diff --git a/src/ibldsp/waveform_extraction.py b/src/ibldsp/waveform_extraction.py
index b6c2e0c..0d2f84c 100644
--- a/src/ibldsp/waveform_extraction.py
+++ b/src/ibldsp/waveform_extraction.py
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def write_wfs_chunk(
     trough_offset,
     spike_length_samples,
     reader_kwargs,
-    preprocess,
+    preprocess_steps,
 ):
     """
     Parallel job to extract waveforms from chunk `i_chunk` of a recording `sr` and
@@ -204,37 +204,36 @@ def write_wfs_chunk(
         s0 - offset:s1 + spike_length_samples - trough_offset, :-my_sr.nsync
     ]
 
-    if not preprocess:
-        wfs_mmap[wf_flat["index"], :, :] = extract_wfs_array(
-            snip, df, channel_neighbors, add_nan_trace=True
-        )[0]
-        return
+    if "butterworth" in preprocess_steps:
+        butter_kwargs = {"N": 3, "Wn": 300 / my_sr.fs * 2, "btype": "highpass"}
+        sos = scipy.signal.butter(**butter_kwargs, output="sos")
+        snip = scipy.signal.sosfiltfilt(sos, snip.T).T
+
+    if "phase_shift" in preprocess_steps:
+        snip = fshift(snip, geom_dict["sample_shift"], axis=0)
+
+    if "bad_channel_interpolation" in preprocess_steps:
+        snip = interpolate_bad_channels(
+            snip,
+            channel_labels,
+            geom_dict["x"],
+            geom_dict["y"],
+        )
+
+    if "car" in preprocess_steps:
+        k_kwargs = {
+            "ntr_pad": 60,
+            "ntr_tap": 0,
+            "lagc": int(my_sr.fs / 10),
+            "butter_kwargs": {"N": 3, "Wn": 0.01, "btype": "highpass"},
+        }
+        car_func = lambda dat: car(dat, **k_kwargs)  # noqa: E731
+        snip = car_func(snip)
 
-    # create filters
-    butter_kwargs = {"N": 3, "Wn": 300 / my_sr.fs * 2, "btype": "highpass"}
-    sos = scipy.signal.butter(**butter_kwargs, output="sos")
-    k_kwargs = {
-        "ntr_pad": 60,
-        "ntr_tap": 0,
-        "lagc": int(my_sr.fs / 10),
-        "butter_kwargs": {"N": 3, "Wn": 0.01, "btype": "highpass"},
-    }
-    car_func = lambda dat: car(dat, **k_kwargs)  # noqa: E731
-
-    snip0 = interpolate_bad_channels(
-        fshift(
-            scipy.signal.sosfiltfilt(sos, snip.T), geom_dict["sample_shift"], axis=1
-        ),
-        channel_labels,
-        geom_dict["x"],
-        geom_dict["y"],
-    )
-    # car
-    snip1 = np.full((my_sr.nc, snip0.shape[1]), np.nan)
-    snip1[:-1, :] = car_func(snip0)
     wfs_mmap[wf_flat["index"], :, :] = extract_wfs_array(
-        snip1.T, df, channel_neighbors
+        snip, df, channel_neighbors, add_nan_trace=True
     )[0]
+
     wfs_mmap.flush()
 
 
@@ -253,7 +252,7 @@ def extract_waveforms_cbin(
     reader_kwargs={},
     n_jobs=None,
     wfs_dtype=np.float32,
-    preprocess=False,
+    preprocess_steps=[],
 ):
     """
     Given a bin file and locations of spikes, extract waveforms for each unit, compute
@@ -303,6 +302,16 @@ def extract_waveforms_cbin(
     """
     n_jobs = n_jobs or int(cpu_count() / 2)
 
+    assert set(preprocess_steps).issubset(
+        {
+            "phase_shift",
+            "bad_channel_interpolation",
+            "butterworth",
+            "car",
+            "k_filt"
+        }
+    )
+
     sr = spikeglx.Reader(bin_file, **reader_kwargs)
     if h is None:
         h = sr.geometry
@@ -367,7 +376,7 @@ def extract_waveforms_cbin(
             trough_offset,
             spike_length_samples,
             reader_kwargs,
-            preprocess
+            preprocess_steps,
         )
         for i in range(num_chunks)
     )
diff --git a/src/tests/unit/cpu/test_waveforms.py b/src/tests/unit/cpu/test_waveforms.py
index 2223c41..2fbad4f 100644
--- a/src/tests/unit/cpu/test_waveforms.py
+++ b/src/tests/unit/cpu/test_waveforms.py
@@ -354,7 +354,8 @@ def test_extract_waveforms_bin(self):
             self.spike_channels,
             reader_kwargs={"ns": self.ns, "nc": self.nc, "nsync": 1, "dtype": "float32"},
             max_wf=self.max_wf,
-            h=trace_header()
+            h=trace_header(),
+            preprocess_steps=[],
         )
         templates = np.load(self.tmpdir.joinpath("waveforms.templates.npy"))
         waveforms = np.load(self.tmpdir.joinpath("waveforms.traces.npy"))