# UAD Ocean Way Studios plug-in, boy was I wrong.



## EastWest Lurker (Apr 17, 2014)

When I first tested it, I reached a conclusion that while it was good on "real" audio, with sampled instruments it did not make a difference. LA engineer Rick Ruggeri, who has recorded for hundreds of hours in those studios, came over this morning and showed me how wrong I was. Used properly it really can bring a great sense of room and depth to a mix in Re-mic mode, especially on drier libraries in tandem with reverbs.


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## jamwerks (Apr 17, 2014)

Are you receiving any payment or free hw/sw from UA? If so, you should mention that in your posts (as others do here). If not, cool.


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## EastWest Lurker (Apr 17, 2014)

jamwerks @ Thu Apr 17 said:


> Are you receiving any payment or free hw/sw from UA? If so, you should mention that in your posts (as others do here). If not, cool.



Fair enough. I am not paid by UA but I _am_ a beta tester and upon request I am frequently given a freebie.

I just wanted to correct what I previously wrote about my first impression, which I what I stated.

But if one owns a UAD card or Apollo, one can test a plug-in for themselves for 14 days.


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## Diffusor (Apr 18, 2014)

I played around with it on the demo and it was "meh". Seems to be just impulses responses captured with different mics in various places in the studios wrapped up in a plugin shell. Could be useful but didn't really like the sound of the room that much. Doesn't hold a candle to Ircam SPAT which is infinitely more tweakable in terms of sound and positioning.


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## JT3_Jon (Apr 18, 2014)

any chance you can give a couple specific pointers or settings to try?


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## no3no4 (Apr 19, 2014)

Maybe you could provides some demos so we can hear the effect?


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## EastWest Lurker (Apr 19, 2014)

@ Diffusor, I have been in those rooms and I think they are great sounding rooms., especially Studio B and Rick said that is his favorite too. I =t was block booked so often, sometimes it was hard to even get in there.

2 JT3_Jo After trying different things, with horns so far I dialed in re-mic mode with what you see in the pic.

Don't make the same mistake I made when I first tried it, if you just add it and solo a track you do not do it justice. It is how it works in a mix of orchestral sampled instruments.

@no3no4, no, there is no point. If you have a UAD card or Apollo, try it for yourself. If you do not, well, I am not saying that it alone justifies the cost of one.


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## maestro2be (Apr 19, 2014)

Jay,

Is this plugin a replacement for things such as Spat and MIR PRO? Is this an alternative or an addition to those types of systems?

Maestro2be


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## Patrick de Caumette (Apr 19, 2014)

OW is great with sample libraries: piano, drums, guitars, especially acoustic, strings...etc
This is much more than another impulse response library IMHO...
I do not use it in reverb mode, but rather in re-mic mode.


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## EastWest Lurker (Apr 19, 2014)

maestro2be @ Sat Apr 19 said:


> Jay,
> 
> Is this plugin a replacement for things such as Spat and MIR PRO? Is this an alternative or an addition to those types of systems?
> 
> Maestro2be



Depends on how you use it. It has 2 modes, Re-Mic and Reverb. Re-Mic mode is about adding the sound of the room while reverb is probably more similar to, well, reverb.

I can't speak to Spat vs Ocean Way Re-Mic. I know Piet has strong opinions on it but as he has pointed out, we rarely see eye to eye on much.. I was given an NFR for it but it is still unbelievably only 32 bit and my days of using 32 bit plugins are long over.

The reverb mode probably is more similar to MIR with a Room Pack. I beta tested MIR and thought it quite nice but too much of an investment for what it brought to the table in tandem with what I already have.

Since I am totally in love with my reverb set-up, using it in re-mic mode gives me the ability to add what I think is an excellent sounding room without disrupting my verbs much, although I do have to lower them a little with the added Ocean Way room

Clearly, this is not going to work too well on wetter libraries like Spitfire or Cinematic Strings II, but for the relatively dry libraries I use, mostly the Hollywood Series, Sonic Implants, and Kirk Hunter's, it is really nice.

You are in LA, correct? You should come over some time and play.


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## EastWest Lurker (Apr 19, 2014)

Patrick de Caumette @ Sat Apr 19 said:


> OW is great with sample libraries: piano, drums, guitars, especially acoustic, strings...etc
> This is much more than another impulse response library IMHO...
> I do not use it in reverb mode, but rather in re-mic mode.



Ah so Patrick, we are in agreement. That does not happen a lot


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## chimuelo (Apr 19, 2014)

Thanks Jay.
I know you have years of experience and are wise enough to realize the value of dedicated DSP chips used alongside of DAWs.
I am waiting for a great PC version for real time which should be at NAMM 2015.
I know their stuff is unequaled and can't wait for more development on the Apollo 1Us.
A year from now my rig will have the XITE-1, Apollo 2+?, and PacaRana from Dr. Scarletti at Kyma/Symbolic Sound.
What a rig this will be.

Thanks Again.


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## Giant_Shadow (May 4, 2014)

Got to use this plugin at a friends this weekend. All I can say is it was stunning without being over the top if that makes sense. Praying for a UA coupon or top 10 sale this summer, ASAP.


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## wst3 (May 4, 2014)

Giant_Shadow @ Sun May 04 said:


> All I can say is it was stunning without being over the top if that makes sense.



Makes perfect sense - that's about the best way I know to describe it, it really is a unique addition to the toolbox!


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