M3 (Music Mix Mobile) Uses Waves SoundGrid® Plugins with Lawo Console for 2019 CMA Awards

M3 co-founder and Engineer-in-Charge Joel Singer notes, “This is the 10^th year we have done this event, and every year we have taken it up a notch, but what’s been consistent for us throughout the years has been our use of Waves. Years ago, we used a hybrid platform of D-Control mixing surfaces and Pro Tools engines, and Waves was a prominent feature in that, but things evolved in the years after that, and now we have Lawo consoles. The integration of Lawo with Waves MultiRack is seamless, so it’s the obvious platform for us, and of course it lets us easily use all the fun and wonderful DSP that Waves has created and that we’ve come to rely on over the years.”  

Singer continues, “On a show like the CMAs, we’re using a plethora of plugins from Waves, and it’s basically every bit of effects and special dynamics processing that you hear on the show. We still rely on the Lawo for its EQ and Dynamics but need the nuance of some of the special processing Waves has created. We build racks full of processing that will take us through any scenario offered during the show. We’re using six or seven different Waves H-Reverb hybrid reverbs, some in surround, some in stereo for different parts of the show and different artists, H-Delay Hybrid Delays for different parts of the show and different artists. We use the SSL G-Equalizer, and C6 Multiband Compressor on our special problems channels, where you have the specificness of wanting to reduce an annoying frequency in a vocal, but you don't want to hack it out with an EQ. We also run Renaissance Vox and the CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter, all with basically zero latency.” 

A key part of M3’s workflow is its two-truck setup: the Eclipse truck (“A-truck”) is the primary on-air broadcast truck, and the Horizon truck (“B-truck”) is a remix booth so work can continue while a new act and their technical staff moves to Eclipse. The two trucks are identical down to the very last detail, from consoles to monitors to plugins, so the work can toggle between the trucks during the hectic days leading up to the live broadcast. Singer notes, “Horizon can take over as the main broadcast truck if Eclipse were ever to fail, and we have as much redundancy as possible in terms of servers, cores, fiber paths, and so on. Every detail has been backed up, because this is a high-stakes game we are playing when we are responsible for the live broadcast audio.” 

M3 co-founder and Engineer-in-Charge Joel Singer notes, “This is the 10^th year we have done this event, and every year we have taken it up a notch, but what’s been consistent for us throughout the years has been our use of Waves. Years ago, we used a hybrid platform of D-Control mixing surfaces and Pro Tools engines, and Waves was a prominent feature in that, but things evolved in the years after that, and now we have Lawo consoles. The integration of Lawo with Waves MultiRack is seamless, so it’s the obvious platform for us, and of course it lets us easily use all the fun and wonderful DSP that Waves has created and that we’ve come to rely on over the years.”  

Singer continues, “On a show like the CMAs, we’re using a plethora of plugins from Waves, and it’s basically every bit of effects and special dynamics processing that you hear on the show. We still rely on the Lawo for its EQ and Dynamics but need the nuance of some of the special processing Waves has created. We build racks full of processing that will take us through any scenario offered during the show. We’re using six or seven different Waves H-Reverb hybrid reverbs, some in surround, some in stereo for different parts of the show and different artists, H-Delay Hybrid Delays for different parts of the show and different artists. We use the SSL G-Equalizer, and C6 Multiband Compressor on our special problems channels, where you have the specificness of wanting to reduce an annoying frequency in a vocal, but you don't want to hack it out with an EQ. We also run Renaissance Vox and the CLA-76 Compressor/Limiter, all with basically zero latency.” 

A key part of M3’s workflow is its two-truck setup: the Eclipse truck (“A-truck”) is the primary on-air broadcast truck, and the Horizon truck (“B-truck”) is a remix booth so work can continue while a new act and their technical staff moves to Eclipse. The two trucks are identical down to the very last detail, from consoles to monitors to plugins, so the work can toggle between the trucks during the hectic days leading up to the live broadcast. Singer notes, “Horizon can take over as the main broadcast truck if Eclipse were ever to fail, and we have as much redundancy as possible in terms of servers, cores, fiber paths, and so on. Every detail has been backed up, because this is a high-stakes game we are playing when we are responsible for the live broadcast audio.” 

Jay Vicari and John Harris, the show’s mixers, rely on a number of presets to tailor the Waves plugins to their liking. “A lot of the machine presets are a great starting point,” notes Singer. “We just tweak them for specific personal flavors.” 

Looking to the future, Singer plans on keeping Waves as a cornerstone of M3’s setup. “We’re planning on moving from MultiRack to SuperRack [a cutting-edge plugin rack that lets live sound and broadcast engineers run up to 128 audio channels through multiple instances of Waves’ plugins, with near-zero latency and offers endless customization options that make it easy for you to tailor the application to your very own mixing workflow] soon. These platforms are multidimensional tools. There is quite a bit of depth to do many different things. Waves is an international language at this point: all the engineers and artists’ reps that come in the truck are familiar with it, and we’re always learning new things from other people who use this stuff out on the road. Learning and listening – that’s what Waves does, and that’s what Waves allows us to do, even in a high-stress live broadcast situation.”