It's like you say, where this EQ shines the most is on not so well recorded material. It saved my mixes on a recent project where I had to use some living room recordings, with harp, mandolin and vocals. All of these had some continuously changing resonances and trying to get it right with a regular eq was a nightmare. Then I brought in Smart Eq 4, set the right profile, loaded a sample as a profile for the vocals and it was like magic! And the mastering engineer actually asked in what studio it was all recorded because it sounded so good!
It's just brutal how good software Sonible makes. For some reason I could never quite make SEQ3 part of my go to tools, but having used the version 4 now for a few weeks it has just drastically helped my mixes. It feels like there is a big jump in the algo from version 3. It's ability to unmask sound sources is now really uncanny while getting you to a pleasing mix.
Fabfilter still reigns supreme in terms of the EQ user interface, though. I find myself using Smart EQ4 to set an initial curve, then edit it with ProQ3. If Sonible just copied Fabfilter's super convenient controls, this really would take the prize.
I tried it and at first I wasn’t that impressed with it but after using it again I started to like it more. For fast mixing of live shows it is really great because mostly those post mixes don’t have the budget for surgical equalization. So for fast mixing it’s a great tool. For most projects I like to create a vibe which sounds and feels different from what smart-eq delivers. But it gets you in the ballpark pretty fast and can definitely be a great problem solver.
The plugin is amazing, ive used smart eq since ver 1 and the latest is finally delivering on the potential ive always wanted from it, the masking only feature in group mode is a game changer
Man, just finished a mix using SEQ4, but I feel like I could have done a 10 times better job had I watched this video before starting. Live and learn... Live and learn...
Have been using 4 for a week now, f-n love it. As a bonus I use eq2 early in the mix on tracks and eq3 groups on busses later in the mix and then add eq4's awesomeness, this may sound like overkill, and probably is, but the clarity and separation I am getting is well, F-N awesome. Did I use the word AWESOME more than once? I do have to do the normal eq tweaks like shown in this video. As I am just f-n around with it right now, this is a tool to be used. An added bonus, these tweaks can be saved as user profiles and smart will use these profiles if you ask it to.
Have a great 2024 man, really appreciate all your tutorials and reviews you have helped me so much the past couple years improve my mixing and mastering skills.
You can also load a reference track as the learning profile too (and I don't know off the top of my head if it was an option on any prior version). I can imagine this will be a no-brainer to use if you have a full mix you want to go for, but this can be applied if you have stems of something else you like for particular instruments.
That Cambridge multitrack website huh? I recognized that song instantly as I’ve randomly used it in my class to teach mixing with at the university I work at 😂 Great stuff thanks for the excellent vid :)
Great video. To those who actually use this, also pay attention to the decisions it suggests you to make to your audio, it can help you understand what the AI thinks we want to hear, and even if you don’t like it, you can make an educated decision to not follow the AI, although having the knowledge of why it might have made the decisions it made in the first place.
I upgraded from Smart:EQ3 as soon as I saw it was out. I loved your demo, as I haven't had enough time to play with the new features yet. I simply love their plugins, with Smart:EQ, Smart.Comp, and Smart:limit, even a badly recorded mix becomes passable real quick.
Thanks for a really good exposition of a really good piece of software. I am a huge admirer of of SEQ3 and will definitely spring for the update based on this video. Sonible is one of company's making really high quality useful tools and I am big fan. I agree that the quality of the SEQ filters are superb and about as "natural" as one can get in the digital domain
Love this software. But where is it best placed in the signal chain when EQing individual tracks? If you do it before compression and saturation for example, it might give a good starting point, but then when analysed as part of a group, the algorithm will ignore the compression and saturation, even if that's changed the tone, meaning unmasking will be less effective. So are you best leaving the EQ until after the compression and saturation in this case? Or would you use two instances on the same track (e.g. one on "track" mode before compression, and then a second instance on "track and group mode" at the end of your signal chain?) 🤔
I wouldn't necessarily use this on every channel. Plugins don't mix for you, they are just tools. As for where in the chain, it's gonna have to be case my case. If you're smashing a drum with compression and saturation you might want to put it after, if you're correcting a badly recorded track, before etc..
Thanks for the track mode Pro Tip. I was wondering what happened to my low-end with some of my tracks. I'll need to go through them all again to double-check each one. Peace out!
I wish there were more profiles per instrument. Like vox has 2, electric guitar has 1 etc.. If they analyzed 1,000+ songs like they say, there should be more profile options.
It depends if you want to drive a certain band/range into more saturation (after) if you want instead to shape the sound with saturation/color first then correct potential unwanted excesses with the eq (before)
A bit out of subject but when balancing a mix do you tend to undermix the kick/ bass so you get the low end from fx treatment later? I’m trying this these days instead of putting them full on at the beginning, but then I have less margin mixing, although we could argue you don’t need that much treatment with electronic drums.
I usually asses how big and what type of low end I'm gonna have (or shoot for) when I do gain staging. From there I know how much of my low end is gonna come from certain machines later on (yet not so late), either 2bus or groups or hitting the 2bus with all the low end needed from the beginning. In both cases, I tend to do low end first and build from there, knowing that as you push other things you will end up needing some more.
Hey David! This seems like a hell of a plugin! My only issue is I'm thinking in my head it could be either used at the beginning of the mix or possibly towards the end for like added eq after all other processing. What would you think would be the most effective to use the plugin? The first plugin or maybe later in the mixing process?
For the most part, no. Soothe2 is a resonance suppressor. It's listening for resonant build up in unpleasant frequencies and pulling them out for you. EQ curves are normally static. The adaptive EQ is allowing the over all EQ curve to fultuate and accommodate to the incoming signal. Both are adaptive, but used for different reasons.
I have the whole Sonible Collection and use this the most. I actually can't really use the Compressor at all. I do most of my stuff in Maschine. I have a Macbook Pro M3 so should have no issues but for some reason when I use the Smart Compressor it makes the Track lag so bad. It is really bad. Have not figured out why it does this when the other plugins work just fine.
David, you cancel the benefit of groups when you select Track Mode (Track Mode does not consider the other tracks in the group) 😉 Also, the fact that you chose Track Mode most of the time, shows that, from your POV, the Group feature does not work very well : )
Context is everything. These were extremely well recorded tracks, and I'm a control freak. That's why track worked more often in this context. But yes, we still need mixing engineers to do their job lol
@@mixbustv I’d rather say that very well recorded tracks should not benefit from the Track Mode (remember Al Schmitt? may he rest in peace), but rather from the Group Mode, which does exactly that: trying to mix/blend tracks together as a whole (which is why we do as mixing engineers). But hey! I’m being a bit teasing here. : ) Btw, thanks for your generosity throughout all those years!
I like how Sonible is careful with the AI stuff, they make them so we feel they are helping us but they watch out not to offend our ego because we hate AI and may not use the plug in if it does to much of the work 😅😅
I just can't vibe with SmartEQ, no matter how many people recommend it. It just does not seem to quite work for EDM drums, because they all function differently (compare a techno drum versus a handsup drum versus a progressive house drum), and none of them function like acoustic drums do. That's just an example. It's so weird at determining what the kick and bass in such tracks are doing that it might as well be a randomizer function. Keep in mind that if you use it track-wide, it is very much still treating it like an acoustic set of drums for the purposes of mixing it against other things. Maybe I'll get more appreciation for it when I have to deal with live drum recordings as a foundation rather than a fill for a track, but I doubt it.
@@adriano_sp Melodic techno often has single instruments playing with high dynamics. You need some tweaking for bass and stabs and pads/leads to work together. And i found that eq4 ai tends to flatten everything, removing dynamics. I'm mostly disappointed with its unmasking feature, all it does is just dropping volume in all frequencies that clashes and it seems its not even dynamic. I achieve much much better and cleaner results with dynamic eq like pro q3 and its sidechaining or even with normal ableton's eq8 with envelope triggering frequency compression.
It's like you say, where this EQ shines the most is on not so well recorded material. It saved my mixes on a recent project where I had to use some living room recordings, with harp, mandolin and vocals. All of these had some continuously changing resonances and trying to get it right with a regular eq was a nightmare. Then I brought in Smart Eq 4, set the right profile, loaded a sample as a profile for the vocals and it was like magic! And the mastering engineer actually asked in what studio it was all recorded because it sounded so good!
16:55 - David casually showing what a lot of pros don't teach. Frequency cuts and boosts that will make things blend or pop out.
It's just brutal how good software Sonible makes. For some reason I could never quite make SEQ3 part of my go to tools, but having used the version 4 now for a few weeks it has just drastically helped my mixes. It feels like there is a big jump in the algo from version 3. It's ability to unmask sound sources is now really uncanny while getting you to a pleasing mix.
Now Sonible just needs to drop a saturation plugin to truly stand toe to toe with fab filter.
God plsss
Fabfilter still reigns supreme in terms of the EQ user interface, though. I find myself using Smart EQ4 to set an initial curve, then edit it with ProQ3. If Sonible just copied Fabfilter's super convenient controls, this really would take the prize.
@@samsonlovesyou Kirchhoff eq is the king of eq's
Sonible is killing it with this one🔥 i feel like this is gonna be the new benchmark for all the other eq coming out in 2024
I tried it and at first I wasn’t that impressed with it but after using it again I started to like it more. For fast mixing of live shows it is really great because mostly those post mixes don’t have the budget for surgical equalization. So for fast mixing it’s a great tool. For most projects I like to create a vibe which sounds and feels different from what smart-eq delivers. But it gets you in the ballpark pretty fast and can definitely be a great problem solver.
Hey man props for having a backup mic recording! I know it can be a pain to lose your audio when recording. Hope you're having a great new year!
The plugin is amazing, ive used smart eq since ver 1 and the latest is finally delivering on the potential ive always wanted from it, the masking only feature in group mode is a game changer
You always drop these videos exactly when I need them! Arigato! 🙏🏾
Man, just finished a mix using SEQ4, but I feel like I could have done a 10 times better job had I watched this video before starting. Live and learn... Live and learn...
Have been using 4 for a week now, f-n love it. As a bonus I use eq2 early in the mix on tracks and eq3 groups on busses later in the mix and then add eq4's awesomeness, this may sound like overkill, and probably is, but the clarity and separation I am getting is well, F-N awesome. Did I use the word AWESOME more than once? I do have to do the normal eq tweaks like shown in this video. As I am just f-n around with it right now, this is a tool to be used. An added bonus, these tweaks can be saved as user profiles and smart will use these profiles if you ask it to.
Have a great 2024 man, really appreciate all your tutorials and reviews you have helped me so much the past couple years improve my mixing and mastering skills.
Thanks for this! Just picked it up today for Black Friday. Really excited to see how it can speed me up. Got a sub from me!
This company is fresh air in modern mixing. Clever guys..bravo!
You can also load a reference track as the learning profile too (and I don't know off the top of my head if it was an option on any prior version). I can imagine this will be a no-brainer to use if you have a full mix you want to go for, but this can be applied if you have stems of something else you like for particular instruments.
Yes you could do that in the previous as well
@@mixbustvThank you, good sir =]
That Cambridge multitrack website huh? I recognized that song instantly as I’ve randomly used it in my class to teach mixing with at the university I work at 😂
Great stuff thanks for the excellent vid :)
Great video. To those who actually use this, also pay attention to the decisions it suggests you to make to your audio, it can help you understand what the AI thinks we want to hear, and even if you don’t like it, you can make an educated decision to not follow the AI, although having the knowledge of why it might have made the decisions it made in the first place.
I upgraded from Smart:EQ3 as soon as I saw it was out. I loved your demo, as I haven't had enough time to play with the new features yet. I simply love their plugins, with Smart:EQ, Smart.Comp, and Smart:limit, even a badly recorded mix becomes passable real quick.
Excellent tutorial. Thanks.
Kick ass vid! Pls do a vid like this for the Sonible Smart Comp plugin.
Got a few days ago so thanks for this David !
Ya, this is a major upgrade. Haven't gotten a chance to use it yet, but I already loved Smart:EQ3 and Smart:Limit
Thanks for a really good exposition of a really good piece of software. I am a huge admirer of of SEQ3 and will definitely spring for the update based on this video. Sonible is one of company's making really high quality useful tools and I am big fan. I agree that the quality of the SEQ filters are superb and about as "natural" as one can get in the digital domain
Thank you sir! I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share so much useful content!
Love this software. But where is it best placed in the signal chain when EQing individual tracks? If you do it before compression and saturation for example, it might give a good starting point, but then when analysed as part of a group, the algorithm will ignore the compression and saturation, even if that's changed the tone, meaning unmasking will be less effective. So are you best leaving the EQ until after the compression and saturation in this case? Or would you use two instances on the same track (e.g. one on "track" mode before compression, and then a second instance on "track and group mode" at the end of your signal chain?) 🤔
I wouldn't necessarily use this on every channel. Plugins don't mix for you, they are just tools. As for where in the chain, it's gonna have to be case my case. If you're smashing a drum with compression and saturation you might want to put it after, if you're correcting a badly recorded track, before etc..
it can work great on voice/podcast production as well, separating/prioritizing various guests as well as music/ambience in the background
Thanks for the track mode Pro Tip. I was wondering what happened to my low-end with some of my tracks. I'll need to go through them all again to double-check each one. Peace out!
Thanks for the excellent walk through of this excellent eq. 👍🏻😀
I give mega thanks for all his compression videos. 😇🥰😍🤩😋🥲💘💝💖💗❤💯👍💪🙏
New to smart eq
Great video, very informative, thanks for the help 👍
Much love and happy new year ! Thanks for the information
Happy new year!
I got this because I had the pre bundle I think it might be my go to EQ from now on
Excellent tutorial, as usual.
My goodness gracias...I think Im going to buy this..... But I also consider, imagine if eventide spilt eq could also do this ! Id be in heaven.....
Damn Now What can You do After putting smart EQ it does everything, it's mind-blowing, any suggestions
Did you already have Smart EQ4 instances in the tracks that you grouped?
thanks! this is basically the best 'how to' video for this plugin - You should teach them how to make good videos :D
Привет. Вчера купил , а сегодня свел частотно новый микс!!! Спасибо за видео!!!
How do I properly use this EQ with reasons? Twelve I don't know where to start
dude thank you so much for explaing this !!!! you are awesome
Very nice, will be putting to practice today❤
Significant improvement over SmartEQ3!
for sure
Does the adaptive mode take into account the other sounds and duck interfering frequencies like Trackspacer?
We can assume it does
Sonible rocks! Got and i love it.
Hi Dave, what do You think about comparing smart Eq4, about resonance removing, with Soothe2 or Deres ?
I works great to remove SOME resonances, but it's definitely a much broader tool than those
What's the song at the outro of the video? The mix is brilliant.
My lovely wife's 1st single ua-cam.com/video/YT3gXsQ2MsU/v-deo.htmlsi=z3TfdwmVa11hpQdF
I wish there were more profiles per instrument. Like vox has 2, electric guitar has 1 etc.. If they analyzed 1,000+ songs like they say, there should be more profile
options.
If you're using the mix matrix it would be useless because you can only have 1 element for each "category", you need to create groups
What if I want to add let say saturation plugin, should I put it before SS EQ4, or after?
It depends if you want to drive a certain band/range into more saturation (after) if you want instead to shape the sound with saturation/color first then correct potential unwanted excesses with the eq (before)
A bit out of subject but when balancing a mix do you tend to undermix the kick/ bass so you get the low end from fx treatment later? I’m trying this these days instead of putting them full on at the beginning, but then I have less margin mixing, although we could argue you don’t need that much treatment with electronic drums.
I usually asses how big and what type of low end I'm gonna have (or shoot for) when I do gain staging. From there I know how much of my low end is gonna come from certain machines later on (yet not so late), either 2bus or groups or hitting the 2bus with all the low end needed from the beginning. In both cases, I tend to do low end first and build from there, knowing that as you push other things you will end up needing some more.
Yes so for example you start with 2bus low end and as you build the high end you could bring more low end on drums
Hey David! This seems like a hell of a plugin! My only issue is I'm thinking in my head it could be either used at the beginning of the mix or possibly towards the end for like added eq after all other processing. What would you think would be the most effective to use the plugin? The first plugin or maybe later in the mixing process?
I'd go first. It'll get you in a much better starting point. Just always judge with your ears don't trust blindly (although it's very good)
@mixbustv Thanks David! Appreciate you man
Can you use some of the features in tandem with hardware - in real time processing, or do you have to print?
Sure you can
Grazie Mille 🙏 buon anno nuovo
Does the Adaptive function make it work like Soothe2?
For the most part, no. Soothe2 is a resonance suppressor. It's listening for resonant build up in unpleasant frequencies and pulling them out for you. EQ curves are normally static. The adaptive EQ is allowing the over all EQ curve to fultuate and accommodate to the incoming signal. Both are adaptive, but used for different reasons.
@@therealaarongeorge 🙏
BTW. Szczęśliwego nowego roku :)
Thanks for breaking it down bro.
Dynamic shelf!
I have the whole Sonible Collection and use this the most. I actually can't really use the Compressor at all. I do most of my stuff in Maschine. I have a Macbook Pro M3 so should have no issues but for some reason when I use the Smart Compressor it makes the Track lag so bad. It is really bad. Have not figured out why it does this when the other plugins work just fine.
You should let them know, they're great people I'm sure they'll appreciate (and fix it)
hope we don't have to wait for smartEQ 5 to get an external sidechain
getting this now lol🤘
COOL^Thank you so much!!!
I bought it last week but didn’t get a chance to mess with it bcuz I was working
Thx to u David :)
interesting review...
But why doesnt it high pass as well?
David, you cancel the benefit of groups when you select Track Mode (Track Mode does not consider the other tracks in the group) 😉 Also, the fact that you chose Track Mode most of the time, shows that, from your POV, the Group feature does not work very well : )
Context is everything. These were extremely well recorded tracks, and I'm a control freak. That's why track worked more often in this context. But yes, we still need mixing engineers to do their job lol
@@mixbustv I’d rather say that very well recorded tracks should not benefit from the Track Mode (remember Al Schmitt? may he rest in peace), but rather from the Group Mode, which does exactly that: trying to mix/blend tracks together as a whole (which is why we do as mixing engineers). But hey! I’m being a bit teasing here. : )
Btw, thanks for your generosity throughout all those years!
I like how Sonible is careful with the AI stuff, they make them so we feel they are helping us but they watch out not to offend our ego because we hate AI and may not use the plug in if it does to much of the work 😅😅
I just can't vibe with SmartEQ, no matter how many people recommend it. It just does not seem to quite work for EDM drums, because they all function differently (compare a techno drum versus a handsup drum versus a progressive house drum), and none of them function like acoustic drums do. That's just an example. It's so weird at determining what the kick and bass in such tracks are doing that it might as well be a randomizer function. Keep in mind that if you use it track-wide, it is very much still treating it like an acoustic set of drums for the purposes of mixing it against other things.
Maybe I'll get more appreciation for it when I have to deal with live drum recordings as a foundation rather than a fill for a track, but I doubt it.
From Alesis 3630 with ❤. LOL!😍🤩💯👍 402!
Use your ears it is only for people you who are lost in mixing.
Now try it on EDM or Melodic Techno, Trance genres... Now we have a problem.
😂😂 really? If you'll ever face a metal or industrial mix what are you gonna do? Scream and run away?
@@mixbustv I don't understand your response. EQ4 has problem with trance/techno mixes.
why has problem? (I make House, Techno, Electro)
@@adriano_sp Melodic techno often has single instruments playing with high dynamics. You need some tweaking for bass and stabs and pads/leads to work together. And i found that eq4 ai tends to flatten everything, removing dynamics.
I'm mostly disappointed with its unmasking feature, all it does is just dropping volume in all frequencies that clashes and it seems its not even dynamic. I achieve much much better and cleaner results with dynamic eq like pro q3 and its sidechaining or even with normal ableton's eq8 with envelope triggering frequency compression.
To be honest I just don’t like it, I found it hard to get my head around it
thnajnajnj