WaveLab Pro Workflows with Justin Perkins

There is currently no auto setting, but you could change the Reference track’s gain (Inspector Window), to make some manual adjustment to match the loudness of the montage.

Usually it’s best to adjust the processed version level DOWN to the level of reference version because raising the reference version to the processed version will induce some limiting/clipping and that makes it hard to really compare apples to apples.

So, the best way to compare your work in progress which is usually louder than the source is to turn down the processed version.

This would require some kind of Smart Bypass system to work inside the montage itself. I have very little experience with Smart Bypass in the master section since I don’t use the master section for any processing ever.

I’ve been meaning to see if there is a solution somewhere with Metric AB and/or Ian Shepherd’s Perception plugin, but haven’t had time. Maybe I’ll look into it soon.

I always use my final peak limiter’s “1:1” setting, which adjusts the output level down to match the incoming signal. (I used to do this by manually reducing the output ceiling when I used a limiter without it.) This keeps my fully-processed signal’s level in the ballpark of the source and any reference tracks.

I then turn off “1:1” mode when it comes time to export final references or masters.

Interesting. Which limiter has this feature?

FabFilter Pro-L 2 and PSP Xenon for sure, possibly others.

When Ozone was my go-to limiter, I would just turn down the output level to match the input threshold.

Ah yes, after I wrote that last message I started to recall that Pro-L 2 might have that setting in there somewhere. I’m using Limitless 2/3 of the time and Pro-L 2 1/3 of the time.

I’m comfortable enough with my workflow that I’m not dying for a feature like this, but I do think if some form of Smart Bypass/Level matching could happen in the montage to bring the processed version down (or up) to the level of the reference track output, it would be a nice feature.

Yeah I use Metric A/B when mixing and it works great. I do use in Wavelab as well, which works great for external references but the “Sync” function doesn’t work in Wavelab so it’s hard to A/B perfectly to the demo which is optimal.

Perception seems like it would solve this but as it works on a plugin chain, but don’t know if I need it enough to drop a couple of hundred on another A/B plug.

Seconded to have smart bypass in the Montage!

I’m not familiar enough with Metric A/B but I wonder why the sync function doesn’t work. Maybe it’s something that either PG or Plugin Alliance can resolve.

The Sync in A/B works off the timeline of the DAW, so in Pro-Tools as long as the reference track starts at Bar 0 of your session everything syncs great. Given the nature of Montage Timeline, you can’t really get it to sync anything but the first track in the montage. So more accurately the Sync does work it, it’s just the nature of the sync that doesn’t fit Wavelab’s format.

It’s still great for referencing to commercial releases as it has lots of loop/marker functionality. The level match function works well too you just have to select sections with similar intensity while level matching.

Smart Bypass on the master section is superior IMHO but I agree with you notes in the video about the Master Section (I have on more than one occasion lost a tracks plug-in chain by forgetting to save it) so am looking at moving to something similar to your Montage only based work flow.

Actually just writing that last post got me thinking…

I just did a bounce of the whole montage after setup of tracklist and marker points etc but before putting on any plugins. Bringing this into Metric A/B then makes everything work great. It syncs exactly to the Montage timeline. Level match works as well.This feels like a good work around for me at the moment. I little extra admin but relatively elegant solution. Works with Metric A/B in Master Section or Output of Montage. You could also use this to reference previous master versions as well when doing revisions.

Although not ideal as the client could change track order or mixes but for the most part I like it!

Thanks for doing this Justin. Added some nice tweaks to my workflow.

Yes thank you. I am watching the video a second time now, and it also helped to improve my workflow a lot!

Thank you for sharing your expertise, know-how and even you settings/preferences. I think this video will help quite a few people to get a grasp of Wavelab. I have so far been using just the file by file approach as I have not yet had a need to setup a montage. When I get an album ready one day, I now can put it together as a montage.

Thank you for the insight! This will be a workflow reference video in my files.

Hey Justin, Fred Kevorkian from Kevorkian mastering here. Happy New Year! I have been a Wavelab user for over 17 years. Like you, I developed a really comfortable workflow through the years but unfortunately I got stuck to W5! I guess it is time to move on… I just got W10pro and I am getting slowly used to it. I don’t do sessions yet with it but it will happen soon. I really enjoyed your video. Even if it wasn’t a tutorial it was very well done. Thanks again for sharing your expertise. -Fred.

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the message, and I’m glad I’ve been able to help you with WaveLab. WaveLab 10 had some pretty big changes in that you can now record back into the montage from another track in the same montage session. Something that nearly any DAW can do, but WaveLab due to its unique architecture could not, until now.

It still has plenty of room to grow but it’s a good addition and step in the right direction.

I’ll be doing monthly livestreams for Steinberg so if you have any topic ideas, feel free to send them my way.

Thank you for your respond. I have a few questions and I tried to go through the forum. Philippe was really good at responding as well as other people but I feel that it takes a long time to get a satisfactory answer. I must say W5 to W10 is a big jump and I realise I need to get more involve with it before complaining that I used to do things faster etc…

I wish I could attend classes in NY. It will be so much better and faster.
Would you consider a paid consultation over the phone? Again I feel that I need to be more familiar with the software and experiment on my own. But once I feel more comfortable and done with “homework” I wouldn’t mind having a conversation with you about it.
In the meantime I will try to be on your YouTube channel.

Thanks again for your help.

-Fred.

Yes, last year I ended up doing a number of consulting Zoom sessions for WaveLab and mastering in general. This winter my goal is to get an official website set up for that type of thing to make the booking easier, and to get a feel for what you can expect.

For now, feel free to direct message me on this forum and we can connect via email.

Thanks,
Justin

Very well Justin. That’s great. Yes I will gather a bunch of questions/ideas as I am getting more knowledgeable about W10.

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