Waves Certification Program

[audiofreak]

Hey Slutz,

Anybody know much about the new waves certification program?

[Whitecat]

Yes. To maintain your certified status, you have to pay them an annual fee based on the orignal value of the courses [on the products you're certified in], otherwise, your certificate expires. Your first year is included with your initial training fee.

[Kestral]

I consider the fact that there's a program out there to teach people how to use their plugins a failure on Waves part in designing an easy to use interface. Is it really that difficult to use these days? I dumped my Waves plugins years ago.

dfegad Waves

[nerogtr]

Originally Posted by Kestral

I consider the fact that there's a program out there to teach people how to use their plugins a failure on Waves part in designing an easy to use interface. Is it really that difficult to use these days? I dumped my Waves plugins years ago.

dfegad Waves

what are you using now?

is it just me or does an annual fee for "waves certification" seem asinine? does anyone take signal processing certification seriously? an engineers product will speak for itself, regardless of what tools they used to make it. what band/musician/producer is deciding on an engineer for their project based on their plugin certifications instead of the actual quality of the work they've done, and who out there is actually paying for the certification (and why)???

[Mudnoc]

Originally Posted by nerogtr

what are you using now?

is it just me or does an annual fee for "waves certification" seem asinine? does anyone take signal processing certification seriously? an engineers product will speak for itself, regardless of what tools they used to make it. what band/musician/producer is deciding on an engineer for their project based on their plugin certifications instead of the actual quality of the work they've done, and who out there is actually paying for the certification (and why)???

Oh wow....this is real??? I thought it was just a joke or something.....forgive me

[TonyBelmont]

Originally Posted by terminal3

Yes. To maintain your certified status, you have to pay them an annual fee based on the orignal value of the courses [on the products you're certified in], otherwise, your certificate expires. Your first year is included with your initial training fee.

Wait a minute... This IS a joke right?

[Whitecat]

Before this gets out of hand I will advise you all that I WAS joking.

My wife generally thinks I'm not very funny either, so sorry about that.

Although, I can't say that I know for sure that there's no annual fee...!

[nerogtr]

i haven't done the research to see if its true, i just assumed the thread starter / original poster was asking a legit question (if they were joking, a winky smiley or something would have been nice haha). if this is a joke then i'll be very relieved. if not...

edit- terminal3 replied before i got a chance to. i missed the joke / sarcasm. (cue borat voice) you make a joke!

[Whitecat]

The original poster was not joking, I will point out - there is a new Waves Certification program. I was just taking the mick.

[nerogtr]

[defjamm]

that's from their site:

"The Waves Certification Program teaches the fundamentals of Waves plug-ins at recording institutes, colleges, and universities throughout the world. Once you have completed the Waves Certification Program coursework at a Waves-accredited academic institution, sign in below to take the final examination. Upon successful completion of the exam, you will be sent your diploma as well as a Waves Certification Program t-shirt.

Please note: This examination is available only to users who have Waves Certification Bundle registered in their account."

http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=2755

[Kestral]

Why would I want to learn about Waves plugins? meh. Hey Waves, the 90's called, they want their overpriced obsolete code back!!

Seriously, name any Waves plugin and I can name a far better equivalent.

Here were the ones I used heavily and the replacement...

Waves Renaissance Compressor -> McDSP Compressorbank / PSP Vintage Warmer / URS Compressors
Waves EQ's -> Sony Oxford / GML / URS EQ's
Waves Renaissance Reverb -> IK Multimedia Classik Studio Reverb / Space Designer
Waves SSL -> URS SSL
etc etc etc

[nerogtr]

Originally Posted by Kestral

Why would I want to learn about Waves plugins? meh. Hey Waves, the 90's called, they want their overpriced obsolete code back!!

Seriously, name any Waves plugin and I can name a far better equivalent.

Here were the ones I used heavily and the replacement...

Waves Renaissance Compressor -> McDSP Compressorbank / PSP Vintage Warmer / URS Compressors
Waves EQ's -> Sony Oxford / GML / URS EQ's
Waves Renaissance Reverb -> IK Multimedia Classik Studio Reverb / Space Designer
Waves SSL -> URS SSL
etc etc etc

im interested to see what other people are using as direct waves alternatives as well. i have to admit i'm a bit of a slave to them...

[Kestral]

Originally Posted by nerogtr

im interested to see what other people are using as direct waves alternatives as well. i have to admit i'm a bit of a slave to them...

I have a friend that loves Waves MondoMod on his guitar.

He asked me what I used as an alternative to that plugin. I showed him my vintage DOD 460 chorus and 1974 MXR Phase 90 script logo BUD box phaser :D

[untitledtopher]

if you need to be certified to work a software eq and compressor...hmmm

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by nerogtr

im interested to see what other people are using as direct waves alternatives as well. i have to admit i'm a bit of a slave to them...

Waves to me has incredibly ridiculous company policies and to my ear the sound quality of their products simply no longer merits the price or inconvenience of dealing with their copy protection schemes and support fees.

These are some of the substitutions I've made (some are available in SAWStudio native format only though):

Voxengo Elephant & RML Labs Levelizer instead of Waves L2 / L3
Sonoris Linear Phase EQ instead of Waves LPEQ
Sonoris Multiband Compressor instead of Waves LPMB / C4
Sonoris Compressor instead of Waves RCL / C1
Sonoris Dither instead of Waves IDR
JMS-Audioware Hi-res EQ / Sonoris EQ instead of Waves Ren EQ
Digital Fishphones Spitfish instead of Waves De-esser
Acon Digital Studio Clean and Virtos Audio Noise Wizard instead of Waves X-Noise
Knufinke SIR instead of Waves IR-1

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[PoorGlory]

I find the Wave Arts Trackplug and Multiband to be stellar plugins that generally eliminates my need for Waves stuff.

[brian_i]

I go to Scottsdale Community College. We have a DAW/Pro Tools class and a portion of it is for the Waves certification course.
In my opinion, on how over priced Waves' stuff is, the $200 for a certification, plus all the included plug-in's is a bargain. Plus, after you take the certification, there's a voucher for a $200 discount (I think that's how much they take off) on the Gold bundle. So plug-in's, FREE SHIRT!!!!!!!!, nice piece of toilet paper and a discount is pretty good if you ask me.

And yes, I know I dug through the graveyard for this post. I just wanted to find out what other people thought about the certification.

[KaelitioN]

The IT industry has the same type of certification programs for MS , Linux , Server Admins , Security , Networking , etc. The exams are expensive , and not everyone requires the actual "diploma" when looking to hire an IT professional. So having a Waves "diploma" might look good on a resume , but it should never be a requirement if you've ever actually took professional training. Other than a discount and a prestigious looking paper , I don't see the point.

[audioguynyc]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

Waves to me has incredibly ridiculous company policies and to my ear the sound quality of their products simply no longer merits the price or inconvenience of dealing with their copy protection schemes and support fees.

These are some of the substitutions I've made (some are available in SAWStudio native format only though)

What about Rbass? What is a good alternative to that?

[rizeup7]

The certification is a joke! I took it in audio school some time ago, didn't actually have to study for it. I guessed it, and passed. Got a nice t-shirt to go along... You get as many tries as you want with it...

[everythinglouder]

Originally Posted by Mudnoc

Oh wow....this is real??? I thought it was just a joke or something.....forgive me

Those are my thoughts on The Waves Empire.

[deadears]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

Waves to me has incredibly ridiculous company policies and to my ear the sound quality of their products simply no longer merits the price or inconvenience of dealing with their copy protection schemes and support fees.

These are some of the substitutions I've made (some are available in SAWStudio native format only though):

I don't see the point of a Waves certification. It's not like a Pro Tools certification that can get you a teaching job maybe.

But Waves makes plenty of good stuff, and dealing with their copy protection isn't any different than any other software.

I'm sure many people could make a list of plug ins they think are better than the ones you mentioned. Different plug ins work better on different things. It's not a blanket decision.

One thing more ridiculous in price than Waves is Saw Studio, which is incredibly overpriced but very weak in features. you can't even automate plug ins in Saw Studio, Waves or otherwise. At least not on the demo.

~deadears

[CroMag]

Originally Posted by DeuceyBaby

What about Rbass? What is a good alternative to that?

Mixbass or Mixsaturator from PSP mixpack. Mixbass is specialized in low end harmonics, mixsaturator is more universal - it has low end section ( I think harmonics are achieved in different way than in mixbass), saturation section (a few models, more or less convincing - tape and tube) and treble section (compression of the high frequencies). I use it a lot.

[audioguynyc]

Originally Posted by CroMag

Mixbass or Mixsaturator from PSP mixpack. Mixbass is specialized in low end harmonics, mixsaturator is more universal - it has low end section ( I think harmonics are achieved in different way than in mixbass), saturation section (a few models, more or less convincing - tape and tube) and treble section (compression of the high frequencies). I use it a lot.

thanks dude.

[Joe Kay]

Also dug through the graveyard for this thread, since I recently started teaching this course. I had abandoned Waves plugins long ago, but $200 (or less!) for a solid textbook, and 5 of their bread and butter plugins is a great deal for any student - I don't think anyone can deny that. The book does teach concepts in addition to how to adjust parameters, so that's cool. Having it on your resume will probably do nothing for you, though. Regardless of what you think of Waves, I have to admit it's a great way to win the hearts and minds of young engineers, who are pretty malleable I've come to find.