In our ongoing series looking at the A-Z of Waves, we come to H for Harmonic Enhancers and in the Waves plugin portfolio there are several to choose from including Andrew Scheps 73, Cobalt Saphira, Vitamin and Aphex Aural Exciter plugins.

Waves Andrew Scheps 73

In the video review Russ takes a look at the new Waves Scheps 73 plug-ins and asks does it give anything new compared to other Waves emulations.

Waves say of the Scheps 73, that it is a colourful 3-band EQ modeled on the classic 1073 console's EQ and mic preamp module and developed in association with world-renowned mixing engineer Andrew Scheps (Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Lana Del Ray, Metallica, Jay-Z.)

Using innovative procedures to model the acclaimed Marinair transformer, Waves has aimed to capture all the sonic characteristics of the 1073, including its harmonic distortion. These overtones were tweaked by Andrew Scheps himself, resulting in beautiful and authentic saturations.

Andrew Scheps Talking About His Scheps 73 Plugin

In this video, producer/engineer Andrew Scheps (Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hozier) explains how he likes to use his Waves Scheps 73 plugin, modeled on the Neve 1073 console's EQ and mic preamp module, and gives his tips on using the plugin for mid-side EQing.

Waves Cobalt Saphira Advanced Harmonics Shaping Plugin

Russ takes a look and listen to the new Waves Cobalt Saphira Advanced Harmonics Shaping Tool and tries it both on a mix and some solo instruments. 

Cobalt Saphira is an advanced harmonics shaping tool that lets you add rich harmonics to your tracks in order to give them analog musicality, depth and "glue."

• Analog harmonic enhancement with full digital control 
• Edge and Warmth controls – allowing you to balance tube, solid-state and transformer qualities in order to achieve various levels of even and odd harmonic enhancement
• 4-band EQ for separate control of the frequency spectrum of the even (Edge) and odd (Warmth) harmonics
• Seven different harmonics modes for your tweaking pleasure
• Tape depth with five different tape speeds to choose from
• Great for "gluing" your sub-groups and master buss

In this video, Waves give useful tips on how the Cobalt Saphira harmonics-shaping plugin can help you glue your tracks and give your mixes analog depth by adding harmonics to your tracks and letting you directly control the different aspects of the harmonics you are adding.

Waves Vitamin Plugin

Russ takes a look at the new Waves Vitamin plug-in and reviews this handy plug-in. He gives examples of using it on drums, piano, synth and guitar as well as on an entire mix. Find out what he thinks.

Waves Vitamin is a multiband harmonic enhancer and tone-shaping plugin designed to make any track sound powerful and full of spark by mixing an enriched version with the original signal.

With its zero-latency processing, Vitamin aims to cater to studio and live mix engineers alike. Used as an insert on any track or buss, Vitamin can deliver a warm, vital result that is comparable to what you would get from a parallel chain of EQ, compression and saturation processors, but without the hassle.

Using Waves Vitamin In Audio Post Production

Mike explores using the Waves Vitamin Sonic Enhancer plug-in in audio post production and finds it can help with improving voiceovers, handling underscored music and improving sound effects.

Waves Aphex Aural Exciter Plugin

Modeled on one of only a few tube-powered units ever made, the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter plugin has been designed to deliver the unique character of the rare original hardware unit, with all the advantages of software.

When it was originally introduced in the mid-1970s, the Aphex Aural Exciter brought its distinctive sound to select sessions by leading recording artists, traveling from studio to studio as an exclusive (and expensive) rental unit. It was highly regarded for its ability to increase and enhance presence, brightness, and vibrancy on vocal and instrumental tracks alike. It was even credited as a "session player" on best-selling albums by the likes of Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, engineered by Val Garay, who worked closely with us on the development of the plugin.

Watch producer / engineer Val Garay as he talks about how the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter® was instrumental in shaping the sound for artists such as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, and The Four Seasons and hear what Dave Aude has to say about this iconic plugin

Using Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter To Bring Character And Sheen

In this free video tutorial Russ shows how the Waves Vintage Aural Exciter has some tricks up its sleeve. In this video Russ gives two examples how the different mix modes bring entirely different results.

• In the first example he uses the Aural Exciter to add character to a drum loop.
• In the second example he uses the Aural Exciter to add air and sheen to strings.

In this in depth video tutorial Russ shows how there’s more to the Waves Aphex Aural Exciter than first meets the ear.