What Is Waves Nx Germano Studios Plugin?

The Germano Studio in New York (aka the Hit Factory) is famous for working with so many MASSIVE pop and hip hop/rap artists including: Kenrick Lamar, Post Malone, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Cardi B, The Weekend, Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, etc….

So, if you make Pop or Rap music, Waves made the Nx Germano plugin for you!

is a plugin to help recreate a more natural sounding space when mixing and mastering on headphones. It’s not a reverb or some sort of effect, but something that you use to “correct” audio on headphones to make it feel more 3D. When using Nx Germano, you need to make sure it is BYPASSED when you are done mixing your music – you don’t want to have that effect on when mixing down.

Who Is Waves Nx Germano for?

Nx Germano is designed to help home studio owners and music creators make better sounding music on headphones. It’s something you definitely need to try out to see if it’s right for you.

What Are The Plugin Features of Nx Germano Studios Plugin?

Studio Monitor Emulation:

• Exigy S412G
• NS10
• Germano Acoustics A2s

Ambience: Adjust the amount of the room simulation from 60% to 160%.

Level: Important to make sure you aren’t clipping the plugin. I usually set this to -6 dB

Headphone EQ: “Flattens” your headphones if the plugin supports your headphones. Currently, Waves Nx Germano supports:

• Audeze EL-8 (Closed-Back)
• Audeze iSINE 20
• Audeze SINE
• Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
• AKG K-702
• Beyerdynamic DT-880 (250 ohm)
• Beyerdynamic DT-990 (250 ohm)
• Sennheiser HD-280 Pro
• Sennheiser HD-600
• Sennheiser HD-800
• Shure SRH-440
• Sony MDR-7506

Head Modeling: Recreates the head related transfer function (HRTF) to make this plugin sound as real as possible for your physiology. Don’t skip this! Be sure to measure your head for best results.

Head Tracking: You can use a web cam or waves to follow your head and adjust the sound of the room simulation to mimic if you were in a the Germano Studios. It is surprisingly realistic. Great if you are listening to music, but I find it unnecessary if you just need to do critical mixing and mastering work.

How Does It Sound?

The best way to hear what everything does is to check out the video at the end of this article. There are time stamps below so you can quickly jump the sections you need!

Should You Buy Waves Nx Germano Plugin?

If you mix or master pop or rap music on headphones, I think Waves might be one of the best in the Nx series for those genres. The reason being is that the Exigy speakers are VERY flat from 20-80 Hz but have a nice subtle bump to help accentuate a hard-hitting kick drum.

The other two speakers: the GA2 and the NS-10M are more limited range speakers missing most of the bass response. These are great for how the song will sound on smaller consumer speakers like in a car or laptop.

Here is the impulse response for all the speakers so you can see the frequency response. Keep in mind this INCLUDES the head related transfer function (HRTF), which will add lots of frequencies to these IRs.

also includes some headphone correction, which is definitely helpful. So if you don’t use any headphone correction currently, and you have a pair of headphones that Waves Nx Germano supports, I think you should definitely consider picking up this plugin. For $29, it’s a steal.

Waves Nx Germano vs CLA Nx vs Abbey Road Studios 3 vs Nx Ocean Way Nashville

In the video below, I shoot out the differences of all of the Nx product line so you can hear how everything sounds in the different Nx plugins.

⌚TIMESTAMPS⌚

00:00 – Waves Nx Germano Plugin Review
01:03 – Overview of Video
02:21 – Waves Nx Germano Plugin Overview
05:47 – PUT ON HEADPHONES NOW!
06:06 – How to Properly Set Up Waves Nx Germano Plugin
07:07 – What Does Waves Nx Germano Sound Like?
08:27 – Deep Dive Into Speak Frequency Response for Waves Nx Germano
11:12 – Which Speakers Are The Best?
11:43 – Adjusting Ambience Setting
12:06 – Headtracking/Rotation Demo
12:44 – How Does Waves Nx Germano Compare to Other Nx Plugins?
13:19 – Waves Nx Plugin Shootout – Small Speakers
14:02 – Waves Nx Plugin Shootout – BIG Speakers
14:40 – My Thoughts on Waves Nx Germano Plugin
15:30 – My Personal Favorite Waves Nx Plugin
16:41 – How I Would Mix With Waves Nx Germano