Ocean Way Studios
Customer Reviews
Ocean Way Studios
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A. Link
Don't know of anything that comes close
I haven't bothered using my UAD plugins in a while because I have so many good native alternatives and I didn't feel like bringing my Apollo Twin with me when I was traveling. But recently I put OWS on a plucked instrument performance and I just could NOT find a way to get any combination of plugins to perform as well as this one. I am using the re-mic mode on a very close mic setting with a bit of the other mics blended in. I tried using various EQ, compression, then Liquidsonics 7th Heaven which I do love but it just would not sound as natural. I think the scary thing about this plugin is that in remic mode it does SO much to your sound and in some cases if it doesn't work you can't really be too surprised - it completely transforms the sound - but when it does work it does it much more naturally than a combination of lots of plugins and EQ. You might be surprised how much it changes the sound in remic mode and think “dang isn’t that adding some phase issues or some harshness? what is this thing doing!?” but as soon as you start trying to emulate the effect with other plugins you get an even more artifact-heavy result. What I love especially about remic mode is that it compresses the sound in a very natural way unlike any compressor I have ever used, and most importantly it adds the depth to the sound of the room in a way that even 7th Heaven can't do. 7th Heaven would be my first choice if I just wanted my sound to stay exactly as is but add a bit of room ambience around it, but for anything where I'm not 100% sold on the balance of the recording OWS is worth a shot.
One thing I realized that is crazy is that while there are probably some things going into this plugin that are not IR based, in the end the actual plugin seems to be mostly an IR generator. Clearly IR's are more useful than anyone ever knew - but you obviously can't just expect to take them from an actual room and get the right result - the magic here is in the IR that UA has generated for the attack on remic mode. So they must have spent a ton of time researching how to build EXTREMELY realistic and useful IRs for this remic mode. I love other reverbs for what they do but nothing comes close to this. I know it was a lot of work but this is the #1 thing UA has done in my experience.
Also people on forums and elsewhere will say you can do the same thing in Altiverb. Well yes Altiverb is an IR player and has some incredible rooms, some of which probably sound better than OWS on many things, but the issue is Altiverb hasn’t tackled the completely artificial programming of these early reflection remic impulses that are generated on the fly as you move the mic around. I mean this is just so much more useful than Altiverb because I can frankly use any algorithmic or decent reverb to get a really good tail and dispersion of sound. The thing that is nearly impossible to do is replace these early reflections as if you actually recorded the sound there. Whatever UA did to measure them isn’t something other companies have seemed to tackle at all.
J. Manning
Very Nice
Place your instrument in a room. Sounds great.
S. Collins
Remarkable!
Captures room ambiance with tone shaping using different mics and EQ options. Re-mic mode plus reverb mode. You would have to work hard to not dial in a nice natural sound.
F. Jessen
The Room!
Grab it!
J. Foster
Magic!
Take your dreadful flat sounding DI'd acoustic, try to salvage it with EQ as best you can, then output to a stereo bus and re-mic it with OWS - just first 2 mics (OWR A - Guitar is good) , close as you can then split them left and right - unbelievable. Worth it for this alone.
c. maskell
Awesome
Adds depth and realism.
C. Thompson
OWS is a game changer
I did the 14 day demo with Ocean Way Studios and my first thought was it was just ok. I took a drum track from LPX and “put” the drums into Studio A which was a light bulb moment! OWS made those drums come alive and I could hear nuances in the drum track I had never heard before. Right then and there I understood how great OWS is. It works so well with everything I have used it on Guitar, Vocals and Piano. It’s a sonic game changer!
R. Walsh
You have to try
I suggest you at least try the demo. Nothing is perfect but this plugin is perfect sometimes. I use Groove Agent for my drums and percussion. Ocean Way makes them sound real. Not all the time but when Ocean Way works there is no substitute.
A. Reverberi
Outstanding
Even better than I thought
V. De Puydt
Easy to use / Great sound
Nice tool to create space around your "dried recorded" instruments and voice / Cohesion between digital instruments (drums) and much more :)
S. Tydeman
In LOVE
Simply a really nice and beautiful sounding plugin! Heads up - it is DSP heavy.
M. Subbotin
Must have for drums room sound
If you don't have the opportunity to record drums in an expensive studio, then this plugin will do a great job in order to reproduce the rich sound of the room. Just send drums to AUX with this plugin and you're done. Wonderful surround pleasant sound!
P. Motyczak
100% Real
Amazing reverb and ambience plugin! It's just feels like being in Ocean Way Rooms. Probably the best reverb plugin I've ever used.
S. Mollica
Amazing
This is the best space emulation plugin heard so far. The option to choose between re-mic and reverb based on the audio material to process is brilliant. Activate Demo and find out!
M. Ayley
Interesting, effective and being used immediately
This was included with a purchase of a satellite and I sure am glad it was. Sounds great! Makes my midi drums sound like they are real. I really enjoy how much you can control the sound with this.
J. monlleo
Amazing!
I think this is one of the best pluguins made ever, for any company... it's from 2013 but still having a fantastic future...excelent!
C. Mayr
Finally, a real Room
This Plug has a versatile usability to give the Instruments or Vocals the right place in your mix. Fantastic !
K. Irgens
The rumors was true. Sounds great.
This is a great sounding plugin. You get the possibility to add a very natural and good sounding room sound, to your tracks. Brings life and natural ambience to your tracks. I have only tried the reverb part of it, and that is frankly what I was looking for. The microphones and preamps I have, have more than enough mojo. And my rooms are actually very pleasent and balanced sounding, being all massive, well diffused and dampend wood. But I tend to avoid too much of my rooms in the recordings, because I often like to experiment with acoustic spaces at a later point in the production.
This plug does allow me to add that natural room I might be missing, at a later stage, and it does it amazingly well. This one will be handy for sure.
Thanks UA
♥️
L. Rocha
The best room emulation
é sem duvida uma das melhores emulações de sala que ja testei, inserido no bus da bateria da uma vida constante
F. Liedholm
Dude what
I was hoping this would do to drums what most reviews claimed. I tried it and it does it all whilst being usable on so much more.
The best artificial room sound to me. Can get att little phasy at times. The re-mic mode is really interesting. Great plugin.