KERN audio

KERN Check has become a crucial part of my final mastering chain because it goes far beyond a basic mono‑compatibility check. I use it to verify the integrity of my mix before printing the master, and it consistently gives me confidence that everything is translating as intended. The ability to isolate and confirm the side information is especially valuable — switching to the side channel lets me instantly confirm that my wide‑field elements, from ambience to spatial effects and stereo textures, are all present and behaving exactly as I mixed them.

SMOOTH is a very interesting professional resonance suppressor for macOS and Windows with many usefull functions and a highly intuitive interface with a lot going on under the hood. It's M/S capabilities turned out to be very effective in precisely smoothing out harsh resonances from center-panned sources, a feature I was missing in many other resonance suppressors. Mid and side can be processed fully independent, which makes KERN-SMOOTH an ideal tool for mix & mastering purposes.

just added both 'smooth' and 'warm'(well-named plugins!) to my arsenal; both are excellent tools, great at what they do. my fave is smooth; it has a tasteful, informative GUI, and works well with resonances, the way something like soothe2 does.. but for a fraction of the cost.

it's a no-frills plugin, but that's kinda my preference. and it's stable (logic pro 12). both plugins are highly-recommended.