Blackmagic Cloud Store is here.

Last year Blackmagic Design announced a new line of network storage products along with Blackmagic Cloud. The storage products include Blackmagic Cloud Store (a high-performance RAID-5 array), Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini 8TB (a RAID-0 storage solution), and Blackmagic Cloud Pod (an appliance to turn any USB-C drive into network storage). I reviewed the Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini in August. Now its big brother, Blackmagic Cloud Store, is finally shipping.

Good things in small packages

Blackmagic Cloud Store comes in three sizes: 20TB ($7,595 USD), 80TB ($22,995 USD), and 320TB ($88,995 USD). Each uses the same canister-style enclosure as the company’s eGPU. It features dual power supplies and fast, quiet M.2 SSD memory cards, which are installed around a central core. You can literally leave it on your desk and hardly hear the fans running. Cloud Store runs Blackmagic OS and applies wear leveling, so each M.2 card won’t see excessive data writes. Every sixth M.2 card is used for RAID-5 parity/data protection. The quoted capacity is a net figure, meaning you actually have the full 20TB, 80TB, or 320TB of useable storage.

In the unlikely case of hardware issues, such an M.2 SSD card going down, you would need to contact Blackmagic Design support. Cloud Store is not designed for end-user repair. However, it would be easy to repair by an authorized service engineer, even though it’s not a rack mount design. Various internal assemblies can be unbolted from the core chassis and replaced.

For editors and colorists working with shared media, there’s a built-in 10G switch with four 10G high-speed (10Gb/s) ethernet ports. Connect an external network switch to one of these if you need high-speed access to the array from more than four computers. Next, there are two USB-C and two standard 1G ethernet ports, which can be used to connect additional users at slower ethernet speeds.

The intended use for the USB ports is to connect external drives for ingest and back-up*. An ethernet cable from your internet modem or switch to the 1G ports is needed for Dropbox and Google Drive syncing (more on that in a moment). There is also an HDMI port for a monitor used to display real-time data, such as storage activity, drive health, and connected users. Functions like port aggregation of the 10G switch and the USB-C media I/O have not yet been enabled.

In theory, all eight data ports could be used to connect users, if you forgo syncing and the media I/O function. Although the M.2 SSD array is fast, the network connections will determine the true speed. For example, the 1G and USB-C ports yield write/read speeds of around 200-300MB/s, whereas the 10G ports perform in the 800-1,100 MB/s range.

Setting up a shared network

Download the Blackmagic Cloud Store set-up application to your computer. Run the installer for the set-up app, a user guide PDF, and the standalone Proxy Generator application. Review the network set-up section of the user guide. You can connect a device without using the application, but you’ll need it to set up media sharing over the internet. Bring your own standard 3-prong AC power cord for the unit, too.

I created a small workgroup by connecting the Blackmagic Cloud Store to my 2020 27″ iMac and my 2021 14″ M1 Max MacBook Pro. The iMac has a 10G port and was directly connected. The MacBook Pro was connected using a Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt-to-10G ethernet adapter. If you use a bus-powered adapter like the Sonnet with a laptop, make sure you keep the laptop on AC power. Otherwise, the storage volume will tend to unmount. As with most NAS systems, each time you start the computer, you’ll need to manually mount the storage volume again within the OS.

The Cloud Store device is largely plug-and-play using standard network protocols built into the computer’s operating system. The iMac connected right away, but, I had to change the IP address for the MacBook Pro within its preferences. Other than that minor hiccup, setting up Blackmagic Cloud Store was the easiest installation that I’ve ever done with any NAS system.

If you are using Blackmagic Cloud Store on-premises in a workgroup, then you are set to go. Blackmagic Design intended this to be an easy system to administer. Therefore, you cannot subdivide it into different virtual volumes nor assign different levels of user permissions. The Blackmagic Cloud Store drive is mounted as a single drive volume on your desktop and shared media is accessible on all systems. This product is not solely built for DaVinci Resolve users. Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro library/project files also work fine when stored on the Cloud Store volume.

Syncing remote media

Blackmagic Design has factored in remote workflows, which is where Dropbox and Google Drive come in. Connect an ethernet cable for an internet feed to one of the 1G ports on the Blackmagic Cloud Store. There’s a tab in the Cloud Store set-up application for Dropbox or Google Drive. Now assign the Cloud Store volume as the location for your Dropbox or Google Drive folder. You can the opt to share only proxy media or full-res files and proxies. Proxy media files can be generated by DaVinci Resolve itself or using the Proxy Generator application.

Editors with whom you collaborate remotely will have access to the media thanks to Dropbox or Google Drive syncing. The remote editors don’t need Blackmagic Cloud Store units for this to work and can certainly work with other storage solutions. There are a variety of possible workflows, depending on whether it’s an editor sharing files with a colorist or an editor working with assistants on a feature film.

Dropbox and Google Drive syncing allows for an incremental workflow. For example, many productions are filmed over several days. As new media is added to the primary Blackmagic Cloud Store volume, syncing can happen automatically for all remote collaborators. Remember that the Dropbox and Google Drive options are based on your account and not Blackmagic Design. So you may incur charges based on your plan with these companies.

I personally have reservations about leaving your storage directly connected to the internet. As many NAS owners who had systems exposed to the internet can attest, getting hacked and having your media held for ransom is a very real risk. So take precautions – you’ve been warned.

Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design has specifically tailored the workflow for DaVinci Resolve, which works with a database (library) containing multiple projects. There are three types of databases: local (stored on your computer), server (stored on a separate networked computer), or cloud, i.e. the Blackmagic Cloud server. Anyone can sign up at the Blackmagic Design website to get their own free Cloud account. If you decide to add a library to Blackmagic Cloud, then the charge is $5 per month, per library. Of course, a single library can contain multiple projects.

In a typical Blackmagic Cloud scenario, the main editor adds a Resolve library to Cloud and creates the active Resolve project there. When its time to share the project with other editors/VFX artists/colorists, turn on multi-user collaboration within Resolve. The library owner sends an invitation to the email address tied to the remote user’s account. The second editor has already received the media via a shipped drive or synced over the internet. That editor logs into their Blackmagic Cloud account to gain access to the library and that project. Open the project, relink the media, and it’s off to the races.

The first person to open a sequence has write access to that sequence. Everyone else has read-only access to the open sequence, but write access to any others that they open. If a change is made to a writeable sequence and saved, the library on Blackmagic Cloud is updated. This is relatively fast, but not as instant as if the database were local. Anyone viewing the sequence in a read-only mode is prompted to refresh the sequence. Both Resolve Studio and Resolve (the free App Store version) worked fine.

Who this is for

There are three potential use cases for Blackmagic Cloud Store. You could simply use it as a local drive attached to one computer. This wouldn’t be the best solution, because Thunderbolt arrays are faster and cheaper. The second use case is the small workgroup under one roof. For example, this could be a small post house or a team of editors cutting a film. Simply connect four computers to the Blackmagic Cloud Store unit and now everyone can share media and project files.

The final use case embraces a remote workflow. One or more users are connected to a Blackmagic Cloud Store at one location. They can then share media and Resolve projects using the built-in syncing and Blackmagic Cloud. For example, you might be a great editor, but not the best colorist. Using this workflow, you could share your project remotely with an experienced colorist and work together through a sequence interactively. Or it’s a feature film and several editors, each working remotely, is editing a different reel of the same film.

There’s plenty of competition in the market for shared, networked storage solutions. Most require a certain level of IT knowledge to set up and administer. Blackmagic Cloud Store is a deceptively simple, yet powerful, storage device that can fit many operational models. It’s a high-performance drive array that can sit quietly on your desktop without the need for rack space or extra cooling. Couple it with a Blackmagic Cloud account and you have one of the simplest way to collaborate across town or across the country.

Update  *This feature was enabled with the Blackmagic Cloud Store 1.1.3 software update. This update also includes several bugs fixes, as well as performance and stability improvements.

An earlier version of this review was written for and appears at Pro Video Coalition.

©2023 Oliver Peters

Impressions of NAB 2023

2023 marks the 100th year of the NAB Convention, which started out as a radio gathering in New York City. This year you could add ribbons to your badges indicating the number of years that you’d attended – 5, 10, etc. My first NAB was 1979 in Dallas, so I proudly displayed the 25+ ribbon. Although I haven’t attended each one in those intervening years, I have attended many and well over 25.

Some have been ready to sound the death knell for large, in-person conventions, thanks to the pandemic and proliferation of online teleconferencing services like Zoom. 2019 was the last pre-covid year with an attendance of 91,500 – down from previous highs of over 100,000. 2022 was the first post-covid NAB and attendance was around 52,400. That was respectable given the climate a year ago. This year’s attendance was over 65,000, so certainly an upward trend. If anything, this represents a pent-up desire to kick the tires in person and hook back up with industry friends from all over the world. My gut feeling is that international attendance is still down, so I would expect future years’ attendance to grow higher.

Breaking down the halls

Like last year, the convention spread over the Central, North, and new West halls. The South hall with its two floors of exhibition space has been closed for renovation. The West hall is a three-story complex with a single, large exhibition floor. It’s an entire convention center in its own right. West hall is connected to the North hall by the sidewalk, an enclosed upstairs walkway, as well as the LVCC Loop (the connecting tunnel that ferries people between buildings in Teslas). From what I hear, next year will be back to the North, Central, and South halls.

As with most NAB conventions, these halls were loosely organized by themes. Location and studio production gear could mostly be found in Central. Post was mainly in the North hall, but next year I would expect it to be back in the South hall. The West hall included a mixture of vendors that fit under connectivity topics, such as streaming, captioning, etc. It also included some of the radio services.

Although the booths covered nearly all of the floor space, it felt to me like many of the big companies were holding back. By that I mean, products with large infrastructure needs (big shared storage systems, large video switchers, huge mixing desks, etc) were absent. Mounting a large booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center – whether that’s for CES or NAB – is quite costly, with many unexpected charges.

Nevertheless, there were still plenty of elaborate camera sets and huge booths, like that of Blackmagic Design. If this was your first year at NAB, the sum of the whole was likely to be overwhelming. However, I’m sure many vendors were still taking a cautious approach. For example, there was no off-site Avid Connect event. There were no large-scale press conferences the day before opening.

The industry consolidates

There has been a lot of industry consolidation over the past decade or two. This has been accelerated thanks to the pandemic. Many venerable names are now part of larger holding companies. For example, Audiotonix owns many large audio brands, including Solid State Logic, DiGiCo, Sound Devices, among others. And they added Harrison to their portfolio, just in time for NAB. The Sennheiser Group owns both Sennheiser and Neumann. Grass Valley, Snell, and Quantel products have all been consolidated by Black Dragon Capital under the Grass Valley brand. Such consolidation was evident through shared booth space. In many cases, the brands retained their individual identities. Unfortunately for Snell and Quantel, those brands have now been completely subsumed by Grass Valley.

A lot of this is a function of the industry tightening up. While there’s a lot more media production these days, there are also many inexpensive solutions to create that media. Therefore, many companies are venturing outside of their traditional lanes. For example. Sennheiser still manufactures great microphone products, but they’ve also developed the AMBEO immersive audio product line. At NAB they demonstrated the AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio renderer. This lets a mixer take surround mixes and/or stems and turn them into 2-channel spatial mixes that are stereo-compatible. The control software allows you to determine the stereo width and amount of surround and LFE signal put into the binaural mix. In the same booth, Neumann was demoing their new KH 120-II near-field studio monitors.

General themes

Overall, I didn’t see any single trend that would point to an overarching theme for the show. AI/ML/Neural Networks were part of many companies’ marketing strategy. Yet, I found nothing that jumped out like the current public fascination with ChatGPT. You have to wonder how much of this is more evolutionary than revolutionary and that the terms themselves are little more than hype.

Stereoscopic production is still around, although I only found one company with product (Stereotec). Virtual sets were aplenty, including a large display by Vu Studios and even a mobile expando trailer by Magicbox for virtual set production on-location. Insta360 was there, but tucked away in the back of Central hall.

Of course, everyone has a big push for “the cloud” in some way, shape, or form. However, if there is any single new trend that seems to be getting manufacturers’ attention, it’s passing video over IP. The usual companies who have dealt in SDI-based video hardware, like AJA, Blackmagic Design, and Matrox, were all showing IP equivalents. Essentially, where you used to send SDI video signals using the uncompressed SDI protocol, you will now use the SMPTE ST 2110 IP protocol to send it through 1GigE networks.

The world of post production

Let me shift to post – specifically Adobe, Avid, and Blackmagic Design. Unlike Blackmagic, neither Avid nor Adobe featured their usual main stage presentations. I didn’t see Apple’s Final Cut Pro anywhere on the floor and only one sighting in the press room. Avid’s booth was a shadow of itself, with only a few smaller demo pods. Their main focus was showing the tighter integration between Media Composer and Pro Tools (finally!). There were no Pro Tools control surfaces to play with. However, in their defense, NAMM 2023 (the large audio and music products exhibition) was held just the week before. Most likely this was a big problem for any audio vendor that exhibits at both shows. NAMM shifts back to January in 2024, which is its historical slot on the calendar.

Uploading media to the cloud for editing has been the mantra at Frame io, which is now under the Adobe wing. They’ve enhanced those features with direct support by Fujifilm (video) and Capture One (photography). In addition, Frame has improved features specific to the still photography market. New to the camera-to-cloud game is also Atomos, which demoed its own cloud-based editor developed by asset management developer Axle ai.

Adobe demoed the new, text-based editing features for Premiere Pro. It’s currently in beta, but will soon be in full release. In my estimation, this is the best text-based method of any of the NLEs. Avid’s script-based editing is optimized for scripted content, but doesn’t automatically generate text. Its strength is in scripted films and TV shows, where the page layout mimics a script supervisor’s lined script.

Adobe’s approach seems better for documentary projects. Text is generated through speech-to-text software within Premiere Pro. That is now processed on your computer instead of in the cloud. When you highlight text in the transcription panel, it automatically marks the in and out points on that source clip. Then, using insert and overwrite commands while the transcription panel is still selected, automatically edit that portion of the source clip to the timeline. Once you shift your focus to the timeline, the transcription panel displays the edited text that corresponds to the clips on the timeline. Rearrange the text and Premiere Pro automatically rearranges the clips on the timeline. Or rearrange the clips and the text follows.

Meanwhile over at Blackmagic Design’s massive booth, the new DaVinci Resolve 18.5 features were on full display. 18.5 is also in beta. While there are a ton of new features, it also includes automatic speech-to-text generation. This felt to me like a work-in-progress. So far, only English is supported. It creates text for the source and you can edit from the text panel to the timeline. However, unlike Premiere Pro, there is no interaction between the text and clips in the timeline.

I was surprised to see that Blackmagic Design was not promoting Resolve on the iPad. There was only one demo station and no dedicated demo artist. I played with it a bit and it felt to me like it’s not truly optimized for iPadOS yet. It does work well with the Speed Editor keyboard. That’s useful for any user, since the Cut page is probably where anyone would do the bulk of the work in this version of Resolve. When I used the Apple Pencil, the interface lacked any feedback as icons were clicked. So I was never quite sure if an action had happened or not when I used the Pencil. I’m not sure many will do a complete edit with Resolve on the iPad; however, it could evolve into a productive tool for preliminary editing in the field.

Here’s an interesting side note. Nearly all of the Blackmagic Design demo pods for DaVinci Resolve were running on Apple’s 24″ candy-colored iMacs. Occasionally performance was a bit sluggish from what I could tell. Especially when the operator demoed the new Relight feature to me. Nevertheless, they seemed to work well throughout the show.

In other Blackmagic news, all of the Cloud Store products are now shipping. The Cintel film scanner gets an 8mm gate. There are now IP versions of the video cards and converters. There’s an OLPF version of the URSA Mini Pro 12K and you can shoot vertical video with the Pocket Cinema Camera that’s properly tagged as vertical.

Of course, not everyone wants their raw media in the cloud and Blackmagic Design wasn’t showing the only storage products. Most of the usual storage vendors were present, including Facilis, OpenDrives, Synology, OWC, and QNAP. The technology trends include a shift away from spinning drives towards solid state storage, as well as faster networking protocols. Quite a few vendors(like Sonnet) were showing 25GbE (and faster) connections. This offers a speed improvement over the 1GbE and 10GbE ports and switches that are currently used.

Finally, one of the joys of NAB is to check out the smaller booths, where you’ll often find truly innovative new products. These small start-ups often grow into important companies in our industry. Hedge is just such a company. Tucked into a corner of the North hall, Hedge was demonstrating its growing portfolio of essential workflow products. Another start-up, Colourlab AI shared some booth space there, as well, to show off Freelab, their new integration with Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.

That’s a quick rundown of my thoughts about this year’s NAB Show. For other thoughts and specific product reviews, be sure to also check out NAB coverage at Pro Video Coalition, RedShark News, and postPerspective. There’s also plenty of YouTube coverage.

Click on any image below to view an NAB slideshow.

©2023 Oliver Peters

A Film’s Manageable Length

There are three versions of every feature film: as written, as shot, and what comes out of post. The written and filmed story can often be too long as compared to some arbitrary target length. It is the editor’s job to get the film down such a “manageable length.” Since a film isn’t broadcast television and doesn’t have to fit into a time format, deciding on the right length is a vague concept. It’s like saying how long a book should be.

This idea was derived in part based on both the audience’s attention span to the story and how long their bladders held out. Couple this to a theater’s schedule – longer movies meant fewer screenings and, therefore, lower box office revenue. In past decades, the accepted length was in the 90 to 100 minute range. Modern blockbusters can easily clock in at 120 to 150 minutes. However, if you are an indie filmmaker and didn’t produce a film starring Tom Cruise, then you better stick closely to that 100 minute mark.

The script

The rule of thumb for a script is around one minute per page. 100 pages = 100 minutes. For the most part that works, until you hit a script line, such as, “and the battle ensued.” That can easily consume several minutes of screen time. And so, it takes careful reading and interpretation of a script to get a valid ballpark length. That not only impacts the final length, but also the shooting schedule, production budget, and more.

Walter Murch has a technique to get a good idea for the true length of a film. His method is to take a day or two and act out each scene of the script by himself – reading the dialogue and going through characters’ actions. As he does this, he times each scene. He’ll do this two or three times until he has a good average timing for each scene and a total estimate for the film. Then, as the film is being shot, he’ll compare his time estimates with those coming from the script supervisor. If they are radically off, then he knows that something deviated a lot from the written script. And that will need some explanation.

Trimming the first assembly

The starting point for any editor is to assemble everything according to the script. At this point, the editor does not have discretion to drop lines, scenes, or re-arrange anything. The point is to present an initial cut to the director, which is faithful to the director’s intention during filming. Now you know how long the combined material really is. It’s quite common for the film to be long. In fact, that’s better than being too short or even very close to the target length.

If a film runs 10-30% over, then according to Murch, you can get there through “diet and exercise.” If it’s 50-100% or more over-length, then it’s time for true “surgery” to figuratively lose some body parts or organs.

A film that’s 10-30% long can usually be trimmed in various ways, without losing any key scenes. One way is to cut lines more tightly together, which can also help with pacing. A film often has “shoe leather” – getting a character from point A to point B. For example, a character arrives home in his car, walks up to the front door, opens it, and enters the home. Here, the editor can cut from the car arriving home directly to the interior of the home as the actor enters. Another technique is to enter scenes a bit later and exit them earlier. And finally, as you see the assembled film, you may realize that there are redundant dialogue lines or early plot reveals that can be cut. All of these comprise the “diet and exercise” solution.

Surgery

If the film is long and you can’t get to a desired length through “diet and exercise,” then more drastic cuts are needed. You might have to lose entire scenes or even characters. Sometimes this can focus the film by honing in on the real story. You often realize that some of these scenes weren’t needed after all and the film plays better without them. It’s at this stage, that the director and editor may re-arrange some of the scene order. In doing so, you may also discover that certain plot elements become obvious and that scenes, which might have foreshadowed or explained them aren’t needed after all. This process can takes days, weeks, or months.

It can also be painful for many directors. Some are happy to jump in and make severe cuts right away. Others have to go through an iterative process of whittling the film down in numerous passes over the course of weeks.

One of the earliest films I’ve cut was “The First of May.” It was a family film with a child lead actor coupled with an ensemble of older acting legends. Toss in a literal circus and you can see the complexity. The final length was long by what was assumed to be the “ideal” length for an indie, family film.

As we we getting down to the wire for the initial pitches to potential distributors, the producing partners – who split the roles of writer and director – were at odds over the length. One argument was that “ET” was a family film and it was long. The counter-argument was that this wasn’t “ET” and if it was too long, they’d never get in the door in the first place.

We were at an impasse and the co-producer/director and I did what we called the “slash and burn” edit. What could we cut out of the film to get to 90 minutes if told it had to absolutely be at that length? Unfortunately, this exercise didn’t sit well with the co-producer/writer. In the end, after some tense conversations, they were able to agree on an edit that held together well and met the objectives.

This is a dilemma that every editor/director team faces and it will always be painful for some. After all, when the editor cuts out the scene with that great crane shot that took all day to pull off, the director can’t help but wince. However, it’s all in service of the story. Remember, the audience only sees the film that they are presented with and will usually never know what was cut out. If the pacing and emotion are right and the story holds up and entertains, then you’ve done your job as an editor – no matter what the film’s final length is.

©2023 Oliver Peters

Software Subscriptions

A decade ago Adobe launched its Creative Cloud subscription model to mixed reactions. On March 27th, the audio plug-in developer Waves once again raised the ire of the creative community by switching to a subscription model. Let’s dig deeper into the topic.

Prior to the digital era, when a company built a recording studio or a post facility, they invested in physical hardware – mixing desks, switchers, edit controllers, etc. These were assets on the ledger that had value if the company decided to sell. Once the industry moved to software tools, those no longer functioned as assets with any value. You could sell the building and furnishings, but no one wanted the old software. That’s assuming you could easily transfer licenses. Instead of an asset, software became an ongoing operational expense.

In response to this shift, many software companies have introduced a SaaS (software as a service) subscription model and dropped perpetual licensing options. To understand this, first take a look as any of your EULAs and you’ll quickly see that you never really own software and the company can make changes to the agreement as they see fit.

“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.” – Darth Vader

To be fair, a company has the right to offer their products in any way they like. But, users are also free to accept or reject the company’s business model. The tougher part is how to correctly transition from one model to the next without alienating established users. SaaS models typically benefit both the developer and active, professional users.

Stepping aside from the subscription issue for a moment, there is a huge advantage to staying within a single ecosystem. That’s the big plus for Adobe users, but it is also an advantage for Mac users who purchase products through the Mac App Store. It’s easier to keep track of updates and make sure things are compatible, as opposed to a hodgepodge of unrelated third-party products.

When a company “sells” products with perpetual licenses, it becomes an act of juggling development costs and trying to estimate how many new sales will be generated. When you shift to a SaaS model, development and revenue projections become more predictable. According to Adobe, subscriptions also help combat software piracy. Obviously, companies like the model and many are shifting to it – Microsoft, Filmic, Avid, and many other plug-in developers. In fact, Waves is coming late to the idea of subscriptions.

In the case of media, Adobe Creative Cloud covers many applications used on a daily basis by working designers, editors, photographers, etc. Likewise, Waves (or other plug-ins) are used on a daily basis by professional mixers and recording engineers. However, the landscape of potential users has shifted over the past decade. Thanks to social media outlets, there are many more hobbyists and part-time content creators who are also using these tools. They are often not using the tools on a daily basis, so SaaS doesn’t work for them. There’s no incoming revenue to offset the expense. This group of users is far more interested in free and cheap tools, which thanks to software development, are bountiful. These users far surpass the professionals in whatever way you define that.

Waves has traditionally had a weird business model. While their plug-ins are usually quite good, the company has been selling them like they are the “Kmart blue light special” of the audio world. Plug-ins are listed with a retail price of several hundred bucks, but almost always are “on sale” in the range of $30-$50. As a casual user, I appreciate the low cost, but I can’t help but think this undervalues Waves.

The Waves product mix includes a lot of simple variations to what are more or less the same plug-ins, which tends to make the portfolio look larger than it is. You have to routinely pay for updates, which are priced proportionally to the number of plug-ins you have. The truth of the matter is that you can go for a few years and never need to pay for the upgrade. But, due to an OS change or a move to Apple Silicon, you can’t avoid it and may get hit with a surprisingly large invoice.

When Waves shifted to subscription, they made two huge mistakes. First, it was done overnight with no advance warning. Second, all perpetual licenses were frozen without the ability to update. They’d continue to work, but at some future date might not work any longer. The Waves Creative Access subscription plan itself includes two tiers: Waves Essential (110 plug-ins for $14.99/mo) and Waves Ultimate (all 220 plug-ins for $24.99/mo). But there are some important details. The Essential plan is not just any 110 plug-ins, but rather a curated group. You might find that certain key plug-ins that you need require the Ultimate plan.

Needless to say the nature of the change and the lack of advanced communication caused an uproar in the online audio community, with plenty of negative posts by YouTube influencers. Anyone familiar with how Apple handled the transition from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X should have seen this coming. Learning from the past can head off a lot of embarrassment.

The Waves Creative Access plan doesn’t seem to me to be one that really has professional users in mind either. Seriously, what pro studio uses 220 Waves plug-ins? I think the company is trying to entice casual users to pick up more Waves plug-ins than they are now using. And to experiment with some that they might not have otherwise thought about using. That’s good, but it opens Waves up to a world that’s different than Adobe faced a decade ago.

Product promotion is often pushed through social media influencers, including many YouTube channels devoted to certain product types, such as audio. They usually are an affiliate with the company and earn revenue through affiliate links. Therefore, influencers are quite sensitive to the blowback that comes from angry comments on their channel. And so, having a formerly favorable influencer trash your product or company policies does impact sales.

I’m purely speculating now, but in the case of Waves, this may have also been coupled with back-channel feedback from other partners. For example, famous mixers and studios like Abbey Road, who have lent their names to branded products. Or large retailers, like B&H Photo, Thomann Music, or Sweetwater.

But wait! There’s a silver lining. On March 29th, Meir Shashoua, Waves CTO and Co-Founder, issued an open letter acknowledging the concerns and backtracking on the decision. According to the letter, plug-ins will once again continue to be available with perpetual licensing and updates, in addition to the Waves Creative Access subscription plans. At least at the time of this post, all Waves plug-ins are listed at $29.99. If they are sincere and continue with both models, then it’s a win-win for both professional users and hobbyists alike. After all, do you really need 220 plug-ins? It’s refreshing to see when the user voice actually has a positive impact. Hopefully trust isn’t violated again.

©2023 Oliver Peters

Chasing Analog Character

I started in radio and at one point considered a career as a recording engineer. But the path took me to TV and then video post-production instead. I do mix simple projects as part of being a video editor, but complex mixes tend to go out to an experienced audio professional running Pro Tools. Nevertheless, I do keep my hand in mixing music just for fun. Thanks to the internet, even if you don’t know a band to record, you can download high-quality multitracks to mix. It’s a good way to improve your chops for other types of mixes.

I’ve paid close attention to the trends in audio plug-ins and some of the better YouTube channels related to audio topics. Naturally, the internet algorithms push more of this content my way. One trend in analog-style plug-ins for the past few years has been to emulate the channel strips of some of the top audio mixing consoles from past decades.

A trip down analog lane

Originally audio consoles for mixing were variations of radio broadcast consoles. Mono at first, since AM radio was mono, and later stereo. The typical AM radio console in the 1950s and 1960s was a unit that sat on the desk and featured rotary volume knobs, aka pots (potentiometers), for each input. Above the pot sat a switch for on/off, output, and cueing (audition a record without going out over the air). Inputs were set for various mics, turntables, tape decks, and cartridge players. The console’s signal passed through an outboard brick wall limiter and then on to the transmitter.

As recording technology became more “sophisticated” (think The Beatles), console designs changed. Rotary pots were turned sideways and adjusted with a lever-style volume control (fader). At most, each input might have basic filtering/EQ controls. Coincidentally, multi-track recording also came into its own, with recorders shifting from mono and stereo to 4 and 8-track configurations. Therefore, these consoles were designed to have direct outputs. Mic input 1 (fader 1) was sent out through the fader control directly to channel 1 of the recorder, mic 2 (fader 2) to channel 2, and so on. In the early days, having even an 8-track recorder was uncommon, so consoles were still relatively small. The classic example is the REDD console used by Abbey Road Studios.

As recorders advanced and track counts increased (16, 24, 32, and eventually synced 24-track machines for 48 tracks), so did the console sizes. Fader design also evolved to a flat slider, allowing for tighter spacing and more inputs. The mixing console sitting on the desk gave way to large mixing consoles that were the “desk.” While there were and are many different manufacturers, Neve, API (Automated Processes, Inc), and SSL (Solid State Logic) are ones that stand out. These were the consoles often used in studios where some of the iconic rock LPs of the 70s, 80s, and 90s were recorded.

Solid State Logic

The SSL 4000 E was introduced in 1979 as the first mixing desk with integrated dynamics processing on every channel. It also featured a master bus compressor in the center section. I’m familiar with the classic SSL 4000 E series desk, which was the Audio 1 mix console we installed in 1989 at Century III at Universal Studios Florida. The biggest characteristic of this mixing desk is the channel strip, which is what plug-in developers try to emulate today. The SSL 4000 E is quite possibly the most emulated channel strip plug-in of them all.

Vintage SSL analog consoles are still prized gear in many modern studios. The general signal flow of the console goes something like this. During live recording each input channel takes a mic feed, processes it, and sends it back out to the tape deck via a direct output. Then, in playback that same tape recorder channel feeds the line input of the same SSL channel for further processing. The mixed output passes through the center section of the console for the final stereo mix.

The key selling point was and is the integrated processing on each channel, including mic preamps, filters, gate/expander, EQ (equalizer), and compressor. A studio wouldn’t need to buy tons of outboard gear for EQ and compression, because most of what you needed was already in the console. In addition, classic SSL desks, like most mixing consoles, included a patch panel so that outboard gear could be patched and inserted into any of the channel strips. This is the origin for effects inserts common on the software mixer panels of most DAWs and NLEs.

More importantly for mixing engineers, all of the common processing controls are at your fingertips. No need to reach around to a rack to adjust an EQ or compressor, since you can dial in a knob right there on the strip. Only specialized items like a Lexicon reverb or Eventide Harmonizer require moving away from the desk.

Studios standardized on certain console brands, because of the sonic qualities characterized by the design of each manufacturer. To a critical ear, a Neve analog console sounds different than an SSL. Each has a different mojo, thanks to the electronics under the hood, curves selected for EQ and compression, and more. Aside from the physical layout of the strip itself, it’s this sonic mojo that developers like Waves are trying to emulate when they license and release a channel strip plug-in that models a classic brand and design. Even the original companies like SSL have their own flavor of these plug-ins.

Moving into the digital realm

Like all hardware manufacturers, modern SSL mixing products include digital, as well as hybrid console designs. The hybrid desks feature a combination of hardware surfaces and software effects processing. However, most users are running DAWs (digital audio workstation). These applications feature a user interface with mixing panels that mimic the fader array of a classic mix desk. But few include the full array of tools that a classic analog console offered as part of the built-in software channel strips. Apps like Logic Pro or Fairlight (within Resolve) do include in-line EQ and/or compression. But, the general approach has been to rely on native or third-party plug-ins inserted into the strip.

If you want a certain compressor, insert it into one of the available slots above the fader. Click the plug-in to open it and adjust the settings. Unfortunately, if you have both a third-party EQ and compressor applied, then you have to open two different plug-ins, many of which feature skeuomorphic designs to emulate the look of the real hardware – some larger, some smaller. Your screen starts to get rather cluttered, especially if you are doing this on several channels at the same time.

A new trend has been emerging, probably due in part to Universal Audio’s Luna DAW. This application is focused on mixing and takes more of an analog approach than other DAWs. Not only is the approach different, but it also strives to infuse the sonic qualities of analog gear. So now we are seeing a wide range of new third-party channel strip plug-ins, which each attempt to emulate the look and sound of the channel strip portions of classic analog mixing desks.

The truth about analog emulation

The color, warmth, or character associated with the analog sound is due to imperfections. An old chief engineer of mine referred to EQs, compressors, and similar devices as “controlled distortion devices.” Analog hardware uses components, like resistors and capacitors, which were and are all subject to a variance in tolerances, aging, and worse.

When a plug-in developer makes a licensed digital plug-in designed to emulate some piece of classic gear, they are often working from schematics of the design or maybe a working version of the actual piece of gear. However, if they are trying to emulate a console channel strip, odds are that they are modeling a single version or only a single input. In reality, the signal flowing through each channel of an SSL or Neve console is going to be slightly different from one to the next. That’s a result of the variances in the electronics for things like harmonic distortion, even though they may still be well within the design specs. Although extremely minor, channel 1 might sound different from channel 2 and so on.

Listen to experienced mixers talking about their favorite studios and you’ll quickly learn they always sent drums through specific channels, guitars through others, etc – simply because of these variances. If you loaded up Pro Tools with a Waves SSL 4000 E plug-in on each channel of a mix, it would not sound identical to a mix done on an actual SSL console. Furthermore, a vintage analog console today that’s in good condition has often been recapped – meaning, capacitors and other aged electronic parts have been replaced. This affects the sound. A mix on a vintage SSL today might also sound different than on that same console when it was new 30 years ago. A lot of this chase for the ideal analog sound is rather Quixotic.

To emulate these minor variations, Brainworx integrates TMT (Tolerance Modeling Technology) into their channel strip plug-ins (AMEX 9099, SSL 9000 J, Focusrite SC, SSL 4000 E). They have modeled 72 slight differences, intended to reproduce the channel-to-channel sonic variations of a real console. If you apply one of these channel strip plug-ins to multiple inputs, you can opt to set the TMT setting to all be the same number (1-72), be sequential, or be random.

When you click the TMT button to random, then each plug-in uses a different model from the 72 choices. You can opt to re-randomize the order and in doing so, get a slightly different sound to the mix. Do this a number of times until you get the magical combination that you like. While the differences may be trivial, I can attest that the changes are real. Of course, you are applying this to different sounding instruments in a mix anyway, so does it really matter? You decide.

Turning your DAW into an analog desk

We are so enamored with the analog sound, that this has taken many different turns. For  example, Pro Tools now includes a plug-in/feature called HEAT (Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Technology). Quoting from the Avid website: “HEAT does more than just warm-up your sound – it actually fuses the color characteristics of vintage analog consoles, vacuum tube circuits, and analog tape into your mix using high-quality, sophisticated algorithms. In the analog world, euphonic characteristics are introduced across individual audio tracks when mixing on an analog console or tracking to analog tape. HEAT works similarly, processing all audio tracks individually. But it also gives you the power to tweak its Drive and Tone controls globally to get the sound you want, whether that means something richer, brighter, smoother, or livelier. You can also A/B individual tracks or the entire mix to compare your handiwork, choose a pre or post insert state, or bypass HEAT altogether.”

A similar approach using the channel strip interface is featured in the Waves CLA Mixhub. Noted recording engineer Chris Lord-Alge has partnered with Waves to produced a number of CLA-branded plugins. CLA Mixhub is his variation on an SSL-style channel strip. You can apply the plug-in to up to 64 tracks. By assigning channels to “buckets” – 8 channels per bucket, 8 buckets total – it enables you to work more like you would on a traditional console. Click an instance of the plug-in the single view and you see the traditional SSL-style adjustments: EQ, filters, dynamics, etc. Click to bucket view and you’ll see a group of eight inputs at a time. Now you can select between each of the sections. This enables you to work with eight EQs or eight compressors all at once, much like you would on a real console. To my knowledge, no other plug-in works this way… yet.

Of course, Waves is a popular plug-in developer and they offer many other choices for channel strips. One of my favorites is the Andrew Scheps Omni Channel. Scheps is also a top mixer who has lent his name to several plug-ins. Rather than do his version of an SSL or Neve channel strip, Scheps had Waves combine the tools he likes best, taking a little bit from a variety of analog tools. Not only does it include many useful tools in a single plug-in, but you can re-arrange the signal flow order. Want to swap the compressor before the EQ, or Gate before the de-esser? No problem. There’s also an insert slot to add in other available Waves plug-ins on your system.

I’ve spent a lot of this post talking about plug-ins that look, feel, and sound like vintage, analog hardware. Yet, there are modern approaches to a channel strip as well. iZotope’s Nectar, Neutron, and Ozone are exactly that. In the end, the appeal to a channel strip is ergonomics. All of the important processing is there close at hand without the need to open multiple plug-ins each with different interfaces. Not only should they sound great, but they should be easy to use and help you get to a great mix quickly.

As I’ve stated before, these plug-ins are all designed first and foremost for audio applications. Most will work within editing applications, too, although with some exceptions. Test a trial version before you commit. But, if you’re chasing an analog sound and mixing experience, many of these tools are worth your experimentation.

Addendum: During the last week of March, Waves abruptly changed its business policy from perpetual licensing to a pure subscription model. Later in the week they backtracked and announced that both perpetual and subscription options would be available after all. More on that in the next blog post.

©2023 Oliver Peters