Test it on some vocals. For me the main purpose of this plugin is to carve space in my instrumental layers/group for vocals (especially just in the mid channel). Works like magic! It just sounds like instantly there's more space for the vocals with no huge difference in minus on the backing track! Would be hardcore to try to replicate this effect with multiband compression or dynamic EQ, because this one is way more precise
It's actually one of my favorite plugins. Works perfectly for mixing vocals and pads or instruments also which frequencies are crossing each other too.
I've had this plugin for about a year after discovering it on your channel. Absolutely one of the best plugins I've ever bought. Period. It can be whisper subtle or plain destructive to create its own effect. No more trouble with snare drum cutting through loud rock mixes. I just nudge it a bit and voila, bass gets out of the way of the snare drum. I don't have to sit there fcking around with ducking and compression and getting the balance right. Great parameter control as well.. easy to use. The compression algorithm adds a little pop and sizzle and you can control the eq curve. Truly amazing plugin. I told them I found it on your channel. Send me a check
I love this thing, have been using it almost a year. Mostly useful one low settings, great for creating space in the low mids in a busy mix and super useful for getting a vocal to always cut through
I'm glad you were won over. I've been telling folks in the forum this is my new favorite plugin. I haven't been needing to mess with the attack and release settings and I don't go up above 35 on the main dial to avoid artifacting. I do use the HPF and LPF. A low setting around 15 to 35 on the main knob goes a long way. I think it was Gulfoss you were trying to remember. I really like it on my master but not so much on my tracks. I've yet to use Soothe on any track that benefited from it, but it's a recent purchase and all productions since have only used polished instrument libraries. UAD has a plugin that does a much better job of eliminating harsh sounds. Soothe might be great for raw home recordings with bad acoustics.
This really shines on melodic instruments and vocals carving out space following the melody efficiently and transparently. Try using it to clear out conflicting backing track frequencies behind a vocal. It's magic!
Yup, been using this for ages and in it's earlier incarnations. If you use it in Mid-Side, just use the Mid and sidechain the vocal over things like pads it is amazing. It sucks the middle out and changes the whole vibe of the pad when the vocals are present!
“I would love to have such a box. (Long pause). I could put it on the shelf with all the other boxes. “ This channel is comedy gold. Your timing is hilarious 😂 🤣😂🤣
Maybe you shouldn't rely on such a plugin, but learn to seperate and glue things together with regular tools so you understand how mixing works. Kick and Bass seperation is very easily achieved, at least as a first balance base, if you use channel strips on both channels and you really learn what the inbuilt compressor does if used in fast and slow attack mode. That's a first step and from there you go further in little steps. Those plugins like Soothe, Trackspacer or multiband compressors in general nearly always do add something what is unwanted and it's hard for beginners to recognize that, especially when they use it and focus on something else. Cheers.
ua-cam.com/play/PL60vHoJexe-GT01yAl6ddeGeY2MLoDsAJ.html Everything you want to know. This course is long. Very long. It's an eye opener. Especially for beginners or a advanced beginners. You will be able to do killer mixes when learning this. It's unparalled on YT and it's free. Mike did is a great favour here. Much appreciated, can't recommend enough. If you really are interested in learning mixing from a professional point off view, this is the perfect base to go. Cheers
Hey, Trackspacer is designed to provide an improvement on traditional broadband/multiband side chain compression techniques, by using 32 band frequency specific ducking on a competing side chained instrument. It only provides ducking on clashing frequencies in the side chained signal, instead of unnecessarily compressing all frequencies within a band. This type of processing is great to achieve greater frequency separation in your mix, right at the end of the mixing process. It’s amazing for creating space for sudden moments that need more clarity within a dense arrangement. You only really want to use this sparingly at the end of the mixing process to eek out some more separation for the focus points of your track. It’s not a secret weapon, it’s a subtle tool to be used only in the right scenario. You can be more heavy handed when side-chaining a kick to the bass during mixing an EDM track for example. P.S The lateral and vertical process (mid/side) modes are great for ducking the centre of a delay for example, to ensure the effect doesn’t clash with the mid range of vocal. Cheers, Jamie
This has become a go-to plugin for me lately, especially in creating space in the low end. To my ear, it feels way better than simply cutting frequencies because this actually creates some very musical movement when used in a subtle way. I wish I didn’t like it so much (I don’t want to be lazy ha!) but used and targeted properly it kind of “glues” the mix to my ears. Just my 2 cents, but I love it.
This thing is completely worth the money! I had a lead and wanted it to dynamically cut into the pad underneath it, but they were sharing frequencies along the track, just seldom at the same time. I tried doing manual automations and using multi-band compressors. It was just so much work to have them both sound great at the same time. Plopped in Trackspacer and "subtracted" some of the lead's freqs from the pad, and now they can sing in harmony together with their full sound. It's a sort of multi-tool. I've also made great use of it for just small freq-ranges on certain tracks, so I can leave in some more low-mid on effect-sounds which are automatically "merged" into the other instruments playing in the low-mid range. It's a really weird Swiss Army knife.
@@Illiyinmusic It does go a long way, but in this instance the duckee had a drone that got ducked so much it was too obvious, when using those wider bands. Using TrackSpacer or Soothe 2 to zone in on a specific area (which they both can) with higher granularity, can really make a difference. I know, I should fix it at an instrument level, so as to not have this problem, but alas, this works as well.
Besides vocals, it’s amazing for sidechaing/ducking reverb from any source. Add reverb on vocals or on a pad an use this plugin to control the reverb an it’s honestly crazy
In M/S mode (mid-side) pan appears to shift between the center and the side channels in balance. I like the visual representation they have, looks cool. Yes, in edm or dance music, the sidechain ducking totally changes the groove of a track... it's not just about making space for other elements. You can do similar shit with Izotope Neutron.
There are extensions to Max for Live doing this for free lately, I myself have created a chain of effects in Live that do the same thing with Live Suite stock effects, but I don't really trust multiband dynamic processors. It does have a nice interface anyway
@@dedaluz100 So you’re saying there is a max for live device where they process the sound with a 32 band EQ triggered by a side chain? I mean, this is definitely possible but I feel like there’s a chance you might be thinking it’s something else.
what do you guys mean how compression changes the groove? because certain transients get snuffed out? Or do you mean that transients actually change in time from the compression (on the output)? I'm a newbie to mixing....yet i can design a compressor in max, lol. But a total novice at mixing.
@@G8tr1522 You seem to have the gist of it. Compressors will change the level but also the time constraints, mainly affected by the attack and release settings. Extreme settings on the input/threshold/ratio will make the compressors pump if the release times is set right which will really let you hear this effect. Sidechain compressors in dance music REALLY make use of this "pumping" sound by linking the pumping to something like a kick or snare. Good luck on your audio adventures!
After a seeing your video and testing out the plugin today I'm just blown away. Been looking for something like this for ages. Thanks for the convincing review!
I LOVE TRACKSPACER!! As an amateur musician this just makes my productions sound alot better without the need for dedicating my whole life to learn all the mixing tricks of the trade 🤩 Worth every single €!!
It's basically a dynamic spectral EQ + a special blackbox detector. This does seem more like a sound design processor than one for mixing. The panning selects where the effect is applied in either Left-Right or Mid-Side modes. M/S mode will be more useful more often than L/R since shaping just the mid or side signals between two elements is very useful in sound design.
I use this for my Voiceover projects. Really helps me (without almost any engineering knowledge) to have good mixes with any music/effects under the vocals. It's brilliant.
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Yeah you can do similar stuff with other tools with a lot of fussing and tweaking. This just does it, one plugin, a couple of knobs, done. Sold.
TrackSpacer is one of my most used plugins. Beyond using it to enforce kick and bass separation, I have started using it to get the snare out of the overhead and room tracks so that I have more control of cymbals and ambience without slamming more and more snare from different tracks. Many people list TrackSpacer as their dessert island plugin, the one they cannot do without.
Finally.... Im sure I mentioned this a while ago... a dynamic eq/comp? .... But Its simple. It works with a fast workflow..... And at the price , its a must have.
I love Trackspacer. I use a number of instances in most projects. It's very versatile and has helped to improve my mixes and achieve greater overall loudness (by creating space) . Normally use fastest attack and release setting and often alongside a sidechain compressor (less noticeable than compressor ducking, works well together with one...) but it's basically unnoticeable when set up properly. Especially great for letting kicks and snares/claps etc. cut through bass, drum mix and other busses (and vice versa) and generally giving instruments or drums priority in the mix over similar frequency parts to avoid any clashing /unwanted frequency build ups etc. It just works very well!
In reason we reproduced it with fabfilter. Reason 8 band Vocoder > Cv Voltage > 8 Output > Fab 8 bands automated. However I think it is a goodplugin also. Great video as always!
Have been a fan of this plugin for a long time, really helps to bring an instrument into focus and ofc resolve clashing frequencies in similarly ranged instruments. My only issue is that the analysis is quite delayed, at least for me. I'm not even sure if it's important as I can hear it anyway, but it does bug me
Wow, the comments section here alone has just about sold me on this. I don't know if I've ever seen comment after comment saying people love the plugin. That's pretty good word of mouth if you ask me and this is the kind of plug in I would never even look at because I hardly ever look at plug ins that I feel like are other effects just repackaged and re purposed for something specific, IE this being a repackaged sidechain multi band compressor, because I already have a multi band compressor with side chain ability (same with dynamic eq's, which really are just re packaged multiband compressors in my opinion, but maybe this is something else entirely and would make life easier. Might have to check it out. If anyone reading this hasn't checked out Waves Abbey Road Saturation plug in, it's worth a look. I absolutely love that thing. It's my favorite waves plug in and I'm not even a huge Beetles fan (I like them, just not a super fan, so don't roast me too hard) although I am a huge Pink Floyd fan, so...But that thing does some magic for real. From slight warmth too extra crispy and everything in between. Both a solid state and tube saturation thing and the compander, which I have no idea what that is but it's cool, Im guessing a paralell compression type of thing, but that thing can work magic on acoustic guitars and anything you want to bring forward without increasing the overall energy. It's one of those things I have to take off of stuff because I start using it on everything. And it works better if you are choosy with what you put it on in the mix IMO. But it finds its way on my kicks, snares, vocals and bass a lot here lately. Saturation in general is my favorite type of plug in anyways and this is my favorite of those. Have fun mixing and making 🎶 🎵 everyone!
The first plugin to me that really helped to fight the frequency overlay of instruments the easy way. A real timesaver. Pretty flexible and used a lot overall my song template. Most of the time you can configure it with the big knob in the middle only listening to the two instruments, busses or whatever you sidechain with it. And sculpting the instrument is also in it. It allows you to overlay eg a bunch of basses and create a monster bass sound. The same when you create monster drums consisting of a lot of full-blown samples. It works best for me when I sidechain bass 1 with bass2 to bassN, bass 2 with bass 3 to bassN (and so forth, in a cascade), do the same for the drums and then sidechain the drum buss and bass buss with another instance in a hirarchical structure. For all the possibilities and this price a real steal. Don‘t go without it.
@@ordinaryrapper08 I create a bus called "All But Vox" and a bus called "All Vox". These are the last two busses prior to the final MAIN fader. I use Track Spacer on "All But Vox" and sidechain it with "All Vox" and tune to taste. Typically I end up with something limited to mid-range and dial it around 10%-25%. It elegantly places the vocals out in front of the mix.
Loved your reaction to this one. I enjoy using this plugin a lot especially when i want vocals to stand out in a mix. Sometimes Ill put trackspacer on a bus where multiple instruments are going and have the sidechain input be the vocal so whenever the vocal comes in the instrumentation ducks a small bit :) also M/S mode is great when you want just the Mids ducked out while maintaining the sides (like extra guitars)
This plugin has really helped me during fills or ear candy that I just can't get to pop through without volume automation. If I have a drum fill on a separate track that's too quiet and I don't have enough headroom to get it to pop through with just volume or compression, just throwing Trackspacer on whatever track is drowning it and side chaining it to the fill can help it pop through really dynamically. I'm sure a good engineer could accomplish the same thing... but this helps me out a lot as a hobbyist.
You made me try it and after demoing on two projects, I had to buy and use it! Thank you for not recommending to purchase but to try and see by myself. Great contents as always!
I use this in post production when we're previewing the score for the show. I use it to duck the music only under the dialog using the production dialog track as the key input. I set Trackspacer 2.5 to only treat the average audio range and to duck at 10%-30% depending on the scene. Really helps to keep the score as present as possible during playback. The unfortunate side is that it doesn't write automation so you're either using it just for live playback or if you're willing to print the result. Wavesfactory ... if your listening ... make this thing write automation!
MS is mid/side. And why you might want to pan; one example I use it, I have it on ducking my guitar bus. I have a solo panned to the right and during the solo it triggers on the guitar bus to duck the frequencies just enough to get a little clarity.
With the Pan feature, you can actually "side chain" the left or right channel independently without affecting the opposite side and mid. It's quite cool... I only use it to create space for vocals .
Actually I love Trackspacer. It's extremely convenient to dynamically carve out a little space for other tracks (and not just brutally sidechain-compress stuff). Itsaverygood!
I was thinking some time ago about a plugin that can subtract the frequencies based of on sidechain input. This would be handy to give other instruments more room in the mix and making 'sidechaining' less audable
Bit late to the comment section on this one but Trackspacer is great in Post Prod audio. Fantastic for getting music out of the way of VO's and Dialogue.
Think about difference in what you hear when you compress a signal or reduce the volume with a fader. Then you have what the plug-in does. It does not compress the signal to make space for the feeding signal but reduces the volume of the selected frequencies. This gives definitely space for the frequencies of the chain feeding signal. Compression changes the shape of a sinus wave, a volume change does not. I use it to clean up the lower end of my mix to give space for the kick in competition to the base or to promote the vocals to bring them in front of the backing track. I do not want to miss this little plug-in any more.
Before this plugin came out I’d been using the Waves C6 Sidechain to do this. Then I switched to Track Spacer for a while. But after learning Scheps’ rear buss technique, I don’t need as much of the Trackspacer. Still use it, but only in particular moments when the vocal is getting crowded out.
I use this occasionally, just to help a vocal when needed, or when I get tracks to mix that haven't been recorded properly (in the low end). I can see how one would use it as a production tool as you said. Pretty cool results.
Yeah that's why I got from the marketing description a multiband compressor with more bands and probably more than one stage so it results on sort of equalizing, problem for me is that the less they explain how it works the more you have to waste time find out for yourself
Glad you reviewed this! I've been using the trackspacer for a while now and I think it's amazing. You can get results very similar to Soothe but for less than half the price
@@gulagwarlord yeah i guess it is. it has just enough parameters not to be a tyranny of choice. spread it across a few bass/synth/vox tracks and it does cut stuff a space very well..i find i have to do more fiddling with neutron and/or FF MB (which i also use a LOT)
TB Pro Audio has a plugin that can do this... DSEQ - kind of similar to Soothe but has two different sidechain modes. 1st mode enables the plugin effect where audio is present in the sidechain - 2nd ducks the frequencies of the side chain signal (like trackspacer). This company flies under the radar but are well worth a look.
Sweet. I used to do this stuff manually, by modulating individual EQ bands with a certain signal. It's kind of a pain to set up, it seems like this plugin achieves the same goal more precisely and in a way that's very easy to set up. Bought it, it's awesome.
Bought it ages ago. Changed my production and even my workflow which is good. I don't use it on sidechaining kicks to bass though because it's not fast enough for the genre I produce but I do use it to move horns out of the way of vocals etc.
Great review! It is a 'thing' LoL! I have used this plugin to be creative and also to subtly carve space that would not necessarily be heard outside the studio, but just helped my monitors sound even more amazing! In Reaper it is fully automatable: like it!
I’m using this plug for >2 years. I actually use it in every song, it saves TIME. Once in a time he (it’s a one-man-project) offers with 50% discount. One of my favs!
I mean... I can feed a sidechain into DSEQ and do the same thing but with control over smoothing of the curve. MSpectralDynamics does that too if I recall correctly
Such a great mixing plugin. I use it on every project. Great for ducking reverb. Great for subtly ducking background instruments when the vocal plays. I've even started using it in side-chaining the bass to the kick. And always keep in mind how you want to set up attack and release settings. sooo powerful.
That is also a very exciting topic, where do production end to let the mixing start, and when do mixing stop to let the mastering start. :) I like this plugin for what it does .
I'm really, really thinking about it. Imaging sticking it onto an instument's reverb send. Instead of just ducking it like regular sidechained reverb send. It would carve out a specific EQ. Might sound awesome.
Yesterday I saw a video by Andrew Huang doing something like that wth this plug-in. He sent the voice to a reverb and on the send channel ducked slightly the incoming signal, so the reverb got presence and brillance wihtout mudding the mix. Pretty neat.
I think it was gullfoss that you were trying to remember. I think they're similar but this works like a high-resolution side-chain while gullfoss tries to make a track sound better by making it conform to a certain standard of frequency distribution (I think). Thanks for the good review.
"guess what, that is possible by just hiring a good engineer"
That quote made my day.
That's the most truthful statement that I've heard in years
that sounds like a rich person problem lol
Please advise on good audio engineer for €50 lol😢
Or by using AI powered Mastering EQ'ing and Mixing tools. Yay for AI!
thats the whole pt. of the plugin, rather than paying some guy $100/hr, u can just buy this plugin once for $39
Test it on some vocals. For me the main purpose of this plugin is to carve space in my instrumental layers/group for vocals (especially just in the mid channel). Works like magic! It just sounds like instantly there's more space for the vocals with no huge difference in minus on the backing track! Would be hardcore to try to replicate this effect with multiband compression or dynamic EQ, because this one is way more precise
Totally agree. I use this for voice-over and post production all the time. Really great for getting the right level for speak
This my secret mixing weapon. Not so secret anymore!
This. I use this for this, solo synths and solo guitars. and of course kick and bass
100% We use this on almost every release to carve a little room for vocals. It's the real deal.
Was considering buying for this specific purpose. Thanks for the recommendation.
It's actually one of my favorite plugins. Works perfectly for mixing vocals and pads or instruments also which frequencies are crossing each other too.
Bro this thing is the fusion dance equivalent to music production. It fuses any two sounds together with high precision
this saved my life recently hahaha
@@hoichi-samaplays u wo8 m8
@@butt-head5212 U WOOOT
whats the frequency range and ratio do you use on the vocal for trackspacer?
I've had this plugin for about a year after discovering it on your channel.
Absolutely one of the best plugins I've ever bought. Period. It can be whisper subtle or plain destructive to create its own effect. No more trouble with snare drum cutting through loud rock mixes. I just nudge it a bit and voila, bass gets out of the way of the snare drum. I don't have to sit there fcking around with ducking and compression and getting the balance right. Great parameter control as well.. easy to use. The compression algorithm adds a little pop and sizzle and you can control the eq curve. Truly amazing plugin. I told them I found it on your channel. Send me a check
Still blows my mind how far some of the good software plugins have come over the years.
I love this thing, have been using it almost a year. Mostly useful one low settings, great for creating space in the low mids in a busy mix and super useful for getting a vocal to always cut through
I'm glad you were won over. I've been telling folks in the forum this is my new favorite plugin. I haven't been needing to mess with the attack and release settings and I don't go up above 35 on the main dial to avoid artifacting. I do use the HPF and LPF. A low setting around 15 to 35 on the main knob goes a long way. I think it was Gulfoss you were trying to remember. I really like it on my master but not so much on my tracks. I've yet to use Soothe on any track that benefited from it, but it's a recent purchase and all productions since have only used polished instrument libraries. UAD has a plugin that does a much better job of eliminating harsh sounds. Soothe might be great for raw home recordings with bad acoustics.
This really shines on melodic instruments and vocals carving out space following the melody efficiently and transparently. Try using it to clear out conflicting backing track frequencies behind a vocal. It's magic!
I love so much your opinions about "how to sell a plug in" and all the "secret weapon stuffs", these kind of words are SO important for begginners
Yup, been using this for ages and in it's earlier incarnations. If you use it in Mid-Side, just use the Mid and sidechain the vocal over things like pads it is amazing. It sucks the middle out and changes the whole vibe of the pad when the vocals are present!
I use it since a half year and now I'm happy that it doesn't fail your check :)
“I would love to have such a box. (Long pause). I could put it on the shelf with all the other boxes. “ This channel is comedy gold. Your timing is hilarious 😂 🤣😂🤣
Alex Radeski exactly, I’m also loving his sense of humor! 👍
@@RealTunesStudio Altho, let's admit, it's involuntary
So wrong it’s wrong
Laughed out loud and repeated that part 😂😂
I love this plugin. Mind you, I'm a beginner, but it's really helped me bring out my kicks and fix a lot of clashing frequencies
Maybe you shouldn't rely on such a plugin, but learn to seperate and glue things together with regular tools so you understand how mixing works. Kick and Bass seperation is very easily achieved, at least as a first balance base, if you use channel strips on both channels and you really learn what the inbuilt compressor does if used in fast and slow attack mode. That's a first step and from there you go further in little steps. Those plugins like Soothe, Trackspacer or multiband compressors in general nearly always do add something what is unwanted and it's hard for beginners to recognize that, especially when they use it and focus on something else. Cheers.
@@nichttuntun3364 hey if they make it , to cut into convenience i''ll take it
@@YoungBlaze why not? If it helps. I got it too but never felt a situation I need it. Maybe I try the misuse approach for sound design. Cheers
@@nichttuntun3364 i agree
ua-cam.com/play/PL60vHoJexe-GT01yAl6ddeGeY2MLoDsAJ.html
Everything you want to know. This course is long. Very long. It's an eye opener. Especially for beginners or a advanced beginners. You will be able to do killer mixes when learning this. It's unparalled on YT and it's free. Mike did is a great favour here. Much appreciated, can't recommend enough. If you really are interested in learning mixing from a professional point off view, this is the perfect base to go. Cheers
Hey,
Trackspacer is designed to provide an improvement on traditional broadband/multiband side chain compression techniques, by using 32 band frequency specific ducking on a competing side chained instrument. It only provides ducking on clashing frequencies in the side chained signal, instead of unnecessarily compressing all frequencies within a band.
This type of processing is great to achieve greater frequency separation in your mix, right at the end of the mixing process. It’s amazing for creating space for sudden moments that need more clarity within a dense arrangement. You only really want to use this sparingly at the end of the mixing process to eek out some more separation for the focus points of your track. It’s not a secret weapon, it’s a subtle tool to be used only in the right scenario.
You can be more heavy handed when side-chaining a kick to the bass during mixing an EDM track for example.
P.S The lateral and vertical process (mid/side) modes are great for ducking the centre of a delay for example, to ensure the effect doesn’t clash with the mid range of vocal.
Cheers,
Jamie
nice use case for the mid/side control. Never thought about using m/s for delay effects. thanks!
In Pro-MB, you can have compression bands that react individually to their respective sidechain bands. But you’re limited to like 5 or 6
This has become a go-to plugin for me lately, especially in creating space in the low end. To my ear, it feels way better than simply cutting frequencies because this actually creates some very musical movement when used in a subtle way.
I wish I didn’t like it so much (I don’t want to be lazy ha!) but used and targeted properly it kind of “glues” the mix to my ears. Just my 2 cents, but I love it.
This thing is completely worth the money! I had a lead and wanted it to dynamically cut into the pad underneath it, but they were sharing frequencies along the track, just seldom at the same time. I tried doing manual automations and using multi-band compressors. It was just so much work to have them both sound great at the same time. Plopped in Trackspacer and "subtracted" some of the lead's freqs from the pad, and now they can sing in harmony together with their full sound. It's a sort of multi-tool. I've also made great use of it for just small freq-ranges on certain tracks, so I can leave in some more low-mid on effect-sounds which are automatically "merged" into the other instruments playing in the low-mid range. It's a really weird Swiss Army knife.
Dynamic eq side chaining goes a long way there. Why I'm iffy about getting this. There's no need for 32 bands
@@Illiyinmusic It does go a long way, but in this instance the duckee had a drone that got ducked so much it was too obvious, when using those wider bands. Using TrackSpacer or Soothe 2 to zone in on a specific area (which they both can) with higher granularity, can really make a difference. I know, I should fix it at an instrument level, so as to not have this problem, but alas, this works as well.
Btw, has anybody pointed out yet, that the picture in the background, which says "Music Is Love Forever", can be abbreviated to MILF? xD
Hahahahahaha! Dude, you made my day! ;)
Dutch pornography at its finest.
God bless you 🤣🤣🤣
@@mvyper 😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Besides vocals, it’s amazing for sidechaing/ducking reverb from any source. Add reverb on vocals or on a pad an use this plugin to control the reverb an it’s honestly crazy
Genius
love this tip, thx
I’ve used it on both my releases. And then I’ve used it as a mixing tool for creating space for the kick.
In M/S mode (mid-side) pan appears to shift between the center and the side channels in balance. I like the visual representation they have, looks cool. Yes, in edm or dance music, the sidechain ducking totally changes the groove of a track... it's not just about making space for other elements. You can do similar shit with Izotope Neutron.
There are extensions to Max for Live doing this for free lately, I myself have created a chain of effects in Live that do the same thing with Live Suite stock effects, but I don't really trust multiband dynamic processors. It does have a nice interface anyway
@@dedaluz100 So you’re saying there is a max for live device where they process the sound with a 32 band EQ triggered by a side chain? I mean, this is definitely possible but I feel like there’s a chance you might be thinking it’s something else.
what do you guys mean how compression changes the groove? because certain transients get snuffed out? Or do you mean that transients actually change in time from the compression (on the output)?
I'm a newbie to mixing....yet i can design a compressor in max, lol. But a total novice at mixing.
@@G8tr1522 You seem to have the gist of it. Compressors will change the level but also the time constraints, mainly affected by the attack and release settings. Extreme settings on the input/threshold/ratio will make the compressors pump if the release times is set right which will really let you hear this effect. Sidechain compressors in dance music REALLY make use of this "pumping" sound by linking the pumping to something like a kick or snare. Good luck on your audio adventures!
I got this yesterday and I can say its great. Also, they've put up a demo version as well.
After a seeing your video and testing out the plugin today I'm just blown away. Been looking for something like this for ages. Thanks for the convincing review!
I LOVE TRACKSPACER!! As an amateur musician this just makes my productions sound alot better without the need for dedicating my whole life to learn all the mixing tricks of the trade 🤩
Worth every single €!!
I'm blown away... I'm not sure how it works but I love what it does.
It's basically a dynamic spectral EQ + a special blackbox detector. This does seem more like a sound design processor than one for mixing.
The panning selects where the effect is applied in either Left-Right or Mid-Side modes. M/S mode will be more useful more often than L/R since shaping just the mid or side signals between two elements is very useful in sound design.
Ive been watching a ton of your vids. Very informative and has stopped me from regretting some purchases. Thanks for that brother!
I use this for my Voiceover projects. Really helps me (without almost any engineering knowledge) to have good mixes with any music/effects under the vocals. It's brilliant.
Ik gebruik het voor bijna alle voice overs die ik opneem. Love it
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Yeah you can do similar stuff with other tools with a lot of fussing and tweaking. This just does it, one plugin, a couple of knobs, done. Sold.
TrackSpacer is one of my most used plugins. Beyond using it to enforce kick and bass separation, I have started using it to get the snare out of the overhead and room tracks so that I have more control of cymbals and ambience without slamming more and more snare from different tracks. Many people list TrackSpacer as their dessert island plugin, the one they cannot do without.
Finally.... Im sure I mentioned this a while ago... a dynamic eq/comp? .... But Its simple. It works with a fast workflow..... And at the price , its a must have.
I've used this for a very long time. Nothing else really does it like this. It's very special. 🤟🏻
I love Trackspacer. I use a number of instances in most projects. It's very versatile and has helped to improve my mixes and achieve greater overall loudness (by creating space) . Normally use fastest attack and release setting and often alongside a sidechain compressor (less noticeable than compressor ducking, works well together with one...) but it's basically unnoticeable when set up properly. Especially great for letting kicks and snares/claps etc. cut through bass, drum mix and other busses (and vice versa) and generally giving instruments or drums priority in the mix over similar frequency parts to avoid any clashing /unwanted frequency build ups etc. It just works very well!
In reason we reproduced it with fabfilter. Reason 8 band Vocoder > Cv Voltage > 8 Output > Fab 8 bands automated. However I think it is a goodplugin also. Great video as always!
3:14 Can’t wait for the “How a Compressor detects the Signal” Video! Feed me Seymour! I crave the knowledge.
Have been a fan of this plugin for a long time, really helps to bring an instrument into focus and ofc resolve clashing frequencies in similarly ranged instruments. My only issue is that the analysis is quite delayed, at least for me. I'm not even sure if it's important as I can hear it anyway, but it does bug me
So what's the difference between this and fabfilter pro 3? Or Waves Center plug-in?
Good question
Wow, the comments section here alone has just about sold me on this. I don't know if I've ever seen comment after comment saying people love the plugin. That's pretty good word of mouth if you ask me and this is the kind of plug in I would never even look at because I hardly ever look at plug ins that I feel like are other effects just repackaged and re purposed for something specific, IE this being a repackaged sidechain multi band compressor, because I already have a multi band compressor with side chain ability (same with dynamic eq's, which really are just re packaged multiband compressors in my opinion, but maybe this is something else entirely and would make life easier. Might have to check it out. If anyone reading this hasn't checked out Waves Abbey Road Saturation plug in, it's worth a look. I absolutely love that thing. It's my favorite waves plug in and I'm not even a huge Beetles fan (I like them, just not a super fan, so don't roast me too hard) although I am a huge Pink Floyd fan, so...But that thing does some magic for real. From slight warmth too extra crispy and everything in between. Both a solid state and tube saturation thing and the compander, which I have no idea what that is but it's cool, Im guessing a paralell compression type of thing, but that thing can work magic on acoustic guitars and anything you want to bring forward without increasing the overall energy. It's one of those things I have to take off of stuff because I start using it on everything. And it works better if you are choosy with what you put it on in the mix IMO. But it finds its way on my kicks, snares, vocals and bass a lot here lately. Saturation in general is my favorite type of plug in anyways and this is my favorite of those. Have fun mixing and making 🎶 🎵 everyone!
The first plugin to me that really helped to fight the frequency overlay of instruments the easy way. A real timesaver. Pretty flexible and used a lot overall my song template. Most of the time you can configure it with the big knob in the middle only listening to the two instruments, busses or whatever you sidechain with it. And sculpting the instrument is also in it. It allows you to overlay eg a bunch of basses and create a monster bass sound. The same when you create monster drums consisting of a lot of full-blown samples. It works best for me when I sidechain bass 1 with bass2 to bassN, bass 2 with bass 3 to bassN (and so forth, in a cascade), do the same for the drums and then sidechain the drum buss and bass buss with another instance in a hirarchical structure. For all the possibilities and this price a real steal. Don‘t go without it.
I have used this for years and absolutely LOVE it. I have a nice trick for vocals with it also.
What?
@@ordinaryrapper08 I create a bus called "All But Vox" and a bus called "All Vox". These are the last two busses prior to the final MAIN fader. I use Track Spacer on "All But Vox" and sidechain it with "All Vox" and tune to taste. Typically I end up with something limited to mid-range and dial it around 10%-25%. It elegantly places the vocals out in front of the mix.
1:58 ...said what I was thinking... one of the many reasons I love your channel
Probably silence lmaoo
OMG, it really worked. Thank you so much!!
This plugin is amazing! I tested it and I'm buyng it!
I love that plugin. I use it every time I need to find some space in the mix. Nice video !
bro, you sell mugs and drink your coffee in a small fancy coffee glass, hehe. Thanks for the review.
🤣😂🤣
Europeans all about that espresso man, who needs a mug
Love your videos mate, came across your channel a few weeks ago and I’ve been going through your videos every day. Keep up thr amazing work 👌🏽🙏🏻
Insane simple but so effective plugin, love it. Use it in every production.
Loved your reaction to this one. I enjoy using this plugin a lot especially when i want vocals to stand out in a mix. Sometimes Ill put trackspacer on a bus where multiple instruments are going and have the sidechain input be the vocal so whenever the vocal comes in the instrumentation ducks a small bit :) also M/S mode is great when you want just the Mids ducked out while maintaining the sides (like extra guitars)
I have the Trackspacer and love what it's doing. I use it on many of my tracks.
This plugin has really helped me during fills or ear candy that I just can't get to pop through without volume automation. If I have a drum fill on a separate track that's too quiet and I don't have enough headroom to get it to pop through with just volume or compression, just throwing Trackspacer on whatever track is drowning it and side chaining it to the fill can help it pop through really dynamically. I'm sure a good engineer could accomplish the same thing... but this helps me out a lot as a hobbyist.
Ive been using Trackspacer for a couple of years. It is the best plugin I have bought in 10 years. It is on every mix. Jesus is a legend.
You made me try it and after demoing on two projects, I had to buy and use it! Thank you for not recommending to purchase but to try and see by myself. Great contents as always!
Imagine using this on the mid channel of a guitar bus and using bass guitar as a sidechain input!
Uh oh ... I think I have to buy it now
@calvaire im ded 😂😅
I use this in post production when we're previewing the score for the show. I use it to duck the music only under the dialog using the production dialog track as the key input. I set Trackspacer 2.5 to only treat the average audio range and to duck at 10%-30% depending on the scene. Really helps to keep the score as present as possible during playback. The unfortunate side is that it doesn't write automation so you're either using it just for live playback or if you're willing to print the result. Wavesfactory ... if your listening ... make this thing write automation!
What automation would you have it write? Each of the 32 bands current level? Doesn't make much sense to me, if I understand the plugin correctly...
@@tinogugger4273 If you use Bitwig (and I'm sure other DAWs), you can easily automate the controls.
MS is mid/side. And why you might want to pan; one example I use it, I have it on ducking my guitar bus. I have a solo panned to the right and during the solo it triggers on the guitar bus to duck the frequencies just enough to get a little clarity.
With the Pan feature, you can actually "side chain" the left or right channel independently without affecting the opposite side and mid. It's quite cool... I only use it to create space for vocals .
I love that quote in your background “music is love forever”
I too really love this plug. It really does a good job getting vocals to cut through dense arrangements.
For anyone interested, it's on sale right now at plugin boutique, I paid £20 plus vat. I'm glad it got a positive review.
Actually I love Trackspacer. It's extremely convenient to dynamically carve out a little space for other tracks (and not just brutally sidechain-compress stuff). Itsaverygood!
Love this plugin, use it on every track. An absolute must buy - really quick and simple to use
What’s the benefit of using this over soothe?
This plugin is pretty good for putting dialog over a music bed. That's what I use it for, that said I use Fabfilter MB in side chain most of the time.
So what people have been using a simple sidechain compressor for for decades? What's so special about this?
I was thinking some time ago about a plugin that can subtract the frequencies based of on sidechain input. This would be handy to give other instruments more room in the mix and making 'sidechaining' less audable
Bit late to the comment section on this one but Trackspacer is great in Post Prod audio. Fantastic for getting music out of the way of VO's and Dialogue.
Using heart to mix is the best thing I have ever heard and very true!
I've been using this for awhile and it's great. Best used subtly.
I actually love this guy! always positive and videos are very informative
Think about difference in what you hear when you compress a signal or reduce the volume with a fader. Then you have what the plug-in does. It does not compress the signal to make space for the feeding signal but reduces the volume of the selected frequencies. This gives definitely space for the frequencies of the chain feeding signal. Compression changes the shape of a sinus wave, a volume change does not. I use it to clean up the lower end of my mix to give space for the kick in competition to the base or to promote the vocals to bring them in front of the backing track.
I do not want to miss this little plug-in any more.
Before this plugin came out I’d been using the Waves C6 Sidechain to do this. Then I switched to Track Spacer for a while. But after learning Scheps’ rear buss technique, I don’t need as much of the Trackspacer. Still use it, but only in particular moments when the vocal is getting crowded out.
I use this occasionally, just to help a vocal when needed, or when I get tracks to mix that haven't been recorded properly (in the low end). I can see how one would use it as a production tool as you said. Pretty cool results.
It definitely fits into normal audio engineering nomenclature.
It's on the "multiband dynamics" spectrum....I'd put it in with the dynamic EQs.
Yeah that's why I got from the marketing description a multiband compressor with more bands and probably more than one stage so it results on sort of equalizing, problem for me is that the less they explain how it works the more you have to waste time find out for yourself
Glad you reviewed this! I've been using the trackspacer for a while now and I think it's amazing. You can get results very similar to Soothe but for less than half the price
i've been using it for a couple of years. it is very useful. it's like a one-knob dynamic EQ
Yeah, looks like a simpler version of Neutron
@@gulagwarlord yeah i guess it is. it has just enough parameters not to be a tyranny of choice. spread it across a few bass/synth/vox tracks and it does cut stuff a space very well..i find i have to do more fiddling with neutron and/or FF MB (which i also use a LOT)
@@braincoral9866 Those filters, though simple, really would help to control things. Gonna have to try it out. Cheers dude.
@@gulagwarlord you'll buy it. i did ;)
TB Pro Audio has a plugin that can do this... DSEQ - kind of similar to Soothe but has two different sidechain modes. 1st mode enables the plugin effect where audio is present in the sidechain - 2nd ducks the frequencies of the side chain signal (like trackspacer). This company flies under the radar but are well worth a look.
Check out their GSat+ free plugin!!! Fire! Lit! Has mucho drip!
I freaking love it. I use it all the time!!!
Sweet. I used to do this stuff manually, by modulating individual EQ bands with a certain signal. It's kind of a pain to set up, it seems like this plugin achieves the same goal more precisely and in a way that's very easy to set up. Bought it, it's awesome.
Bought it ages ago. Changed my production and even my workflow which is good. I don't use it on sidechaining kicks to bass though because it's not fast enough for the genre I produce but I do use it to move horns out of the way of vocals etc.
hey bro why do you think this isn't fast enough for dnb? even though you can turn the attack right down? what do you use instead?
omg sweet sounding nice plugin
personally, I use waves track space to add space for vocals mostly or add it to the wet channel to make the dry signal cleaner
Bedankt voor je leuke kanaal met topcontent als altijd!! En leuk om te horen dat je betrokken bent bij Sound Education Nederland:) het gaat je goed!
Great review! It is a 'thing' LoL! I have used this plugin to be creative and also to subtly carve space that would not necessarily be heard outside the studio, but just helped my monitors sound even more amazing! In Reaper it is fully automatable: like it!
Been using this a lot and didnt know about the advanced panel so thanks for enlightening me - Also really like the sound of Spectre
this might literally be the best plugin i've ever owned... it just works
this review is all I needed to hear! just bought it
Thank you so much Sensei! You are a blessing!
I’m using this plug for >2 years. I actually use it in every song, it saves TIME. Once in a time he (it’s a one-man-project) offers with 50% discount. One of my favs!
This plug-in changed the game for me a few years ago.. I use it on every single mix
I mean... I can feed a sidechain into DSEQ and do the same thing but with control over smoothing of the curve. MSpectralDynamics does that too if I recall correctly
Yeah it does, and Wytse reviewed MSpectralDynamics about two years ago!
The plugin is very good
any links?
thank u helped me a lotNice tutorial.... Very helpful
Such a great mixing plugin. I use it on every project. Great for ducking reverb. Great for subtly ducking background instruments when the vocal plays. I've even started using it in side-chaining the bass to the kick. And always keep in mind how you want to set up attack and release settings. sooo powerful.
That is also a very exciting topic, where do production end to let the mixing start, and when do mixing stop to let the mastering start. :) I like this plugin for what it does .
Own it for a year now, love it!
I'm really, really thinking about it. Imaging sticking it onto an instument's reverb send. Instead of just ducking it like regular sidechained reverb send. It would carve out a specific EQ.
Might sound awesome.
Yesterday I saw a video by Andrew Huang doing something like that wth this plug-in. He sent the voice to a reverb and on the send channel ducked slightly the incoming signal, so the reverb got presence and brillance wihtout mudding the mix. Pretty neat.
One of my most used plugins since many years.
So did you put this on the bass track and sidechain it to the kick?
I think it was gullfoss that you were trying to remember. I think they're similar but this works like a high-resolution side-chain while gullfoss tries to make a track sound better by making it conform to a certain standard of frequency distribution (I think). Thanks for the good review.
Ozone unmask, soothe2, FFpro……
That's a dynamic EQ....works great for vocals! It really carves the backing track and make the voice appears more with less mask effect. Good product!
I was thinking the same thing lol
Deinen Humor feier ich! :D
I think it is really similar to smart EQ. What do you think works better, for mixing and getting space in a mix?