CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter

“I use the CLA-76 Compressor a lot. It sounds and behaves so much like my own 1176 Bluestripe!”

“CLA’s 1176 has the best simulation of the ‘all buttons down mode’ of the hardware 1176 that I’ve heard in a plugin.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without the CLA-76. It’s one of the plugins that just works every single time and there is zero latency.”

“I can’t live without this plugin on my sessions. The CLA-76 is all over everything I work on.”

“No mix of mine would be complete without CLA-76. Whether on guitars or vocals, this plugin sounds exactly like the units I used to ‘borrow’ from my brother. I guess it’s time to return them!”

“I’ve been a huge user of 1176s for 20 years, and the CLA-76 is the closest thing to the real deal, period. Not only is the sonic output fantastic, but the way that it reacts to incoming audio the same way a hardware unit is really impressive. Another plug that gets used on every mix.”

“I love CLA-76. I mainly use it on vocals. It very accurately emulates the original hardware versions.”

“The CLA-76 is one of the most reliable compressor plugins available.”

“If somebody would take the CLA-76 from me I’d probably lose my mind…or use one of those other great compressors Waves has.”

“The CLA-76 makes pretty much everything that runs through it sound better.”

“The default dynamics plugin in my Pro Tools preferences; that says a lot right there!”

“The CLA-76 makes the meanest parallel compression I've ever heard.”

“I use CLA-76 at the beginning of my vocal chains to heat up the signal and control peaks in the output. Sometimes I use it on the master mix after the SSL G-Master Compressor with less than 3 dB of reduction.”

“My favorite compressor by far. I slap the CLA-76 on almost everything.”

“One of my go-to plugins is the CLA-76. I love the character and punch it adds to vocals. ”

“When I use this plugin, I’m very careful about which emulation I use. The revision A/B (blue stripe) is GREAT for vocals and high-end percussion as it has less low-end response than the rev D version (black). I use this on 95% of my vocal chains. With vocals I always spend a long time on the attack and release settings as they make a HUGE difference to how the voice sits in the mix. Also, if it’s a real ‘pop’ tune I use the “all in” ratio setting as it really slams the compressor and makes the vocal jump out.”

“CLA-76 has been part of my vocal chain since it came out. I use two in series. First the Bluey all buttons in, fast attack, fast release, just touching the loudest peaks. That feeds into the Blacky 4:1 slow attack and medium release doing 3-5 dB of compression. The combination of the two gives the vocal great attitude while helping it sit right in the mix.”

“For smooth controlled vocals I love to use Waves CLA-76 compressing 3dB with a 4:1 Ratio and Attack at 3 and Release at 7. If I’m going for a more aggressive in-your-face vocals sound, I switch it to the Bluey with the same settings but knocking down 10dB.”