Ocean Way Studios
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Welcome to Ocean Way Studios — the world’s first dynamic room modeling plug‑in.
Developed by Universal Audio and Allen Sides, the Ocean Way Studios plug-in for UAD-2 hardware and Apollo interfaces rewrites the book on what’s possible with acoustic space emulation.
By combining elements of room, microphone, and source modeling, Ocean Way Studios moves far beyond standard impulse response players and reverbs — giving you an authentic replication of one of the world’s most famous recording studios.Record live or mix through Ocean Way Recording’s legendary Studio A and Studio B
Use “best of the best” vintage microphones from Allen Sides’ world-renowned collection
Choose among Allen Sides’ favorite room positions with 8 source types, for stunningly accurate sound dispersion behaviors
Position, blend, and process three mic pairs (Near / Mid / Far) in real time
Retain mic bleed, proximity, and other naturally occurring behaviors for realism far beyond other reverb/ambience plug-ins
Re-mic loops and soft synths to bring them to life
Take a Listen
Learn how to Add Ambience to Close-Miked Drums
Grammy-winning engineer Vance Powell (Jack White, The Dead Weather) and the Ocean Way Studios and the Neve 33609 Compressor plug‑ins.
The Legendary Rooms of Ocean Way
From the opening of Bill Putnam’s United Recording in 1957, to the annexing of neighboring Western Studio in 1961, to their reinvention as Ocean Way Recording under Allen Sides — the famed “Studio A” and “Studio B” at Ocean Way Studios have shaped the sound of countless classic records. From Ray Charles and the Beach Boys, to the Rolling Stones, and Radiohead, music creators have sought out the sound of these beautifully balanced rooms for more than five decades.
Dynamic Room Modeling
Ocean Way Studios reinvents ambience processing with UA’s proprietary Dynamic Room Modeling technology, an exclusive combination of signal processing and advanced measurement techniques. Whereas standard convolution reverbs only provide a sonic snapshot, Dynamic Room Modeling offers the full spectrum of a studio’s ambience possibilities. Specifically, Dynamic Room Modeling provides the unique dispersion properties of various sources, as recorded through various vintage microphones that can be positioned in each room — in real time — via a simple click-and-drag interface. This technology gives the Ocean Way Studios plug-in a shocking level of sonic realism.
An Unrivaled Microphone Collection Under Your Control
With virtual access to $250,000 of hand-picked, vintage microphones, Ocean Way’s microphone setups and Distance controls are the centerpiece of the plug-in. The setups capture the ideal microphone selections and placements for each room and source type.
Up to three vintage microphones pairs (Near, Mid, Far) are available in each setup, allowing for creative sonic blending. Click-and-drag the microphones to position them in the room, then EQ and filter their sound as desired — complete with mic bleed and proximity effects.
Transform Tones With Reverb and Re-Mic Modes
Ocean Way Studios offers two modes of operation: Reverb mode, using send/return paths to mix wet and dry signals; or Re-Mic mode, to fully immerse the original source audio within Ocean Way’s rooms. Re-Mic mode is by nature “fully wet,” and can be used to entirely replace your original room and microphone sounds with the fabled sound of Ocean Way.
“Ocean Way Studios instantly adds incredible depth, size, width, and vibe to your music. It's like owning a re-amp box for one of the best sounding studios in the world.”
– Jeff Juliano (John Mayer, Shinedown, Train)
“The Ocean Way Studios plug-in sounds so good and has the right amount of flexibility. The workflow mimics the actual choices at the studio very nicely…it sounds authentic and rich — like those rooms with those mics.”
– Joey Waronker (Atoms for Peace, Beck, Other Lives)
“The Ocean Way Studios plug-in lets me mix with a new sense of space, adding a whole new level of depth to my mixes.”
– Andrew Dawson (Jay-Z, Fun.)
“Every session I've done at Ocean Way has been an unparalleled experience with amazing results. The plug-in offers an incredible opportunity to realistically add those sonics to any musical project with stunning realism.”
– Richard Chycki (Rush, Aerosmith, Dream Theater)
“It’s great to finally be able to add a real room vibe to sounds that otherwise didn't have one. The Ocean Way plug-in helps bring a mix together with depth and space.”
– Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Avett Brothers)
“I assumed the UAD Ocean Way Studios was a reverb, but it's way more than that. I've been down the rabbit hole since I installed it and I'm not ready to come out yet.”
– Andrew Scheps (Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Duke Spirit)
“Hearing drums through Ocean Way Studios plug-in is like being transported to Ocean Way! The true sound of Studio A or Studio B applied to anything I want.”
– Chris Dugan (Green Day, Iggy Pop, U2)
“The Ocean Way Studios plug-in allows me to get the tone of two great Bill Putnam rooms, with the ability to customize the mic choices and distance options. It’s the next best thing to actually being there.”
– John Paterno (Robbie Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Bonnie Raitt)Watch The Reviews
5-Minute UAD Tips
Ocean Way Studios plug-in
Customer Reviews
M. De Carolis
January 6, 2022
infinite potential
If you want to discover the best UAD Plugin the Ocean Way Studios is the best. It had an infinite potential, you can do what no one else can give you. You can create the sound of the...
Read MoreA. Link
January 5, 2022
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...
Read MoreS. Collins
January 3, 2022
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....
Read MoreJ. Foster
December 24, 2021
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) ,...
Read More -
Key Features
Breakthrough acoustic emulations of Ocean Way Recording’s legendary Studio A and Studio B
Dynamic Room Modeling combines room, microphone, and source models for unprecedented realism
Incorporates sonic profiles of vintage microphones from Allen Side’s world-renowned collection
Includes mic bleed and mic proximity effects for stunning accuracy
Choose from eight instrument / vocal source types with unique dispersion patterns
Position and blend between three vintage mic pairs (Near / Mid / Far) in real time
Use in “Reverb” mode, mixing wet and dry signal; or “Re-Mic” mode, replacing your original room and mic sounds altogether
Preset mic selections, placements and creative direction by Ocean Way’s Allen Sides
Requires UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Interface, available from authorized dealers worldwide
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Customer Reviews
Ocean Way Studios
M. De Carolis
infinite potential
If you want to discover the best UAD Plugin the Ocean Way Studios is the best.
It had an infinite potential, you can do what no one else can give you.
You can create the sound of the ocean way studios simply with a plugin. if you don't believe it, you just have to try.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
