(not a deal) Any great Soothe 2 alternatives for budget conscience individual?

[El Diablo]

Hi!

I've got plenty of great dynamic EQ plugins, but nothing as precise as Soothe 2.  Is there a budget friendly version of Soothe 2 for a hobbyist song writer?

Watch this video before you give your advice, cause you'll see that dynamic EQ can't carve out the space you need vs Soothe 2.

 

Ideas?

 

Much Thanks in advance for your help!

[jngnz]

There’s no alternative to soothe. Everyone who’s trying to tell you otherwise doesn't own it.

[El Diablo]

1 minute ago, jngnz said:

There’s no alternative to soothe. Everyone who’s trying to tell you otherwise doesn't own it.

So, have you known it to go on any great sells prices for this time of year or near Christmas?

[jngnz]

9 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

So, have you known it to go on any great sells prices for this time of year or near Christmas?

No, and in fact, they have increased the price recently and even sale prices are likely to be worse than before from now on. I bought it 2nd hand for $100.

[Milan]

DSEQ 3, MSpectralDynamics, REAFIR can cut based on FFT

[Fleer]

33 minutes ago, jngnz said:

There’s no alternative to soothe. Everyone who’s trying to tell you otherwise doesn't own it.

Well, I do. And I prefer Gullfoss.

Horses for courses

[jngnz]

3 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Well, I do. And I prefer Gullfoss.

Horses for courses

That's two completely different tools. I doubt you're using Gullfoss to tame resonances on cymbal tracks for example. Are you, you rascal you?

[Esteban Villanova]

Yeah, no real alternative. bx_refinement gets some use here, it's pretty decent. Some people are selling the bx creative bundle, which includes bx_refinement, for $10 or so on KVR.

[Brian Walton]

Can someone name one great mix that required the use use of Soothe 2 to make it good?

[satya]

What do u say about trackspacer

[dumbquestions]

35 minutes ago, satya said:

What do u say about trackspacer

Thought this was just used in sidechain as a frequency-specific volume reducer, vs.  a resonance-tamer like soothe. I could be using it wrong but i have mostly used TS to make space for another instrument to be louder in a specific frequency range than the track in sidechain.

Otherwise i like to do soothe on tracks and gulfoss on the master.

Budget friendly alternatives? Unsure but i guess before soothe people were just automating bell curve eq cuts. Soothe was on sale last BF for $140 i think?

[audioschmaudio]

I don't have Soothe 2, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about and just hope that the people I quote know what they're talking about.

There's a TikToker who claimed that "Vastaus" by WaveGrove was a free alternative.

And then there's an article on Gearnews (it's in German) that said Baby Audio's Smooth Operator was somewhat comparable to Soothe 2 but more limited in its capabilities and therefore cheaper.

 

[RIFFRAFF]

1 hour ago, Esteban Villanova said:

Yeah, no real alternative. bx_refinement gets some use here, it's pretty decent. Some people are selling the bx creative bundle, which includes bx_refinement, for $10 or so on KVR.

FYI bx_refinement is literally a notch filter around 3k it has absolutely nothing to it that you can't do with a simple EQ. There's no intelligence to it or anything.

As for Soothe I think people have spent DECADES making some of the biggest songs and albums of all time just fine without it. Is it really necessary? Probably not. We just like to feel fancy.

[markno999]

Soothe is great, however, what the gent is describing in that video would be best achieved with TrackSpacer by WaveArts, i.e., making space for vocals by subtly ducking the instrumental track based on the vocal frequencies.     $59 for TrackSpacer on PluginBoutique vs $200 for Soothe.

I have both of these tools but use TrackSpacer for making space for vocals or lead instruments.    Soothe is more of an overall tamer.    Because digital recordings can be brittle and often harsh vs analogue or tape, Soothe does a great job taming that harshness.   I often use it on vocals, guitars, cymbals, strings... anything that is either harsh or can become harsh with the buildup of multiple parts.  They are very different tools but TrackSpacer is made to do exactly what is being shown in the video posted by OP.   Hope this helps.

Regards

[Fleer]

3 hours ago, jngnz said:

That's two completely different tools. I doubt you're using Gullfoss to tame resonances on cymbal tracks for example. Are you, you rascal you?

Horses for courses, my lovely one. 
Told ya I loathe cymbals

[Fleer]

1 hour ago, markno999 said:

Soothe is great, however, what the gent is describing in that video would be best achieved with TrackSpacer by WaveArts, i.e., making space for vocals by subtly ducking the instrumental track based on the vocal frequencies.     $59 for TrackSpacer on PluginBoutique vs $200 for Soothe.

I have both of these tools but use TrackSpacer for making space for vocals or lead instruments.    Soothe is more of an overall tamer.    Because digital recordings can be brittle and often harsh vs analogue or tape, Soothe does a great job taming that harshness.   I often use it on vocals, guitars, cymbals, strings... anything that is either harsh or can become harsh with the buildup of multiple parts.  They are very different tools but TrackSpacer is made to do exactly what is being shown in the video posted by OP.   Hope this helps.

Regards

TrackSpacer is pretty pretty good. 

[treesha]

Mastering the Mix plugin RESO advertises it reduces resonant frequencies. You input the track and it suggests areas to adjust. I don’t have soothe so no comment on how they compare and got reso on a trial but havent tried it much so good reminder to check it out. 

[El Diablo]

39 minutes ago, Fleer said:

TrackSpacer is pretty pretty good. 

I saw videos of trackspacer, but it's like a dynamic EQ rather than a surgical way to carve out frequencies based on what I saw.

Soothe 2 looks like it's surgical on carving out specific bands of frequencies used for the voice instead of grabbing a broaden range of bands like most dynamic EQs.

 

[LittleStudios]

TB ProAudio DSEQ

[El Diablo]

17 minutes ago, LittleStudios said:

TB ProAudio DSEQ

That looks promising, because the videos show it actually reducing the frequencies instead of broadly covers all bands within those frequencies.

I'll have to test it out.