Abbey Road Studio 3

Over several decades, Studio 3 at Abbey
Road Studios has played host to all manner
of high proile projects. Waves Abbey Road
Studio 3 (VST/AU/AAX) is the latest manifestation
of Waves’ Nx system, using its immersive 3D
technology to recreate the control room of
this famous space in your headphones. If
you’re a newcomer to the technology, see
Waves Nx – a recap.
Getting ahead
In terms of functionality, Abbey Road Studio 3
could be perceived as very similar to Waves’ Nx -
Virtual Mix Room plugin. You start by inserting
either a stereo or surround format plugin,
depending on which format you’re working in,
upon which Nx will translate the balance onto
stereo headphones in such a way that sounds
like the phantom image is coming from
monitors in front of around you, rather than
within your head.
The plugin features various settings to
inluence this. Head Modelling has parameters
for head circumference and ear-to-ear distance,
both of which you’ll need to measure and enter
manually. If you listen while changing
parameters, these clearly make quite a
diference. Head Tracking uses either your
computer webcam, Waves’ own headphone-
W a v e s
Abbey Road
Studio 3
$199
Monitoring on headphones can be frustratingly diferent to loudspeakers.
This plugin aims to bridge the gap – and throw in a classic mix space, too
“As you turn your head,
the efect is realistic
and addictive. Whether
it’s beneicial for mixing,
though, is debatable”
STUDIO
MONITORS
For stereo use,
choose from three
sets of monitors
HEAD TRACKING
Activate real-time
head tracking
HEADPHONE
LEVEL
Set the headphone
listening level
TRACKING DEVICE
Select camera,
Head Tracker or a
combination of both
ROTATE STUDIO
Manually shift the listening position
through a full 360 degrees
HEADPHONE EQ
Specific models to
smooth out
headphone
frequency response
CALIBRATE
Hit this when your
head is centred in the
sweet spot
FRAME RATE
The real-time frame
rate shows how responsive
head-tracking is
REAL-TIME HEAD GRAPHIC
Observe real time head tracking as
the head graphic moves
HEAD MODELLING
Enter your head
measurements to
fine tune the plugin
mounted Head Tracker device or a combination
of the two to track your head movements,
modifying the sound accordingly.
The Settings button opens a loating tabbed
window in which you can activate camera and
Bluetooth tracking, select the desired tracking
devices and observe the various 3D parameters
as they’re tracked in real time. With these
options decided, you then centre your seating
position and select the Calibrate option, so your
movements are suitably referenced. Incidentally,
you don’t have to use Head Tracker if you don’t
want to (more on this below).
Much like with Virtual Mix Room, Abbey Road
Studio 3 lets you use any headphones you like
for the process, as it’s not primarily trying to
‘correct’ them to some kind of standard.
However, the Headphone EQ option
conveniently includes calibration curves that
help to smooth out the frequency response for a
handful of preset headphone models.
94 / COMPUTER MUSIC / November 2019
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