhaps because it compresed the hardest, so it sounded the most controlled. Slate Digital are indeed one of the best plugin makers there are, together with TC Electronics and UAD. I didn't even try to identify the analog once since I've never used an analog LA-2A, so I don't knwo what sounds like.
I loved this shootout - perfectly done in a way that I could actually compare. However, am I the only one seeing that the actual waveform of D is visibly louder? Hoping there's no bias going on here cuz I felt these were scary close, but D felt slightly louder. I went with A as my select. I will also mention that I did my own shootout (with a WA2A as well) and found that the surprising winner was the TR5 White 2A - especially under 10-20 db of compression (where the other plugs collapsed). Another excellent select was the TimP Opto 32a.
Comparison that I can do and which was very interesting. And if Slate is also close to the reality for other emulations of hardware ... I should probably review of which Spark or Slate can still receive my subscription. Thanks for that Wayne !
So, the thing i, the Universal LA-2A can take advantage of the preamp hardware (Apollo lets say with a SHARC card). This speeds up the process of signal processing, especially if you need low latency for live monitoring of vocals let's say. I am assuming both companies use a similar algorithm to get the sound they want so they are probably similar in terms of sound during playback; I am sure I probably hear the difference much when it comes to playback of recorded audio.. Credentials: Comp Eng/Comp Sci. Vulnerability Researcher for an MIT Lab.
Can hear the difference fasho. I use the same UAD LA2A when tracking, post the UAD NEVE 1073 Mic AMP. & I love the sound I get from this setup. But yooo, thats crazy! lol I just knew that B was the UAD Version, lol. It's pretty close tho, but you can hear how much more body the Real Hardware version gives & even the Slate version. The UAD version just has a lil less body with it, still sounds amazing. NGL THO, I want more of that body presence in my vocals. I needs that! 😄lol. Thinking abt getting the Hardware Warm Audio version of the LA2A. Issa pretty reasonable price and I've heard great things abt it. I'm curious of your opinion on this version, if you've had any experience with one or any things you've heard abt them? Give Thanks Wavy 🙏🏽 Looking forward to MixNik 2024! Let's Get It!! 💯💯
it wasn't blind as two of the tracks wasn't showing GR, so it was obvious that one of them was HW. Also they are not matched volume wise, maybe peak but that's pointless. BTW Slate sounded nasty, bright flat and distorted, also the loudest
Though you tried to match the loudness, it is not matched and that clouded your decisions. I'm quite certain that C is better than D. Unfortunately you never compared directly A to C, so no clear conclusion about these two, but your choice follows the loudness, as A was the loudest, followed by D, so not really a fair comparison, which is a shame. Who know, if you compared directly A to C I might still preferred C, as I'm not biased with names, or hardware vs plugins. I'm a bit disappointed.
Do the same video with what sound musical not same settings across the board because one could be off on the dials a bit and you technically could be over compressing or under compressing. You don't mix with your eyes, so it be better for you to set the level you want on real 2A and then try Mach the others to it no matter where the dials are at. Then you will see the one that sounds the closest to the real thing. If the UI code is off a little the dial can be off so do it with your ears not site to make it fair.
This video really retuned my ears giving me a better perspective on what Im really to be listening for you killed 2 birds with 1 stone on this one sir.
I did painting pictures with the stock 2a so it's definitely usable in a pinch at the time I had no plugins on my Mac studio, he at over 50 million streams on Spotify, just gotta use them ears lol.
Hardware doesn’t sounds 4k better than the plug-ins. Purchasing this units has become status ,imo for the price of the hardware I’ll definitely buy a nice workstation. Far more eye candy for the client.also let’s keep it real.nobody would be able to tell in a master the voc where tracked with a real la 2a
![How To ACTUALLY Use LA2A and 1176 On Vocals [FREE LA2A Inside]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ze3Ct2Jk1DA/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact you couldn't tell the difference between UAD and Waves makes me happy. The CLA classic compressors still hold up to this day. I'm not a waves fan but their old plugins like CLA, Renaissance & MV2 etc. They just got right 💯
uad has more retained high end
This was a really great compare -- the blind compares are always the best. Super fun to listen and watch. Thanks Wayne!
Thanks Billy!
@@waynewav Hey wayne, how do you feel about all this AI stuff, I 've seen it almost do what an engineer does; leveling, mixing audio, synchronize etc, also I asked chatGPT to make me a hiphop beat in FL studio and it gave me a detailed instruct list, it was pretty crazy. I could see in 10years a LOT of people being moves out and forced to compromise or die.
omg i am using the slate digital fg 2a from many years without knowing the very closer result with the real analog la2a. amazing
First off, I like the organic jumping around of the test. I like that you're actually listening as you go. In real life, if I had these things all here, I would be doing all this stuff and much more.
Secondly, there's a lot about this test that we, as viewers, just have to take your word for: that you're pushing each compressor the same amount, at the same threshold, with the same post gain. One solution is to record a long-form secondary video, with minimal edits, of you setting it all up, narrating your decisions, just so crazies like me can see and hear you setting it all up.
Thirdly, I want to know why you like what you like, and why you don't like others. In an A/B comparison, I want to know more about your reasoning, and even any things why, say, you like one, but it's still flawed.
Fourthly, the test itself is incredibly messy. You don't keep the starting letters, and ProTools doesn't keep color on track, but rather just order (I don't think you can change this, so it's not your fault, but is not good and makes the test really messy and difficult to keep track of).
I did like how you didn't go through the whole recording for each compressor, and compared single phrases between different compressors. I wish it were exhaustive, where you'd keep track of winners and order for each phrase, and talk about where each compressor excels or has a different flavor, and where each compressor fails or pumps in a bad way (because just because it pumps doesn't mean it's bad, that can be used strategically).
Furthermore, I also wanted to post the starting letter correlation to your guess, to the actual, just so others might have a chance to keep track or to rewatch without having to do their own lists (please keep more organized tests in the future):
STARTING ORDER:
A - HISGUESS:UAD - ACTUAL:Slate
B - HISGUESS:ProTools - ACTUAL:ProTools
C - HISGUESS:Slate - ACTUAL:UAD
D - HISGUESS:Hardware - ACTUAL:Hardware
E - HISGUESS:Waves - ACTUAL:Waves
FINAL ORDER:
D - HISGUESS:Hardware - ACTUAL:Hardware
A - HISGUESS:UAD - ACTUAL:Slate
C - HISGUESS:Slate - ACTUAL:UAD
E - HISGUESS:Waves - ACTUAL:Waves
B - HISGUESS:ProTools - ACTUAL:ProTools
As somebody who specifically wants to research what these expensive hardware units sound like, and have good faith direct comparisons to emulations, clickbait articles are really frustrating and annoying. Like... your target test is nearly EXACTLY what me and lots of people like me are looking for, you don't need to obfuscate that behind "misleading" and hype titles and thumbnails. You're offering REAL information that people really want, and your presentation of it, as messy as it is, is REALLY usable and really helpful - don't polish that away, it SHOULD be long and messy, like a dry scientific paper, but targeted at the actual purpose: trying to compare and define the x factor for producers and engineers that don't have access to all the options.
This all being said, you should do this shootout for all the major pieces of equipment and plugins :)
Bruh, every time I watch one of your videos, I learn ALOT! Biggest takeway from this video; you don't need to buy hardware as the differences are negligible. You saving alot of people money dogg!
Without looking throught the comments. I think D is the real LA2A and A is the UAD. The rest, I don't know. It would have been nice to see the Warm Audio 2A in this shootout.
wow I was shocked too about Slate, can you keep doing this on all the major well know plugins like 1176 or neve pre amp etc
The Slate was my favorite. Slate are my go-to plugs, so I'm probably used to that sound. I've never used a real LA-2A, so I appreciate this comparison. Seeing how close these plugins are to the real thing is nice!
slate it's the definitive go to for any track type.
@@carlitosproducer Word up. 👊🏾💪🏾
D has more roundness on the low mids. A offered clarity in the mids and high mids.
Great review Wavy!!!. Ive been following you for a year now and you are one of the best engineers out there !!!
Cheers Wavy, a great comparison. I guessed the hardware, but certainly didn't expect the other plugins to beat the UAD. The Slate sounded very close.. I'm going to have to take a look at that!
Ps.. that is how to do a A/B short clips not long selections with changes, you lose context that way. This was perfect! Bless.
💯
Man you Kill it with this content EVERYTIME Wayne! I know you won't believe me but I had it the exact same order you did!! I'm proud of that!!
Thanks fam! Good ear!
Great video! Everyone loves the waves plugin, and for my taste I always preferred the slate one, I feel a more satisfactory result with it, the difference it makes is more audible
real la-2a 1, uad la-2a 2, waves 2a 3, fg-2a 4, protools 2a 5
I have the Slate version, the CLA, the stock Pro Tools version and the Golden Age Project hardware version and I never really gave the Slate Digital version a real chance. I’ll try it out again
Never even tried slate digitals version but mannn it sounds so good
This is great bro!! I heard D right away, and the Slate one surprised me for sure!
Wow, I thought the UAD version was for sure the second one. Slate sounded almost identical to the real La2a that's awesome.
Great review Wavy
Nice Comparison
Yeah the hardware has more true Dynamic weight. It's clearly distinguishable. Nice to know the UAD one is pretty close..
The compressor line made it obvious which the actual 2LA is. But the end result will help me pick my plug-in
Wavy, I'm not surprised at all that the Slate version is marginally close to the real McCoy. Folks been hating on Slate for some time now but at the end of the day why would you pay that kind of loot for UA if you don't have to? The hardware would be nice but retirement budget reality sets in. I figured Waves and Protools stock plugin would be bottom feeders as you can clearly hear in the blind test. then again if I could hear everything on my own system with each plugin I would be able to gage it just a little bit better then listening on youtube. And of course someone with your experience would be able to tell the real deal from the emulators. But I would say probably bout over 50% blindly wouldn't be able to tell that much of a difference. Thanks for all you do for the recording industry keep up the great work Mane!!!
Great comparison video!
I preferred the UAD LA-2A in this experiment, perhaps because it compresed the hardest, so it sounded the most controlled.
Slate Digital are indeed one of the best plugin makers there are, together with TC Electronics and UAD.
I didn't even try to identify the analog once since I've never used an analog LA-2A, so I don't knwo what sounds like.
I loved this shootout - perfectly done in a way that I could actually compare. However, am I the only one seeing that the actual waveform of D is visibly louder? Hoping there's no bias going on here cuz I felt these were scary close, but D felt slightly louder. I went with A as my select. I will also mention that I did my own shootout (with a WA2A as well) and found that the surprising winner was the TR5 White 2A - especially under 10-20 db of compression (where the other plugs collapsed). Another excellent select was the TimP Opto 32a.
Comparison that I can do and which was very interesting.
And if Slate is also close to the reality for other emulations of hardware ... I should probably review of which Spark or Slate can still receive my subscription.
Thanks for that Wayne !
So, the thing i, the Universal LA-2A can take advantage of the preamp hardware (Apollo lets say with a SHARC card). This speeds up the process of signal processing, especially if you need low latency for live monitoring of vocals let's say. I am assuming both companies use a similar algorithm to get the sound they want so they are probably similar in terms of sound during playback; I am sure I probably hear the difference much when it comes to playback of recorded audio.. Credentials: Comp Eng/Comp Sci. Vulnerability Researcher for an MIT Lab.
I have the Audioscape 2A it sounds so full. The plugins sound good also but that analog just makes the vocal sound fluffy
Can hear the difference fasho. I use the same UAD LA2A when tracking, post the UAD NEVE 1073 Mic AMP. & I love the sound I get from this setup.
But yooo, thats crazy! lol
I just knew that B was the UAD Version, lol. It's pretty close tho, but you can hear how much more body the Real Hardware version gives & even the Slate version. The UAD version just has a lil less body with it, still sounds amazing.
NGL THO, I want more of that body presence in my vocals. I needs that! 😄lol.
Thinking abt getting the Hardware Warm Audio version of the LA2A. Issa pretty reasonable price and I've heard great things abt it.
I'm curious of your opinion on this version, if you've had any experience with one or any things you've heard abt them?
Give Thanks Wavy 🙏🏽
Looking forward to MixNik 2024! Let's Get It!! 💯💯
I liked D. It looked like the wave was maybe a little hotter but the smoothness was so nice. After that, I was lost....
Great content as always. What do you think of Ik multimedia t racks one
Yea this too hard for me to decipher differences for me so I’m just going with A cause it has this energy and feel to it that I love
Definely like this kind of vidéo. We thxx u a lot wayvy wayne. From Sénégal ✌️
it wasn't blind as two of the tracks wasn't showing GR, so it was obvious that one of them was HW. Also they are not matched volume wise, maybe peak but that's pointless. BTW Slate sounded nasty, bright flat and distorted, also the loudest
thats what i was thinking after replaying many parts 100 times lol. i feel like the ua is slight lower in gain and still sound really close
That slate version is butter Wayne!
"
A" IS THE BEST FOR ME
I wonder what will come out
I prefer the Waves CLA2A to the UAD stuff
You can actually see the compression happening next to the volume meter the hardware channel didn’t have that. 😂 they all sound great though
Hardware is just incredible
does softube have any la2a plugin??
D IS the best warm and the fidelity is almost real emulation
Is it just me who could clearly hear (and see, since the waveform is wider) that D is just higher in volume?
I don’t really have the strongest voice for my recording but I don’t want to record too loud how can I make my vocals more full without peaking?
You should try the Plugin Alliance ACME Audio Opticom XLA-3
amount of gain reduction? how many dbs r u compressing?
Distressor Compressor >>>> You put me on Wavy Wayne!
I agreed with your choices
Aye man wavy Wayne in the hizzouse 🎼🎼🎼💯💯💯
That was fun all by ear and feel
Though you tried to match the loudness, it is not matched and that clouded your decisions. I'm quite certain that C is better than D. Unfortunately you never compared directly A to C, so no clear conclusion about these two, but your choice follows the loudness, as A was the loudest, followed by D, so not really a fair comparison, which is a shame. Who know, if you compared directly A to C I might still preferred C, as I'm not biased with names, or hardware vs plugins. I'm a bit disappointed.
same conclusion. i couldnt even really tell because im listening between sonics and volume 😵💫
Bro
I can't able to rewire Reason studio to pro tools intro
Help brother
Slate is the best !
You had the real one volume a touch louder
Slate good I was gonna buy it but I ended up just getting the hardware
Do the same video with what sound musical not same settings across the board because one could be off on the dials a bit and you technically could be over compressing or under compressing. You don't mix with your eyes, so it be better for you to set the level you want on real 2A and then try Mach the others to it no matter where the dials are at. Then you will see the one that sounds the closest to the real thing.
If the UI code is off a little the dial can be off so do it with your ears not site to make it fair.
Hardware for the win to me
This video really retuned my ears giving me a better perspective on what Im really to be listening for you killed 2 birds with 1 stone on this one sir.
The slate version is hands down the best sounding. The uad version sounds more like the actual hardware but it has some blemishes.
For sure. I agree the slate gives all the character but is a bit cleaner.
the slate version is too aggressive
LA2A my choice
D sounds the best.. uad plugins been losing a lot of shootouts 😂😂😢
I did painting pictures with the stock 2a so it's definitely usable in a pinch at the time I had no plugins on my Mac studio, he at over 50 million streams on Spotify, just gotta use them ears lol.
D is smoother, they. Sound a like it's hard to tell.
I hear a clear difference between the real one and the rest maybe cause I’m on wack headphones. Off rip I put D first
very interesting
What a troll way to do a blind test with the "compression plugin amount info" showing in orange when you solo a track in protools 🤣
It’s A for me
Hardware doesn’t sounds 4k better than the plug-ins. Purchasing this units has become status ,imo for the price of the hardware I’ll definitely buy a nice workstation. Far more eye candy for the client.also let’s keep it real.nobody would be able to tell in a master the voc where tracked with a real la 2a
First one here! Blessings
Second one here
i must be deaf , they all sound the same to me
D the best me
SCRIPTED
The slate just had more volume that’s why
This is not a front But ( A ) jumped out the speakers Focal Trio 11. Perfect timing while I’m in the process of learning my speakers. Great video.🫡