Waves have announced the release of Spherix Compressor and Limiter, their first plugins specifically designed for Atmos and other immersive formats.
Waves Spherix is a dynamics suite designed for fast, streamlined work on the beds (fixed channels) of immersive 7.1.4/7.1.2 mixing environments (such as Dolby Atmos.) The Spherix compressor and limiter gives users a dedicated workflow optimised for working on immersive mixes, including:
Channel Linking: Spherix lets you group your channels in different ways, so can control dynamics in various modes. You can work on each bed separately (multi-mono), group all beds together, or group them by the relevant immersive groups: all your tops grouped together, all rears + sides together, or 3 different front wall splits (LR, LRC, LRC+LFE), depending on how you want to address your centre and LFE channels.
Control links allow you to work even faster, linking the controls of different channels by similar zone-grouping options, so you can do quick tweaks to a full zone (tops, rear + sides, and the various front wall splits) with a single touch.
Quick-access knobs are always available to you on all channels right below the metering. These will show the last parameter you tweaked, making it available for all channels or groups without the need to manually switch between multiple channels.
Metering and viewing options optimised to immersive environments allow you to view all your meters and gain reduction, for all your fixed channels, in a fast convenient way.
Weight Knob
Waves have also created a new way to shift dynamic energy in your immersive mix. The weight knob is a new way of mixing that allows you to have the full spectrum of reactions from your grouped channel links, opening up brand new creative options.
When centred (“GRP”), the group will react normally – compressing and limiting multiple channels as one.
Set to “All” and it will shift the weight in your sidechain, making the group listen and react to all other channels and compress by the audio coming from them. This makes your group react similarly to a master bus, compressing when audio hits its threshold from any channel.
The “IND” setting will loosen up the group, making each channel within the group react more to itself, giving you a closer reaction to a multi-mono setup.
Waves Spherix Compressor And Limiter is out now and available for $199. To learn more, head over to Waves’ website.