Auto spectral balance/Resonance taming : where do we stand now ?

[DJErmac]

Hi all,

Now there are tons of plugins to get nearly automatic spectral balance and resonance taming to achieve auto spectral clarity. It seems it’s been the 2023/2024 main goal for many developpers, including new ones proposing AI solutions.

Now EQ is becoming nearly automatic. But is it really at usage ? You tell.

I think of plugins such as :
- TDR Nova
- Oeksound Soothe
- Baby Audio Smooth Operator
- Zynaptiq Unfilter
- Voxengo Teote
- Accentize Spectral Balance
- TBPro Audio Euphonia
- TBPro Audio DSEQ3
- Waves IDX Intelligent Dynamics
- Waves Curves Equator
- ThreeBodyTech SpecCraft
- Ayaic Ceilings Of Sound Pro
- WavesFactory Equalizer
- Landr Mastering Plugin
- Hornet Sleek
- Melda MSpectralDynamics
- Fabfilter Pro-Q4 (in spectral mode)
and I’m absolutely sure there are others...

Which one do you use in which situation ?
Which one do you love/hate ?
Do you save time ?
Do you get unwanted results using these ?
What could still be improved ?

[WasteLand]

then i can add: why the obsession with resonances??? perhaps, that is more a problem if you record, real drums, guitar, etc.?

ITB, or in the way i work, make music, sometimes yes, it is needed, but i do it the Filter way, filter it away... that seems strange, and destructive... again, everyone has its own approach to making music, mixing etc.

or: i like resonances, or they don't occur?

EDIT: i do have for instance MSpectralDynamics.... but i use it for other purposes....

taming resoncances for clarity and definition, is a blurp from Hornet, for example; now i understand; clarity is never my goal. definition ís....

[DJErmac]

As far as I’m concerned, I use these tools mainly when preparing an instrument soundbank. Or layered drums. And yes, I save time.

[foosnark]

My favorite now is Waves Curve Equator. I have an instance in my mastering template, but bypassed by default. It might seem like an odd use for these tools but I really like dialing its mid/side knob in a bit to punch up the stereo image. Overall it usually works the best for me, and rarely seems to overhype the high end as much as some of these do.

Wavefactory Equalizer is my second choice -- I like that you can draw in how much action it takes across the spectrum, since I do generally want it to work less on the high end -- and TEOTE has fallen to a relatively distant third. But I liked TEOTE much more than Gullfoss.

I don't find any of these tools is that great at clamping down on really peaky parts of the spectrum (like synth sounds that have a strong fundamental that is painful to listen to). That requires manual EQ.

[DJErmac]

I agree : Equator is quite amazing. It's never overdoing anything.

[DNAudio]

I think resonance suppressors are more "corrective" tools than creative, and I try to avoid creating the problems that lead to you having to use these plugins in the first place. Out of all the ones I've tried, oeksound soothe is the only one that truly feels like it can properly separate resonance from other aspects of the signal, with minimal artifacts. Overdoing it absolutely sucks the life out of a signal like nothing else can. Resonance is...a good thing, and even a simple static EQ can take care of overzealous tones, but suppressing a moving resonance in a busy mix is where soothe shines.
Fully "Auto EQs" I think are still very naive in practice & far behind proper TLC of a mix, and I don't really buy them being that much faster than simply doing the same adjustments yourself with a traditional or dynamic EQ (with less artifacts to boot) since they generally still require tweaking to avoid crushing certain tones, transients, or overprocessing the signal in some other way.

[DJErmac]

I hope the thread won’t simply derail into "resonances shouldn’t be supressed". I hope we all understand correctly that a sound without any resonance is lifeless, dull and noisy. So of course I agree with you : don’t overdo the thing. It’s all about resonances taming.

And sometimes it’s the way to magic : everything else becomes suddenly hearable.

The fact is that those tools are there, and people find a use for them. I’m curious to hear all about users experiences. Who found a specific usage for some, who uses some on individual instruments, on busy mixes, on single drums, on master only ?... anything really.

For example my all time favourite still is Smooth Operator. Why ? Because it’s sooooooo smooth and easy to work with ! Can be used for any kind of work : won’t ruin anything unless you’re really trying hard.

Btw I have all from the list I drew (excepted the TBPro Audio ones as they never do sales, still waiting to fire), but some rarely find any use.

[plexuss]

I stand with oeksound Soothe2. Sometimes Melda MSpectralDynamics if I need more specific control. Soothe2 is my go-to.

[DJErmac]

Thanks for your input.

I must say I expected Soothe to be the all-time favourite.

[plexuss]

Thanks for your input.

I must say I expected Soothe to be the all-time favourite.

For my use Soothe2 is transparent enough, although not totally. Then again resonance control is, from experience, pretty heavy lifting processing. I find I have to crank the quality settings to get good results and use it sparingly and really listen to dial it in. But Soothe2 usually works out in my use cases.

Smooth Operator is also nice. I have it and use it sometimes if Sooth2 isnt working out, sometimes Smooth Operator will work better. Usually Soothe2 does the trick.

[t.o.t.s.]

I work with a lot of varied voices recorded in a lot of different spaces with a lot of different mics. A lot of my work is to deliver this material as uniformly as possible so finding neutral spaces for these recordings to hit after general cleanup is the name of the game for this stuff. Someone else can mix and EQ later to their hearts content. So for that neutral space, a lot of these plugins can be a true time saver. That's just bulk production work of course. When mixing music or being creative, I'd rather just EQ with my ears. Of the ones you listed these are my most used...
- Voxengo Teote
- WavesFactory Equalizer
- Fabfilter Pro-Q4 (in spectral mode)... newer but I use Pro-Q3 a ton so I have no doubt this will be in even heavier rotation now.
AAAAAAND
-McDSP SA-3. I absolutely love it. Not sure why I don't see it mentioned more often.

[DJErmac]

Nice, never heard about this one before ! Thanks a lot !

[motomotomoto]

Interesting question,

Waves equator - very natural sounding, similar to DSM 3 for compression, I use this one on the master bus or track busses, polishes the sound in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s taking away from my creative decisions.

Spec-craft - very precise resonance suppression and tone shaping, this is my go to on instruments that I want to sit in the mix better. Often I use this instead of multi band compression now, it’s what I wanted bloom to be.

Waves factory - ok so this one is a bit strange, it’s the only one on this list that I actually feel adds “definition”, I use this one when I want a sound to stick out a bit and become more prominent in the mix without being abrasive. I find that using waves factory primes the sound for being in the spotlight in an interesting way.

Soothe 2 - honesty for pure resonance suppression I like to use the grab frequency feature in proQ3 and just manually drag them down. At this point I like soothe2 for the extreme effects you can get with it by pushing it hard. You can get sounds unlike anything else by really overdoing soothe and then coming back with something like OTT after in the chain. Amazing sound design tool. For normal stuff I like waves and spec-craft better.

Gullfoss and TEOTE - both these have a way of making the sound almost blurry to me in a subtle way, I think they mess with the transients somehow. Don’t like them and haven’t used in long time.

[billinder33]

TDR Arbiter belongs in this list. It's great for natural sounding resonance suppression, so long as you don't push it too hard. Surprisingly good for some targeted deessing, or any other specific annoying frequency that randomly pops out of a track.

Soothe is great. I don't really like the dulling characteristic when the suppression is set wide, so mostly use it on the sharpest setting to dampen brittle, screamy synths. Occasionally will use it lightly on vocals to dampen that Chi-fi condenser mic sound.

Gullfoss/Teyote/Ozone Stabler and that genera of mixbuss focused plugins... Don't use these much. On rare occasions there's a relationship between hats and synths that a light touch of Stabilizer can help balance out. Almost never use it on frequencies below 1khz. That's true for most dynamic EQ/compression/spectral processes.

[DJErmac]

Now we’re going deeper and deeper on the subject, much appreciated, thanks guys !