Working with the likes of Beyoncé, Frank Ocean and Gungor, live monitor engineer Daniel Gonzales has been finding Waves Audio plug-ins a growing part of his set-up. Currently, he is using the Waves Mercury and SSL 4000 Collection SoundGrid bundles mixing monitors for Beyoncé.
‘The more tools you have in your toolbox, the better equipped you are to handle any job,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t mean you’ll be using every tool every single time, but at least you will have them when you need them.
‘I first started using Waves plug-ins while attending recording school in 2005, editing Foley work and sound effects for movies,’ he recalls. ‘My first run with WavesLive was touring with Phil Wickham, where I was using the SSL 4000 and API plug-ins with an Avid Venue console or MultiRack on other consoles. If you were mixing with a standard analogue desk, you would probably like the onboard EQ and dynamics for some things but not for others, and you would probably supplement the desk with some outboard gear. Also, some of the tools Waves offers, like dynamic EQ/multiband compression and graphic analysers, weren’t offered by most digital consoles at the time.
‘My must-have plug-ins are SSL E-Channel, CLA 1176 and C6 Multiband Compressor,’ he says of his current set-up. ‘With the SSL E-Channel, you can load up to 20 instances of the plug-in and use them on anything – EQ, comp, gate, it’s all there. It’s a beast plug-in, and it’s my first choice for drums. The CLA 1176 is a killer compressor. I use it for snare and vocals. It puts the snap in my snare and levels my vocals on top of the mix. It has a great sonic quality and it has a magical way of handling the dynamics of an input. The C6 Multiband Compressor is usually last on almost every one of my output chains. I use it to create a “shape” for the final mix. With the EQ/compression combo, I can massage the entire mix and make it feel just right.
Coming round to Beyoncé, he says:‘The unique challenge of being her monitor mixer is how to make the mix huge and powerful in the in-ears without being so loud that it would ruin your hearing after a two-hour show. Waves tools are indispensable for this purpose. I can compress things subtly and take the edge off many of the inputs; this way I can even out Beyoncé’s mix and create space for the “loud” moments while keeping her vocal on top the entire time. With these great compressors you can do some major action on a dynamic input, without ruining it or bringing negative attention to it. The CLA 1176 and C6 do a great job on this.
More: www.waveslive.com
