Does smart:EQ3 make mixing easier?
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
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IDK what that actual Dutch word was, but based on the context and your delivery I'ma say the best translation would be "obstinate". "Stubborn" has more of a negative connotation, like you dig in just to be defiant. Obstinate is more of a resistance born from a confidence in what you know, and being willing to stick with it even when pressured from the outside 😊
This guy
You nailed it! Obstinate
True. English is not my native language. Maybe I should've added "In a playful way" to it. Thanks for clarifying!
I'd go for contrarian, doing something just because you were told to do the opposite
Contrarian
Anything that speeds up the mixing process and gets the intended results is a thumbs up.
Most crucial plugin I have ever bought. Get it guys!!
Anything that helps me save time is welcome to me.
theres a lot of assumptions that this is a one-click plugin, but really it requires the same sense as any other EQ. It will give you a starting point, and then you need to fine-tune with the same knowledge and skills for any other EQ.
A competition video between Izotope Neutron vs the sonibal smart eq would be cool.
I would love that😎
Seems a nice tool to someone like me, a composer that what's to spend more time creating music and spend less time mixing. Can help to improve the workflow. I will try it out for sure.
4:55 For those who are wondering what he was saying: It was the Dutch word for stubborn.
thank you so much. I was just about to ask a friend of mine who's from Holland what that means hahaha
@@TonyMacaroni69_ You're welcome! I sometimes search foreign words up in Google, but yeah, you have to know how that word is written. Which for Dutch words isn't easy.
@@casimirdekkers-newtrackout691 exactly haha
I like to think of our boy here as a classic contrarian. Kind of why his channel is often worth the time. New takes
Ornery is good old word that might fit here
The A.I. is used to find the best mix for each waveform, by comparing your waveforms to the waveforms it was trained on, and for each of their waveforms they've made presets which it blends once it has found the waveforms it resembles. That's the simplified version and there are many ways to do it. Some A.I. is literally a black box that's trained to categorize things, while others are more adjustable, and each have their own strengths and weaknesses. This, I expect is a black box, but it is used in layers, so its usefulness is multiplied.
AI technology is only as good as the training data that was put into it. I think with enough refinement and human tweaking of the mixing algorithm it may reach a point where it can become pretty impressive, but this is also scary at the same time.
Nah, it's like when machines were introduced in the manufactoring processes. It cuts time and personnel, but they still need humans for activation/processing and final decision-making. Only untrained mixing engineer would use these tools without critical thought and the inexperience will show anyway regardless of which AI tool they used
It’s only scary when you mystify it, believe it has some kind of it’s own consciousness. But it doesn’t. When you know that it’s built by humans and how it works, that it’s just a smarter way of putting together code, comparing frequencies and how the results turn the knobs, its just another plugin. In 10 years you will say “lol this is a joke” but at the moment it’s advanced. It doesn’t make decisions on its own, based on feelings, like humans. Its just a complex calculator. The only thing that’s “smart” about it is the people that made it.
Irritating that Sonible convinced me to buy 2 just weeks ago, now 3 is here. But I may as well be pissing in the wind as thats just how things go. I’m impressed with groups enough to upgrade tbh. They give you great starting points, while you retain the ability to alter it how you like (even allowing you to do the opposite of the suggested curve, which is useful for getting a clear idea of what it’s cutting). Good demo.
Just because engineers didn't use something that wasn't available doesn't make that thing useless. It just means we can do better with digital than we could with analog.
The *listener's* EQ curve will be influenced by the frequency response of their speakers and by room acoustics.
Where as, the plugin will generate a curve based on analysing the data not the actual audio. If you compare the two EQ curves, they shouldn't look the same because they're not actually correcting the same frequencies.
so here's my thing, and it's just a thing that works for me in getting results i can live with. if i have to do massive corrections in EQ (lots of moves and/or big moves) then i probably screwed up the sound. now yeah, i'm working on my own garbage, and that when you work on a client session, you probably don't have that kind of opportunity. but i just finished mixing an EP and i fully adopted that thought process that if i find myself fighting the sounds with EQ, then i should find a better sound, get a better performance (out of myself) etc. so..... while this plugin is very clever, it kind of goes counter to the way i (and many others) think about EQ, in making sure to get the right sound (that works in the mix with only minor adjustments) at the source.
Don't know if it's possible on 3 but would be nice to have a zero or low latency option that could "freeze" the eq once you are happy.
Why doesn't this EQ process at least 16 channels or more ?? Imagine someone that incorporates a lot of instrument tracks or that does scores for classical symphonies. Six tracks won't be enough. I guess the future always seems to be better than the present. Unfortunately, the future is taking too long to get here in most things in life. Lets go Sonible. Give people those extra tracks they need to be processed through AI.
I have smart:EQ2. Very happy with it but this is truly on another level! #1 example, comparison of 3 tracks and the adjustment. OK! Out with the credit card! By the way, keep doing your excellent work!
Pretty fair upgrade, about a third of the full cost. €30 or $40 etc.
*"It's kind of weird that this thing most of the time knows what I want to do."*
Great AI's think alike! 😂
as a prev owner of 2 i can get this for 29 euros. i feel like i have too many intelligent plugins already. (gullfoss, teote, nova ge, trackspacer, shade eq...) should i do it?
Would a plugin like this help in a live jamming environment? As in, load up 16 channels with this plugin on each channel, load up a profile for each channel, then walk away and play my instruments while the smart eq does its magic? Working on a template for my streaming jamsessions, this looks like it could help out with that...!
Can you review "Smooth Operator" And suggest the best way to use it?
A workaround for "only six channels" would be to use it when making group stems. Then mix those in another project.
So we need to stop developing better tools because we've already perfected them, as evidenced by every song that exists? Why are people involved in music always stuck-in -their-way backwards-looking people? I guess if you have access to the engineers and all the gear that produced those records you're good, but if you're a bedroom producer or something you should be forward looking and encourage the kind of progression that's allowed us the ability to have home studios, not frown upon it.
This is the go to toy for vocals, I think I've saved literal months in man hours on choir layering alone
off topic but i just wanted to let you know that i always aprecciate your videos and also your work as musician and content creator. Keep going greetings from Germany much love
Reminds me in some parts to Trackspacer. How CPU heavy is this vst?
Heavy.
These products create as many problems as they provide solutions, you still have to know the difference between a good sound and one that works in your mix. Great mixes come from experience, not from spectral analysis.
Finally someone who got it! Yes, sir
Are you saying that the DI bass track it analysed and boosted by 12db all across the low end is wrong and inappropriate? /end sarcasm.
ABCDEFGing is super important to know if what you do, or did, or did then, or then afterwards, or after that try, or the sixth time, is actually sounding better than what you did the last time
Thank You! Please make a video on SoundRadix PI!
Would also have been cool to see this on a track that has some actual issues. But cool video!
Edit: Yeah, of course. Sorry. You did that for version two already.
Wait you didn't discover dynamics section?
Hello, what's the difference between spectral eq-ing and the "other" I don't really understand, thank you :)
Insane plugin.. I'm very impressed
From my testing, it appears the universal preset profile in Smart EQ3 at 100% is close to -4.5db/oct noise, with some slight differences. Eyeing it approximately, I see a slight 2db bump in the lows up to 400hz, a slight 2db dip from 1.5hz to 8hz, then another pump starting 8hz and peaking 3db at 15hz. I suspect this was determined in part by analyzing the spectral profile of a large number of pop songs. Unfortunately, as of April, Sonible is not no longer offering their simplified auto EQ plugin Balancer as a free download. Although lacking almost all the customization features, besides the level of mix, there were a couple of things I like more than the full version--less Cpu intensive and the ability to easily choose Warm, Neutral, and Bright spectrums.
Surely this will only work on static sounds? If a track changes key or even chord wont the processed eq be wrong?
Yes. But it's worse even than that. The ai simply routinely makes poor decisions on the source material. Quite disappointing. It needs a full manual mode.
@@oinkooink Yeah im not looking for shortcuts, thats the problem with a lot of producers today.. one clickers 🤣
I think you missed part of the point, the group hierarchy is designed to remove clashing frequencies between tracks to clean up tracks behind vocals and leads also there is a bypass button!
I love the demo so much. High resolution sounding & easy to use. Sadly it messed up my leads and gave tons of low end, that i codent seem to repair manually so idont think its an EQ for me though. Will be trying demos of Gullfoss & Neutron 3 later though & stack it against the obvious Fabfilter Q3. Ohh i just want to mention Masteringthemix'es Mixroom, coz ifeel it helps me with a slight hint of balance on like every synth i slap it on which makes for a usable plugin in my book 👍
Very useful I think……especially for newbies like me.
Please make for ios
hey, this plugin is cool but some how I still go for my stock EQ and compressor in Studio One even though I have the waves bundle. I do use the was plugins more for color :)
Manually mixing is so convincing i feel like im cheating or im not improving my skils with A.I s
I onderstand you
But, You must first have a good Balance track
And well mixed track
Or else it's not going to do anything.
So you're not losing your technique 😀
Indeed, as a drummer fairly new to mixing, it is very tempting to buy something like EZ mix or one of the powerful AI's. I don't think I will unless a band hires me before my skills are complete. I can see the AI being very useful to fill in the skill gaps.
I like to get my sound before I turn to any A.I.
...so using A.I. Just to help resolve issues with clashing instruments or maybe some phase incoherence.
I don't feel it's cheating, I could do this manually,but it saves me time and potential headache of dealing with too many tracks.
If I don't like the sound of a plugin still... Il dive in manually old school way.
I suppose that I'm too young of a mixer to form a full opinion on an AI ..
@@JMRSplatt Think of mixing as trying to fit things into a box. The box is your master buss. You need to compress and eq in order to have all of your frequencies fit inside. For each track, focus on the main tone of the sound and eq out everything else.
I think .. Smart EQ has copied Wytse AI :)
Dope
Video king
"Yeah, you can save states... Oh, up to 8... That's actually really cool for A/C/D/E/F/G-ing"
That was hilarious
I had to count on my fingers to see if it was 8 😂
@@530Zeno what did you come up with? See, I'm not getting 8. :)
He left out H, but then again, who goes all the way up to H?
G-ing sounds like the real deal, bruh.
H-ing sound like a problem
@@erestube tecnicly it would be up to "i", cause one state allready gives you ABing (bypass)
I'm not against AI in music production. In the case of equalization, getting you to a good starting place in your mix can be helpful. However, AI will miserably fail in creativity and interjecting human emotion into music.
If you listen to the Billboard Top 500 songs of all time, you will see EQ playing a more important role than just balancing frequencies. You'll hear EQ moving vocals and instruments forward and back in the mix during the song. You'll listen to EQ used to incite emotion by breaking the rules. You'll hear EQ used for color, textural, and sonic special effects.
No matter how good AI gets, it will never be able to accomplish those as mentioned above. There is a difference between processing algorithms and creativity - a creativity that only the most powerful computer and consciousness can produce - the human mind and spirit.
hey buddy nice job for all your video was wondering if you can and want to share your template of reaper maybe you already did thank you and keep on pushing cheers!!!
i upgraded my V2 to smart:EQ3 a few hours ago. for my tv work (voice overs from several voice talents) it does a pretty good job in identifying and dampening room resonances… for ME, it saves a considerable amount of time. i like it : )
How do you upgrade? Or where do I go to do this?
Their Frei:raum or Proximity EQ with the proximity function are gold for this purpose. I found the EQ2 without this feature less useful so on the fence about upgrading when the 1 is way more useful to me than the 2 already.
@@ryde2012 i had bought smart:EQ2 in sonible's april sale (€49), and yesterday i got an email with an offer to upgrade to V3 for €29 (actually it was €28,76 including VAT). i was able to upgrade via my sonible user account. i don't know if they offer reduced upgrade prices to users who bought the V2 license earlier than i have… perhaps you find something in your user account as well.
@@jfilbert i see your point.
i had tried Frei:raum and Proximity a while ago but couldn't get the desired results… but i have to admit that, at the time, the acoustical problems in the recording booth might have been to severe (just foam absorbers and some diffusion). it took my a stunningly long time to realize that the cure was to not spend more money on more plugins (i had bought soothe2 and others already) but to save some bucks and gradually upgrade the acoustic treatment :-)
now, with vastly improved room treatment, smart:EQ3 does a good job for me. i had paid €49 for V2 in the april sale and now €29 for the upgrade to V3, so i also saved a few euros compared to the V3 intro offer of €89 (at least that's what the email i received yesterday said). i get better results now with V3 than with V2, but maybe i didn't try hard enough with the earlier version.
@@brusecco thanks for the info appreciated, I managed to get the upgrade from plugin boutique £29 👍🏾💯
Prinicipially its good, AI seems to be best in Equing, HOWEVER Linear Phase can destroy alot of the Punch. It can sound very technical... I dont think it should be linear Phase , given that it goes up and down the Spectrum.
In the video from pluginboutique they said it has also a minimum phase option
@@Motekk67 thanks
Just tried it after watching this video. Reeeeeally good. Trying for 30 days and then buying it for sure.
I test this plugin demo V3 some months ago in demo and use a guitar and electric guitar mode and let it learn . sound better. then i use before smart EQ a eq and set it to 1 khz 5 db Q 1 so clear can hear diffrence. then i let learn again. it does not change sound. i verify several time other tracks and result is the same. I expect after add of the EQ and after learn it reduce 1 khz noticable. but i can hear no diffrence. it seem snake oil with the AI learning and frequency correction. it use eq curves that normaly let sound RAW sound better
This plugin routinely makes grossly inappropriate eq decisions for the source material it "analyses". I have no idea what's wrong with you people.
Does this version 3 put a heavy load on CPU, or does it now shift audio processing to GPU?
That vocal sounds a lot like the first vocoder sound ever that was used in 2001 a space oddessey when the robot was singing Daisy Daisy give me your answer do… it sounded aweful but at least it sounded like a robot.
Older records didn't also use a multiband compression 😉
It was a * smart * move to give this guy a chance to take a test and a video of their plugin. It seems that the intelligence in their company is not just in their plugins. It is a pleasant surprise to have immediately tested this plugin by this channel, thanks!
Still, a lot of companies do not want to take the risk 😅
Cos they know they sprinkled some amout of snake oil here and there xD
@@Whiteseastudio that's how you know the weak ones :P
The old records used spectral writing and arranging in the first place.......
gold!
Curious how you think this stacks up versus Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator.
Massacres Smooth Operator
@@nebroskitheraut6705 yep...saw his video yesterday. Will probably be getting this in a few weeks.
Use an instance on every single track and then create six buss groups for the whole mix. Then finally put an instance on the Master. Why not?
Sure, use your ears.. to hear what a shitty room and speakers you have.
As not all of us have access to pro studio gear, this is a huge step for us sluggers to get a decent mix.
doesnt izotope do the same thing?.. please please do not say this is much better than the izotope. not after i have purchased it (izotope). i will have to bash my head if you do say it is
I'm not sold on smartEQ yet. The spectral suggestions it makes don't sound "right" to me.
"...and nothing happens"
Isn't that a good compliment on the current mix? 😁
How is this different from something like match eq in logic?
Made the drums muddy and the grouping thin. I wouldn't use it. Great review, always love the White Sea
Phil Spectral used this on his biggest hits
Aaah shit man. I already have Sonible Balancer and it's already so good. But this group feature looks like it would actually justify getting the real deal now.
Right clicking on the tumb and then on "+" gives you an extra band! So you can seperate low and high processing!
And you'll need to do this A LOT because the ai decisions it makes are usually way, way off.
I was wondering if it wouldn't be good to have AI in an equalization plugin capable of adjusting the increase or decrease intervention taking into account what is on the track and how it evolves over time, like for example a hi-shelf at +6db increases the average amount of high frequencies, but if a passage arrives in which those frequencies are already very strong, the plugin auto-attenuates so as not to over-exaggerate the high frequencies excessively.
Does anyone know if something like this exists?
There is a dynamic mode in this plugin
I find music apps which mention 'smart' or 'A.I' to be quite creepy and a total turn off.
Great review, as always
I just want something easy that will make the lead vocal/instrument stand out in the mix properly
Cla vox
@@nexusobserve Thanks !
trackspacer!
Every time I’m looking for reviews on a certain plugin If I see your face I click it I love your honesty
Random Access Memories type beat
Man, "Sandstorm" is such a classic track. You notice something new every time you listen to it.
No no no dude, it's because it's a different track every time.
@@kevinschmidt7124 Hogwash! Blasphemy! Codswallop!
@@UltromanTheTacoman no it's true , I'm pretty sure of it
@@kevinschmidt7124 Poppycock! Balderdash! Tommyrot!
dutch and dutch 8c? tell us more :-)
Great ! Just upgraded ;)
Stubern, pigheaded, or cocky
The question is... Is it worth it to upgrade if you already own EQ 3?
I'm not a fan of this kind of stuff, but it can provide an ideas if you're stuck with the mix.
Don't be too charmed. He takes products and money.
Try out the "IIEQPro" by DDMF. Most transparent EQ I've ever heard. And their "MagicDeathEye Stereo" master bus compressor is INCREDIBLE.
That track you used was amazing btw!
Great video! I wonder how this compares to Izotope's Ozone 9's analysis and I do not see that this Smart Eq 3 has dynamic curves like Izotope. Smart Eq 3 is free for only a month. :)
I think is might be more akin to Neutron 3?
He didn't show it, but yes, Smart EQ3 *does* have dynamic EQ.
@@ottam That is great to know Ottam! I love that Smart Eq 3 looks at other tracks and adjust them together, that is a great feature also. I will consider purchasing this plugin, thanks for your response!
@@FlockofAngels cheers.
I have it and it has cleaned up the first mix I put it on. I was instantly impressed.
@@ottam Thanks to this video and also to your response I am taking a second look at this product! 👍🎶
To me it looks like they implemented things that gullfoss doesn't have. Many useful things. E.g. a full parametric eq, of course the possibility to have a low-/highcut and the very helpful group-option. Have to test a little bit more. Looks very very good👍
Die Gruppen Funktion ist der Hammer.. So kann man ein Lead Vocal einfach mal auf die schnelle einem 2 Track beat anpassen und das klingt echt verdammt gut..
What they mean by "A.I." is that they trained a Neural Network to learn to equalize like a human would do, punishing it whenever it guessed wrong, and giving it prizes when it didn't, until eventually it guessed correctly how a human would equalize a new song most of the time (if they reached 99% accuracy that'd mean from 100 songs it'd equalize them like a human would 99 times and mess one up.) That's it.
As a noob beginner. If you have good hearing I don`t. Is it not a case of A good Engineer will listen to a track. That has been recorded with good preamps. You know a clean signal path. Then using a graphic Eq be able to change alter and fiddle with the output using brain and muscle memory make a really good record. Without the need for thousands and thousands of very similar plugins.one man's meat is another man's poison. When you say snake oil. Is that not like saying bullshit just in another way. A guy on youtube tells a story of two old men both with hearing aids. well into their sixties Saying they could tell the difference comparing speaker cables. So my question. Will an experienced engineer, using a recording device and some eq. Be able to make a hit record without 10 grands worth of plugins. If not. Then very soon everyone will be able to do it. No more recording studios and online robots doing the mixing because Ai got to good, You make a track with all the plugins etc, Get a sixty five year old expert with just Eq to mix and master the same tracks. I think 80% of joe public will not pick the plugin way. Musicians I am told are not Audiophiles. They don`t care if the speaker cables cost £3000.00 a piece as long as they work. As I am 62 very bad hearing because of the Motor trade. I have to ask this question as I am unable to tell the difference Myself. Love to know what your fans and followers think. But remember it is not what I think. It is just a question. Love your channel. Thanks for all the effort.
A.I. plug-ins could be useful to some people (Music Producers : The new meaningit has now).
But I can't find any use for any of them.
It takes the pleasure of mixing away.
It's like iZotope.
These A.I. ? are mostly used by whoever can't actually mix audio properly.
These plug-ins are the perfect solution to never learn how mix, master or produce music.
These are children's audio tools.
To really test it you should take a stem that's well EQ'ed (in you opinion), then mess it up with an EQ and see if the smart thing is able to recover it (it's maybe how they train it in the first place).
Isnt EQ technically spectral by definition?
As in. It affects the frequency sprectrum (spectral)
Or is it spectral like a Spectre. Some kindof spooky magical being of light. Mysterious and undefinable .
Smart EQ3 does only support Rock type music, nothing for EDM, i can`t chose "Lead Synth" for example, wich sucks and does not work, soothe works on all genres :)
I imagine a hellish future where people just use one AI plugin to mix everything and all tracks sound like a preset. No more interesting unique mixes.
I like the tools, but as you say, using your ears and deciding if you like what it does is the final say.
Creativity won't allow that. Now what will the masses enjoy? That's another story. I don't think it will become any worse or better. Some people like super clean pop mixes, but Billie Eilish is much different sounding than anyone before here. Some people like rock music but can't stand mainstream rock. Creativity will always trump everything in my opinion.
@@samchoate1719 I hope so!
Great review! I think a smart eq would be a great learning tool for me, will definitely check this one out :)
honestly I dont like it. Al Schmitt for example created huge depth almost entirely without EQ. I think depth is more a about balance of volume, pan and reverb(s)
I find it fascinating, according to a producelikeapro article, that 'he’s somewhat notoriously “anti-EQ,” an approach he learned early on from mentor Tom Dowd, who taught him how to use microphones as equalizers. If something doesn’t sound right, try moving the mic around. If the sound is too dark, use a brighter mic. Schmitt records and mixes with no EQ. It’s almost impossible to imagine what that must be like according to today’s standards!' I can see EQing become more important if one does have a variety of high-quality microphones to choose from and a fancy recording studio to use them in.
@@sammiller9855 If you watch him work or talk about his work, Al Schmitt absolutely used EQ when he mixed. And compression. And multiband compression. He used whatever it took to get the sound he heard in his head. He was way more conservative than pop and rock cats like CLA, but that makes sense given that he tended to work with styles that favored a more natural, less hyped sound, and where every instrument was recorded with a mic and played by a player so you had control over every aspect of the sound before it hit the daw. He was amazingly gifted, RIP Al!
If it was real AI wouldn’t it just say stuff like: “c’mon already! Stop fuckin with your mix!” 😏
Since when is making many things just boomy and mid-dark "smart" EQing ??? Sorry, but I can't share the positive perspective.
So U are smart.....lmao
Anything that helps me save time is welcome to me.
I downloaded the trial version twice but couldn’t install as it came up with an error message. Guess it wasn’t meant to be.
going to buy a 3rd party eq..trying to decide between proeq3, waves f6, infinity eq...but now...i think i found the one!
Do you really have to click Learn All every time you move the tracks around in the group?
Rad review. I ended up buying on this recommendation. Sadly, I was surprised this didn't have auto-gain and was maybe even more surprised that you didn't call this out in your review : (
I feel like the group mixing is the same thing neutron is trying so but this “holds your hand” a bit more it seems.
How so? I feel like this holds your hand less & Neutron is more cumbersome.
just got this plugin - anyone else having issues with it draining CPU? I am using it in Logic and it overloads it with just one track