What do you guys think of soothe2 or Baby Audio Smooth Operator? What do you use for harsh frequencies in vocals? Did I miss any free options? Let me know in the comments below!
Try the free version of TDR Nova. It's a dynamic EQ, but it can be used to solve similar tasks. The paid GE version (I believe a fully functional demo is available) has additional Smart Ops to automatically identify resonant frequencies.
Thanks for watching! Absolutely. TDR Nova is crucial mixing tool, and I showcased it in my "Free VST Plugins That RULE!" video last week. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kp5xzjzNawU.html
I used to eq the frequencies I don't like, but it was always kind of a bs-compromisething. I added smooth operator to my plugins and it does a lot of the work faster and better.
@@akagerhard Yes, things like Smooth Operator and dynamic EQ have become much more common in my mixing toolkit these days. I think it's great they released this at such a competitive price! Thanks for watching!
Great video. I would be interested in seeing how all the Soothe type plugins compared to each other. I don't think many people know TBAudio DSEQ. It's not free but has more controls than Smooth Operator but is half the price of Soothe2.
I cannot afford Soothe2, but I was able to pick up Smooth Operator . . . my poorness may have been a blessing in disguise as I love my Smoothie!! Easy to use. Great results.
Glad you're happy with it! There are more and more great affordable spectral correction plugins out than ever before. Check out my M-Clarify video; that's a great, simple cheap one too!
Thank you so very much! I agree, I think Smooth Operator is going to be something of an industry standard soon. I'm so glad you enjoy the editing. Thanks for watching, stay tuned for more plugin reviews!
I honestly prefer to make my own EQ descisions. Having said that I had my eyes on Soothe, but I just couldn't justify the cost. It's really easy to overdo something like this, so I'd be reluctant to use it anyway and for the price? It wasn't worth those few edge-cases where I'd reach for it. ...so having something that's 85% there and costs literally 15% of the price? I guess I'm Baby Audio's target customer. :) As far as the clarity goes, I made some tests and yes, it occasionally adds some harmonics, but I think at that setting WhiteSeaAudio had it, he really was pushing it to it's limits. I don't think anybody's gonna process pure sinewaves with this. When those shelf-filters are not set up so dramatically, it doesn't add as much stuff. And why would you have them set that way while processing a pure sinewave? ...I don't think he was fair to this plugin, imo.
Those are all very interesting points! Yes, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing if Smooth Operator adds harmonics to the signal. Baby Audio is billing it more as a creative tool than a forensic correction device like soothe2. But this is making me think I need to run some tests... I’ll post a video about it if I find anything of note. But I fundamentally agree: I prefer to make my own decisions too! But it’s nice to have these options when we need them! Thanks so much for watching!
It is very difficult not to overdo it with a lot of these tools. I'm constantly getting lost in options. But I find they can also sometimes be indispensable in just the right settings; my only regret is that I didn't catch more videos before choosing some of them. God bless the tutorial makers.
So how do they know the difference between the root note (most prominent)... and a"unwanted" un-natural / non-pleasing / bad / harsh / mud frequency? Is there just an adjustable subtraction / mirror image of the highest peaks? Great video BTW! So many videos speak of problem frequencies... and it seems it's just subtraction the highest peaks (without any tweaking). So users will have to know what the problem areas are... or they will only be pushing down the root notes most of the time. Say a singer stood too close to the booth glass... and that nasty stuff reflected back into the recording. Could these pluging help there... if it's not sticking up? Just colored the recording? IS there any AI under the hood that can tell good from bad? Thanks
Wow, great questions! Let’s see what I can fit into a youtube-sized response…okay, so in terms of how the developers know which frequencies are “bad” or “unwanted”: each company has its own methods, but essentially the internal programming is trained to look for build-ups and possible problem areas. Then it’s still up to us to listen and see if the plugin got it right! That’s why you have pre-filter EQ nodes in soothe2 and Smooth Operator. Both plugins are capable of “getting it right” with default settings, but I find we always have to adjust them. Regarding your notion about subtracting of peaks, that may be part of it, but resonant frequencies are often buried and masked within complex material, and don’t necessarily present as amplitude peaks. Depends on the material. With root notes, you will often find that resonant frequencies, like harmonics, have a “root” frequency, and then that can be mirrored in higher multiples of that same range. But the root note of a guitar chord, say, might not necessarily be the resonant note; it could be something ringing in the pickups (like the issue I had in this video!) that In terms of your example of the singer and the booth, or especially in a not-perfectly-treated room, you’ll get resonances when the singer happens to hit a note that reflects of the walls and hits the mic at that frequency. This is exactly what soothe2 was designed for: a great take with a problem that’s hard to fix! I hope that helps. Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!!
Good question. I would say it’s because there is no point. Almost all resonance and masking issues occur in the mid-range, and also, practically nothing is happening in a mix above 16k. If you’re having issues in the mix that high up, then you’re probably adding too much high end and that can be easily dealt with by rolling off highs with a standard EQ shelf. Make sense? Cheers!
@@palebluedotstudios i just purchased smooth operator. It really brings out much more detail in my mix, especially by cleaning up the percussion. 45€ well spent.
Honestly, I'm probably not even good enough at this point (audio is just an expensive hobby for me) to make Soothe2 worth the coin. Smooth Operator actually worked out perfectly for me - it might not be the most advanced, but given the cost (although I ended up buying the baby audio plugin bundle) and the quick wins I got from it (taming some harshness and clearing out some mud from a track I'm working on), I'm very happy with it.
Great news! Again, that's what I keep coming back to: Baby Audio Smooth Operator is only $34!! It's a good plugin to have around and experiment with, but hardly a perfect forensic tool at this point. And good call on the bundle. I have four Baby Audio plugins so far, and they're all excellent! Stay tuned for more reviews of their stuff. Thanks for watching!
@@palebluedotstudios Yeah, I need to play with it more, but the little I've played with it I've been pleased. Of course Venus Theory did a hell of a job selling that plugin as well lol
Hi Kris! Thanks for pointing that out. I've been experimenting with adding subscription reminders more. My apologies if it's annoying! I'll consider reducing them, thanks for your feedback! And thanks for watching!
omg i don't care about either of these plugs but it's so obvious you're digging in more with smooth operator. and then criticizing it for that very operation. blah.
Great video. You get what you pay for basically. If you want more nodes and extras, get the expensive one. If you are on a budget, get the other. They both look very legitimately useful. I just got Smooth Operator. I'm very impressed how much faster I can correct problems and how much more natural it sounds compared to just using an active EQ. Great value in a plugin there. I highly recommend it.
I totally agree. And Smooth Operator just got better with a new hi-res setting as the default (it can be turned off my hitting the "m" in the upper-right). This apparently addresses the spectral harmonics that White Sea Studio picked up on. I've been speaking with the developers and they say even more features are on the way! Thanks for watching!
Soothe 2 is a life saver for me. I have an artist that I can throw a few EQ's on and they stay "Honky"... for the life if me I can't get it right for me (others dont hear it.. but I know it's there) and applying Soothe 2 to his mixes has made those performances so much better to my ear. To me it's worth the price because of how quickly it gets me to a sound I like. I don't 2nd guess myself as much...
That's great to hear! If the tool get results, then by all means, go for it! As you heard in the video, my main guitar has a resonance, and it's nice to have a tool that I can use to deal with it (until I can swap out those pickups!). As a career engineer, my main advice is always to get the best sound at the source, but Soothe2 is a big help for producers who don't have the best mics or rooms. It's a great weapon to have in the arsenal! Thanks for watching!
Smooth Operator is honestly awful to use, if you've ever used an EQ (like ProQ) you'll feel like you're fighting the interface, as you try and adjust the nodes all sort of strange and counterintuitive movements happen . . . I bought it, I really gave it ago (not just used it for a week) . . . it was no better (and much slower) than using dynamic EQ.
Honestly, I don't really use it much. I find it too harsh and they don't give you enough EQ nodes to control the audio. My brother loves using it for spectral ducking, which might be its one true killer feature, but apart from that, I don't recommend it. Cheers!
@@palebluedotstudios Yep, too little control, too few nodes and - agreed - it always sounds a little harsh, its good that there's a cheaper alternative to Sooth2 out there, but it doesn't seem better than an EQ (and much harder to use).
@@davelordy Check out my new video if you haven't already. The new Wavesfactory Equalizer is a much more credible solution. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yR4ZYd0RMEc.html
Smooth operator is more of a general multiband compressor. It's frequency response isn't fine enough to catch the resonance without pushing down material around it.
I would love to see Baby Audio add some more nodes in the future! For now, it's the "Focus" that can be used to make the bands more selective. Thanks for watching!
@@palebluedotstudios To me the for taming neck pickup on guitar the focus tends to make it a bit unnatural when its up at 75 (its default). I drop it to between 40 and 60 - something like that. I found that I could also use it on the bridge pickup for some reason, whereas the neck + bridge wasn't natural enough. Its probably just the specific bridge pickups I have, that have their own curve that has a character that is easy to ruin (not a smooth spectrum to it). So the bridge and neck were both doable by themselves (with the bridge I did tame the 3k range) but the nice combination between the 2 got lost when Smooth Operator was attempted. It doesn't have enough nodes and it is very difficult to make changes without ruining that blend. I also own Soothe, and I haven't yet tried it on this task.
@@jesussaddle Thanks for the in-depth comment! I think you'll find soothe a little more up for the task. As you correctly identify, Smooth Operator simply does not have very much control over shaping its response. So I find it either works, or doesn't. Cheers!
Very interesting! I have Neutron 3 Advanced from Izotope, and it's got a spectral shaper, which I haven't really gotten the time to understand as of yet, but I wonder if it could also do what these other plugins do... Have you ever tried it ?
Actually, another viewer reminded me about it: Sculptor! I have not used it, but I am going to grab the Neutron 3 demo and put it through its paces. Also I'm going to check out smartEQ 3, DSEQ, Gullfloss and some other spectral balancers! Stay tuned, and thanks for watching and suggesting things!
@@arilotringer As far as I can tell, it's the same principal as all these intelligent spectral balancers: using FFT analysis to get one sonic imprint closer to another! But info is scanty on Izotop's website...
I hear you. I'll just point out that soothe2 offers way more EQ nodes and fine control over every single parameter. But I think for most people, Smooth Operator will do the trick. Cheers!
@palebluedot studios 😩 I'm gonna have to give it a try. I know I felt the same about Serum for the longest thinking Massive was just about the same... until I tried it, and my world has forever changed 😅
@@aaronbazil Ooooh, I definitely understand that comparison! I mean, at the prices we're talking about here, there's also DSEQ (my favourite), and hell, you can pick up the full Ozone 10 suite for $249 (as of this writing), which has the Stabilizer and the AI mastering tools. A lot of options right now; I consider Smooth Operator more of a good starting point...like Serum.
@palebluedot studios I've been hearing about DSEQ lately.... I'll need to look into that 🤔 And I'm not sure about the AI mastering stuff just yet. Again, I'll look into that more. Thanks, man! Looks like I'll be starting the research with videos on your channel since you talk about things and this is the first video I've seen of yours.
@@aaronbazil I'm happy that you found at least one video! I do a lot of videos around the spectral correction domain, so stick around and check them out. Thanks for watching!
Yes, I'm seeing a disturbing trend where users are just slapping it on as many channels as possible, without a second thought. Tools like soothe 2 shouldn't be regarded as magic auto-mix tools; it's easy to overly sterilize the audio footprint! Audio engineers should use their ears and knowledge to record clean tracks first, resort to forensic tools later-only when needed! Thanks for watching!
@@palebluedotstudios i have a hard time using soothe or smooth operator or any dynamic EQ on Vocals with harshness, because it often kills the vocal and completly sucks any life out of it. If i dial it back a bit then the harshness is back again. I think i need to manually remove it with some spectral EQ thingy...
@@dizzlermusic It's hard to say exactly what to do without hearing the vocal tracks, but sometimes a simple narrow EQ or notch filter is all you need! I would sweep to find the frequency with a narrow EQ, then when you find the harsh frequency, make as big a cut as you need. I tend to favour dynamic EQs for that task these days, but an standard EQ and do the job if the resonance is constant! Thanks for watching!
I think you're right. Soothe 2 is more transparent, and we know from White Sea Studio's video that Smooth Operator adds harmonics to the signal even at default settings. So that's something to keep in mind! Thanks for watching!
When I tried both of these I found Smooth O cut to much of the low end, and not as much top end as I wanted. But for the money Great. Soothe2 I found got rid of the harshness but kept most of the healthy sound. My summery was SO was very good for the money and that Soothe2 was about £40 more than it should be. Great vids btw. =o)
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed! Yes, I find Smooth Operator can thin out the sound a bit. One has to be careful with spectral correction! Thanks for watching!
The tools we have today are something aren’t they. One additional point for getting one of these: you protect your ears. Harsh frequencies are the worst for ear heath, so with a bit of spectral processing in the mix, your studio days are a bit less fatiquing at the same volume.
That's a really cool angle I hadn't thought of. As someone with a pretty bad case of tinnitus, I think you have a good point there. I certainly hate harsh frequencies! Thanks for watching!
Excellent video! No one seems to have done a comparison between iZotope Neutron Sculptor and Soothe 2. I already have Sculptor along with my Neutron purchase and wondering how much benefit I would get for Soothe (which costs virtually as much as my WHOLE iZotope suite cost me - Neutron, Nectar, Ozone, etc). Would you consider doing a video to compare them? Or even posting your opinions here in the comments?
Guess what? I've never tried Sculptor. I've been meaning to try out Neutron 3, so this goes on my list (along with DSEQ, smartEQ:3, etc). I'll be quite happy to cover this in my next spectral correction video, which I'll do next week, since this has been such a popular topic! Thanks for the idea! And thanks for watching!
I hear you. For me, I find Smooth Operator is more drastic-sounding, and can thin the sound out quickly. I use Soothe on vocals all the time, especially voiceover recordings, where unwanted reflections and resonances have been printed on the track. I simply don't have enough bands with Smooth Operator to get transparent processing. But Smooth is wonderful in the right situation, and if it sounds better to you, then it is! Cheers!
@@palebluedotstudios these kind of plugins should anyway not be on a must-have list, rather on a worst case list. I don't have to use it often anyway. Yes, what works best for you, is the best for you :)
@@danielwetzs9317 I agree. In online discussions, I see a lot of people using Soothe as part of their default vocal-or even mix bus!-"chains". That is just nuts.
Someone else mentioned that. It's a creative idea, but I would not do that because you're splitting the signal again into spectral compression bands, increasing the artefacts. However, if it sounds good, then it is good! It deserves experimentation. Thanks for watching!
Great suggestion! I've been meaning to get to ThirtyOne. I have covered smart:comp, Reveal and Vastaus in my other videos. Look here: ru-vid.com/group/PLPBo2SYhK1etmwuQZvTXff-pJGcRfqzQs
Soothe is a complete game changer for the audio industry. They are priced because they have no competition. Smooth operator is fine but it doesn’t come close to soothe in my opinion.
Totally agree. Smooth is very limited, and a quick attempt to get in on the soothe market. Smooth really needs more EQ nodes to get anywhere close to soothe, and there is a reason why soothe is the industry standard! Cheers.
Why is Smooth Operator referencing white noise??? Gullfoss and Soothe reference the pink noise slope with good reason. Does Baby Audio know that the human ear prefers pink noise over white noise? Compare the spectral slope of any commercial mix with that of the pink noise slope. If you pull Smooth Operator down in its default setting, all sources sound thin. The reference is supposed to be the pink noise slope. Please fix this Baby Audio.
Thanks for watching! This is interesting. I'm curious: how do you know Smooth Operator is referencing white noise? I'm familiar with pink noise referencing with mixing, but not with dynamic spectral processing. Can you expand on that a bit?
@@palebluedotstudios Thanks for your response. Create an empty track and place a white noise generator on the first insert and after that you insert Smooth Operator. If you start pulling down the line in SO you'll see that the compression from the low to high frequencies are constant. This shows that they use white noise as their reference. Do the same with Gullfoss or Soothe and you'll see that pink noise has the desired effect of constant compression from low to high, which shows that they use the pink noise slope as a reference. I think SO sounds great and is usable. It only feels a bit strange having to relax the lows that much because of the white noise reference. I think that if Baby Audio referenced pink noise, as they should have, SO would've worked much much better, since simply pulling the line down will have the best average starting point for any sound source.
Sure. I would point out that adding multiple instances of a plugin that works in the spectral domain can cause phasing issues. I'm reluctant to stack things like soothe2 and Smooth Operator, but as always, give it a try!
You definitely have to be careful with these spectral processors. The guitar starts to sound like a D.I. at a certain point. Good call! Thanks for watching!
You certainly could. Often multiband compression or dynamic EQ is enough, but something like soothe is working on many more bands with spectral processing. Nova is limited to 4 bands, I believe; at least the free version.
That's a great question. My concern is this: you're already running one plugin that is breaking up the signal into separate spectral bands. If you insert another plugin, you risk adding more spectral artefacts, or phase issues with multiple crossovers on top of each other. I wouldn't recommend layering multiband processors in general. Cheers!
If you really, really need an extra-node for some reason.. and I guess this can happen, eventhough I didn't really see it in your examples: You can always load up on additional instance of the plugin.
@@farisfuad1150 Not any more! Baby Audio updated Smooth Operator and now, by default, Smooth Operator does not add harmonics by default. I should post an update on that...thanks for reminding me! And thanks for watching!
I'd choose soothe over Smooth for dialogue, mostly because there is such narrow control in Smooth Operator. But! You have to weight that price difference...
Great to hear! You can do a lot of things with Smooth Operator. Considering the price difference, it's quite worth it; especially on-sale. The spectral ducking is really helpful too. Thanks for watching!
Hey thanks for a good video! You should use some other clip of music to start your video. Instantly having a super loud sound is not nice when you're coming over from a video that was much more quiet. Thanks for your good work!
Noted! As an audio engineer, I do want to keep the levels even while grabbing viewers' attention. I'll lower it on the next video (after the one I uploaded last night!) Thank you very much for your feedback!
It is definitely priced on the higher-end, plus it uses iLok (no dongle required though), so it's aimed at the pros. Perhaps some of this competition will lead to a bigger sale price...in the meantime, there are some other cheaper options and dynamic EQ like TDR Nova. Thanks for watching!
It definitely does. And the sidechain input is a very powerful mixing tool. I'd still take soothe2 or DSEQ for most tasks, though. But, they're relatively expensive. Thanks for watching!
I think they are somewhat similar in that they attempt to correct the spectrum, but Smooth Operator is more about correcting resonances and Gullfloss is more about getting better equalization across a mix. I need to read up on Gullfloss, but I don't think it's using spectral bands to equalize the audio. I'm definitely going to cover that next, along with Izotope Sculptor and smartEQ:3! Thanks for watching!
@@palebluedotstudios yep. but what I saw similar is how it sounds, when you suppress a resonance using Smoothe operator, it Tames. Well gullfoss, tames as well. Just listen how it sounds when you lower the threshold of smoothe operator, the 100hz-1000hz usually cuts it up. Well, it sounds like its tamed, to be honest, especially when you go far too low. Just like the gulfoss: When you increase the 'Recover' knob, well, usually it adds high frequencies, but still cuts usually around 100hz-1000hz, but just a bit, just a bit. Well, it sounded tamed! then you can just increase the "Tame" knob & its more tamed sounding. So for me, Smoothe Operator & Gullfoss sounds the same a little bit, but they're not doing the same job. Well, Soothe2 & Smoothe Operator does the same job!!
@@palebluedotstudios not just being hyperbolic either. I had to watch at least five videos where they just throw it on a mixed track and tweak it a bit. No in context use like this. You showed me everything I needed to know!
Yes, I saw that in White Sea Studio's video on Smooth Operator! So I think it's safe to say Smooth Operator is not for transparent spectral processing, and indeed I found it to be pretty drastic, even at low settings. But I do think you can get good results from it, just need to keep an ear on what's happening! Thanks for commenting and watching!
Hey Tony, there's an update coming out very shortly that's addressing this issue. It's actually not harmonics/distortion but a result of the crossfades in the summing algorithm. (The best way to describe the phenomenon would be to call it "spectral leakage"). During normal use, it won't produce artifacts, but during stress tests it might as the algorithm gets pushed to its limits. We're looking into solving this issue right now and are hoping to be able to eliminate it with v1.0.1 :)
@@yoeld2 Yes, I felt like we need a more in-depth look at all these spectral options. I'll put it out next week, right after I push out a quick review of the new Expanse 3D plugin from United Plugins. Thanks!
Thank you so much! Be sure to check out my other spectral processing videos, like DSEQ, Wavesfactory Equalizer, and others! ru-vid.com/group/PLPBo2SYhK1etmwuQZvTXff-pJGcRfqzQs
Yes, that is an option that occurred to me. You have to be careful though, all that added FFT processing will have an affect on the sound. Best to be done sparingly. Thanks for watching!
They both claim to address resonances and problem frequencies by operating in the spectral domain, so I think they're comparable. But there are definitely big differences! Thanks for watching!
Agreed. I am concerned that a generation of mixers will be treating these as "fix it for me!" tools instead of learning proper EQ fundamentals. Not to mention adding tons of unnecessary CPU and latency to a mix! These plugins definitely have their place, but should not be treated as a panacea. Thanks for watching!
