

The presets (especially on Waves Plugins such as CLA-2A and CLA-76 but also many other models of analog units ) tend to have the hum engaged by default. Used once or twice in a mix the modelled analog hum can be useful under certain circumstances, but if you are using a lot of these analog-modelled plugins it can quickly build up and muddy your mix as well as show on your meters and distract you.

On it’s own, this analog noise model is fairly low level and unobtrusive but when you add another dynamics processor such as Squasher this hum becomes much more noticable, because by compressing the signal (again) you are in effect boosting these low level sounds. The noise is there during pause because it’s self-noise of the plugin, not related to the signal being processed.

Teletronix La 2A Download Item Manual Download Item Manual Product Manual People from france.A Style, Transformer well balanced, high voltage, opto pipe compressor.Up to 40 dB distortion: Total all time classic style, much copied. Actually, this is normal behaviour, as you say the noise is generated by the Waves Plugin - It’s a model of the mains hum these analog units would produce as hardware. The CLA-2A can be patterned on a hánd-wired, tube-baséd compressor originally created by Teletronix in the earlier s. Great you’ve found the solution but you say you’re not clear as to why this happens.
