Review

Same difference
What marks this plugin out from Virtual Mix
Room, of course, is that it incorporates the
Studio 3 control room ambience and
loudspeakers. When using the stereo version of
the plugin, you get a choice of three pairs of
monitors (Near, Mid and Far), while for the
surround plugin, the monitors default to the
midields. Waves don’t actually specify the
monitors used, but Abbey Road Studio 3’s main
monitors are well known to be soit-mounted
Questeds (the Q412 system), and the surround
monitors are the loor-standing ‘headed’ B&W
800D, both of which match the graphics on the
plugin, as you’d expect.
It’s also worth noting that the plugin has a
speciic ‘sweet spot’, captured using impulse
responses. This is diferent to the mathematical
model approach used for Virtual Mix Room and
means there’s no way to adjust speaker
positions, and no forward or back head tracking.
The room ambience is also ixed, although
switching between each set of monitors
inluences things, replicating the mix room.
The diferent monitor options do sound quite
diferent to each other, with a nicely upfront
directional sound from the nearields and a
more balanced image from the midields. The
main monitors sound more distant and have a
bigger ‘hole’ in the centre of the stereo ield, and
although they deliver a bigger scale, it
ultimately stands to reason that headphones
won’t really ever deliver the physical impact that
main monitors would.
Far more sonic variation is created by the
head tracking. Your webcam and Waves’ Head
Tracker combine to make this very responsive
(we achieved a frame rate of 40 upwards) and as
you turn your head, the efect is both realistic
and quite addictive. Whether it’s beneicial in a
mixing situation, though, is debatable, but if
you’re after predictability, simply switching head
tracking of is always an option.
A further control, Rotate Studio, shifts the
listener perspective horizontally through a full
360 degrees. If you’re working in stereo, turning
180 degrees away from the monitors simply
makes it sound like they’re behind you. In
surround, however, Rotate Studio shifts
everything, so at 180 degrees you can face the L
and R surround speakers and they’ll be reversed
in your headphones. Not only a nice touch
sonically, but you also get to see the graphics-
rich back of the studio with its outboard racks,
patchbay, tape machine and so on.
Sum greater than parts?
As noted, Abbey Road Studio 3 is less tweakable
than Virtual Mix Room, albeit with the beneit of
more loudspeaker options. For those who like
switching between monitors as they work, a
compact loating switching window would be a
great addition, as would some form of small
mono speaker option.
Those points aside, however, Abbey Road
Studio 3 delivers a tight, neutral monitoring
space, is very slick and reliable, and provides a
practical and efective spatialising solution for
anyone mixing on headphones.
Web waves.com
W a v e s
Abbey Road
Studio 3
$199
Verdict
For Realistic loudspeaker emulation
Three monitor options in stereo mode
Good for accurate head tracking
Surround monitoring on headphones
Against Need to also buy Head Tracker
for best tracking performance
No mono monitoring option
Combines Waves’ Nx system with a classic
mix space. Great for mixing on headphones
8/10
Alternatively
Waves Nx Virtual Mix Room
(over Headphones)
NA » NA » $109
Loudspeaker mixing with head
tracking (but a simulated room
rather than a sampled one)
ToneBoosters Isone V3
NA » NA » $49
Simulates loudspeakers and a
control room on headphones
Introduced in 2016, Nx is Waves’
immersive audio system that creates
3D audio on any stereo headphones. It’s
been incorporated into a number of
products including Audeze’s Mobius 3D
headphones, the Nx app for both
desktop and mobile, and DAW plugins
Nx Virtual Mix Room and Abbey Road
Studio 3.
The plugin versions are simply
inserted as the last efect on your
master output, and modify what you
hear in line with their algorithms and
impulse responses. Simply bypass
them when you bounce your mix.
Both Nx plugins incorporate ive key
elements that inluence what you hear.
First, there’s adjustment of the stereo
and mono signal components. This
gives the impression of a phantom
image in front of you, much like
loudspeakers, rather than between
your ears, as with headphones.
Then there’s a room ambience efect
that makes you feel like you’re really in
a mix room, and a range of preset
headphone EQ curves, for lattening
the frequency response of certain cans.
You can specify head size, too.
Finally, the system incorporates very
efective head tracking via a connected
webcam, Waves’ own $99 clip-on
Bluetooth Head Tracker device, or a
combination of both.
Waves Nx – a recap
The Rotate Studio control lets you change the audible
perspective and look at other parts of the control room
Studio 3 shares
many features
with Waves’ Nx
Virtual Mix Room
“You’ll see the graphics-
rich back of the studio
with outboard racks,
patchbay, tape
machine and so on”
November 2019 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 95
waves abbey road studio 3 / reviews <
CMU275.rev_abbeyroadstudio3.indd 95 9/17/19 4:37 PM