Check Your Mixes in Abbey Road’s Studio 3 Control Room
Abbey Road has set a standard of excellence for decades, and mixing there is an experience only a few can have—until now. Thanks to advanced 3D acoustics modeling, just put on headphones, and you’ll be transported to mixing stereo or surround projects in a truly historic control room.
Waves has modeled every sonic nuance of this premier mixing space—and with correction EQ curves for 270 headphone models, now you can mix with realism you have to hear to believe.
Better Mixes—Anytime, Anywhere
Sometimes, headphones are your most convenient monitoring option. But mixing on headphones can be unreliable: you might easily add too much ambient reverb, or too much low end, etc. Abbey Road Studio 3 corrects the inherent limitations of the headphone experience, so you can create mixes that will translate perfectly to any system.
Monitor in Abbey Road’s Flagship Mix Room
The Abbey Road Studio 3 control room was designed by the world’s greatest acoustic experts, to provide the ultimate mixing environment. Contemporary mixes and remixes of the Beatles and Pink Floyd, modern classics by Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and more—all were perfected at Abbey Road Studio 3.
Choose from 3 Sets of Custom Abbey Road Monitors
Check your mixes through the studio’s three sets of custom-made speakers: Near-fields for critical listening, mid-fields for a hi-fi sound, or far-field for a big speaker sound with a club-like feel.
EQ Correction for 270 Headphone Models
Abbey Road Studio 3 uses the state-of-the-art Harman Headphone Target Curve method to correct EQ response for over 270 studio headphones, including models by Sony, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, AKG, Audio Technica, Audeze, Focal, and dozens more brands.
Powered by Waves Nx® Immersive Audio Technology
Waves Nx uses channel crosstalk, inter-aural delays (ITD), filters (ILD), early reflections, and head motion tracking to replicate the immersive experience of hearing audio in the real world. All these are coupled with precision measurements of the acoustic response at the physical Abbey Road Studio 3 control room, to faithfully deliver the original monitoring experience.
Personalize Your Studio Environment
Use the precise emulation of Studio 3’s acoustics, or dial in slightly wetter or drier room ambience. For personal adjustment of the 3D effect to your head/ear anatomy, enter your personal head measurements into the plugin’s head anatomy calibration section.
Track Head Motion for Enhanced Immersion
When you’re in the studio and turn your head, the sound changes. And it can here, too: for an immersive, VR-like experience, track head motion with your computer’s video camera, or with the advanced Nx Head Tracker.
Mix and Monitor 5.1/7.1—on Any Stereo Headphones
In addition to stereo mixes, Abbey Road Studio 3 includes components for mixing in 5.1 and 7.1 surround. Breakthrough binaural processes and spatial modeling accurately reflect surround mixes—even with stereo headphones.
Features
- Provides the sound and feel of sitting in front of studio monitors
- EQ correction curves flatten response for 270 headphones
- You’ll know that your headphone mixes will translate over speakers
- The neutral, accurate sound is ideal for all types of productions
- Created in close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios
- Choose from classic near, mid, or far monitors
- Having a common acoustic space is optimal for team projects
- Optional head tracking for hyper-realistic, immersive mixing
Description
System Requirements
Waves v15 System Requirements
Mac | Windows |
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CPU Intel or Silicon Architecture See notes regarding Apple Silicon based processors | CPU X64 compatible Intel or AMD CPU |
Memory Minimum: 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended) 16 GB free disk space on the system drive | Memory Minimum: 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended) 16 GB free disk space on the system drive |
Operating System macOS Monterey 12, Ventura 13, Sonoma 14 | Operating System Windows 10 64 bit (21H2) Windows 11 (21H2) |
Screen Resolution Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 USB displays are not supported as the primary display. | Screen Resolution Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 |
Exceptions and Notes
Clarity Vx / Pro and Clarity Vx DeReverb / Pro:
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Waves 15 Supported Hosts
MacApple Silicon Support | Windows |
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Pro Tools 2023.12, 2024 (AAX Native, Audiosuite) | Pro Tools 2022, 2023 (AAX Native, Audiosuite) |
Ableton Live 12 (VST3) | Ableton Live 12 (VST3) |
Audition 24 (VST3) | Audition 24 (VST3) |
Bitwig Studio 5.1 (VST3) | Bitwig Studio 5.1 (VST3) |
Cakewalk by BandLab 2024 (VST3) | |
Cubase 13 (VST3) | Cubase 13 (VST3) |
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 | DaVinci Resolve 18.5 |
Digital Performer 11 (Audio Units) | |
FL Studio 21 (VST3) | FL Studio 21 (VST3) |
Garage Band 10.4 (Audio Units) | |
Komplete Kontrol 3 (VST3) | Komplete Kontrol3 (VST3) |
Logic Pro X 10.8, 11 (Audio Units) | |
Luna 1.6 (Audio Units) | |
Nuendo 13 (VST3) | Nuendo 13 (VST3) |
OBS Studio 29 (Intel Only) Via StudioVerse, Stereo only | OBS Studio 29 (Intel Only) Via StudioVerse, Stereo only |
Premiere Pro 24 (VST3) | Premiere Pro 24 (VST3) |
Maschine 2 (VST3) | |
Main Stage 3 (Audio Units) | |
Pyramix 14 (VST3) | |
REAPER 7 (VST3) | REAPER 7 (VST3) |
Reason 12.7 (VST3) | Reason 12.7 (VST3) |
Samplitude Pro X8 (VST3) | |
Sequoia 16 (VST3) | |
Studio One Professional 6 (VST3) | Studio One Professional 6 (VST3) |
Waves’ latest version works on newer sub-versions of these DAWs, unless stated otherwise.
Waves plugins comply with the major audio plugin formats (VST3, AU, AAX).
If your DAW is not listed below, but supports VST3, AU or AAX, it should work fine with our software.
Your DAW must be running on an operating system that supports it in order for plugins to work properly. To confirm that your DAW version is supported on your operating system, please refer to your DAW’s website.
Exceptions & Notes:
General:
- These specs are for software version 15.
- V15 supports 64-bit only.
- In hosts that support both VST and VST3 plugins, we highly recommend using only VST3 plugins in new sessions from now on, and migrating plugins in old sessions to VST3.
- With the release of Waves V13 plugins, we announce full official Apple Silicon support for host applications that are themselves Apple Silicon-compatible. We will work to provide official ARM support for more host applications as they become Silicon-compatible. We will update this page with new developments as they are available.
- MIDI Support: The following hosts do not offer MIDI support: Pyramix, Premiere, Audition and OBS.
- MIDI Learn:
Not supported in the following plugins: Scheps Omni Channel 2, MultiMod Rack, CLA MixHub, Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain.
Native Instrument hosts: MIDI learn is not supported in effect plugins if they’re inserted after a virtual instrument plugin in Maschine and Komplete Kontrol.
Logic Pro, MainStage, Digital Performer, Luna: Only certain plugins support MIDI learn. Click here for a full list.
GarageBand: MIDI Learn is supported only with Waves Virtual Instrument plugins. - Mono to Stereo components are not supported in Cakewalk by BandLab, GarageBand and Luna.
- Sidechaining is supported on the following hosts: Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Nuendo, Cubase, Cakewalk by BandLab, Audition, Ableton Live, FL Studio, REAPER, Bitwig Studio, Samplitude, Sequoia and Studio One.
- Demo Mode: Audio mutes are not synced between plug-ins running in Demo Mode, when tracks are set to Input Monitoring and the transport is stopped.
- Surround plugins are supported on the following hosts: Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Digital Performer, Nuendo, Cubase, Audition, Premiere, REAPER, Pyramix and DaVinci Resolve.
- Drag and Drop support: ‘Drag and Drop' of samples and audio files in to CR8 Creative Sampler is possible only on DAWs that support this feature: Ableton Live, Cubase, Nuendo and Studio One.
- GarageBand: The Preset Browser is not available on Intel Mac computers.
- Adobe Premiere on Apple Silicon Macs: While loading plugins / changing parameters, you may experience a slow graphic refresh rate.
- Maschine/ Komplete Kontrol: The following plugins will not function correctly when loaded as VST3 plugins: API-2500, C1 Compressor, dbx160 Compressor / Limiter, H-Comp Hybrid Compressor, Renaissance Compressor, SSL G-Master Bus Compressor, V-Comp. Maschine 2.17.2 and Komplete Kontrol 2.9.2 include a fix for this issue.
- FL Studio: FL Studio 21.1.1.3318 may produce graphics issues on Mac computers with Intel processors.
Solution: Update FL Studio to the latest version (21.0.3.3352 or later). - DaVinci Resolve: Tempo Sync is not supported.
See all exceptions here
Change Log
View All Waves Release Notes here |
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All Waves Plugins: Across-the-board software update to V15New Features & Improvements in Waves V15
Bug fixes in all Waves plugins
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FAQs
Tutorials
Waves Abbey Road Studio 3 Overview #gettingstarted
Waves product manager Yoni Zlotkin walks you through the Waves Abbey Road Studio 3 plugin. See how you can mix and produce with the perfect acoustics of the Studio 3 control room—inside your headphones.
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