FabFilter Pro-Q4 vs Soothe2

[@josevega12093]

soothe was just a little bit cleaner but it is subtle and from what we see does more work when processing each frequency so would make sense

[@stavrosvakis]

Agreed!

[@MarcoRaaphorst]

Smooth is set to a faster attack and release so it is hard to compare that way. Smooth is set more sensitive and will smooth out things more this way than Pro-Q. Not in al situation this is what you want. For the acoustic guitar not needed, I would only use a bit of low end cut but not suppressing the rich harmonics.

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you for the constructive feedback, I’ll keep this in mind for the vocal comparison

[@Anktual]

You should have played what was removed

[@stavrosvakis]

The reason I didn’t is because (from what I understand) there is no such feature in Pro-Q4

[@saardean4481]

@@stavrosvakis you could duplicate the pro q4 track and phase invert one of the two tracks which would leave you with the Delta signal

[@Anktual]

@stavrosvakis then that's not a profesional eq at all

[@saardean4481]

@ that’s a bit of an extreme claim since Pro q is one of the most widely accepted and used software Eq‘s by professionals

[@Anktual]

@saardean4481 Not being able to hear what you're removing means is not a professional level software. It doesn't matter how many people use it.

[@pablojescobar3400]

Im super new to mixdowns and mastering. In my amateur ears I think Soothe 2 worked better in it was cleaner by taking out the peaks but I preferred the sound of the Q4 as it lets a few more through which in a way makes sense because resonance is the character of any sound. Taking it away will essentially take away what makes the sound its sound on the first place.

[@stavrosvakis]

Great input! Thanks for watching

[@afonfon1669]

i actually preferred pro q 4. this plugin is insane

[@stavrosvakis]

It very much is insane!

[@ZackRappMusic]

I expected to prefer soothe but i think I actually like pro Q4 better here. it's more subtle and at least in this clip, I feel like soothe actually added some vowel sounds that kind poked out a bit.

[@stavrosvakis]

Pro-Q definitely sounds cleaner to me without as many artifacts!

[@Corpsegrinder_69]

The comparison is flawed. Both plugins are in different settings. The test is therefore invalid.

[@LeapingDodo]

Don't forget that Pro Q has 100+ ms latency (while in spectral mode only) while soothe 2 has a bit under 50ms latency.

[@stavrosvakis]

@@LeapingDodo Sure, but I’m not worried about latency when mixing!

[@LeapingDodo]

​@@stavrosvakis I thought that too until it started adding up and the time between pressing play and it actually playing actually started feeling bad. It sneaks up on you REAL quick. especially because pro Q doesn't really have any indication about it being so high latency

[@ErikAnders]

yea latency is processing so soothe works with less effort are we saying?

[@LeapingDodo]

@@ErikAnders sort of. that "effort" is 2 dimentional. Latency causing your daw to have a bit of a delay when you press play and when audio starts coming out. and the second half is CPU usage. I'm only talking about the first half. I'm not sure if the spectral in pro Q 4 is taking more or less CPU power. I did not do a test of any kind. I just noticed that when i used it a couple times in a chain with some fx that were already latency intensive and on the border of "usable" the pro Q 4 definitely tipped it over the edge and made projects annoying to mix in because i had to wait half to a full second before i could check a tweak i just made. Anything under 200ms is fine. but once it gets over 500ms tweaking a sample on another track im EQ'ing gets REALLY annoying because of all the micro wait times over and over to check tiny changes

[@Drfresh1402]

The amount of plugins I now use in a session has been greatly reduced because of this plugin

[@stavrosvakis]

@@Drfresh1402 The really just made an EQ, compressor, de-esser, spectral processor, and saturator all in one huh

[@rabbyorton]

Sooth is warm. Pro eq is airy

[@stavrosvakis]

People seem to agree!

[@wilnednyirongo]

I am going for Q4 on this comparison.

[@stavrosvakis]

Thanks for watching!

[@LiveTruTh1]

The soothe2e handles the transients better and sounds a bit cleaner, but the fabfilter is more even or it leaves the overall sound alone, not so hard and still sounds clean. you should show other sound examples in the video.

[@stavrosvakis]

@@LiveTruTh1 I’ll get a more in-depth comparison out then!

[@LiveTruTh1]

@@stavrosvakis Nice, When they finish it, I'll take a look at it.

[@davelordy]

In these sorts of tests, if you even have to ask the question "which one sounds better" you're making a tacit admission that they don't sound different enough to matter . . . and so everyone who owns Soothe2 will say Soothe2 sounds better and everyone who owns ProQ3 (and looking to upgrade) will say ProQ4 sounds better. They're both excellent tools, and in a mix there's no way anyone would be able to tell which was being used.

[@millea8]

The ease of use of the Q3 is totally unmatched. Totally. I’ve used both and they’re different as well. Q3 can be anything you want. As simple as you like and light on the processor or as heavy as you want and processor heavy.

[@davelordy]

​@@millea8 Question 1: Do you own ProQ3 ? Question 2: Do you own Soothe2 ?

[@millea8]

@ I own ProQ and decided not to purchase Soothe after having used it alongside ProQ in a post prod. studio I worked for for a number of years. Why do you ask? Trying to decide between the 2?

[@davelordy]

@@millea8 _"Why do you ask?"_ Just underscoring what I said in my original post _"everyone who owns Soothe2 will say Soothe2 sounds better and everyone who owns ProQ3 (and looking to upgrade) will say ProQ4 sounds better"_

[@millea8]

@ oh, yeah I see what your saying. I was thinking purely functionality. Honestly, there are so many companies making stuff that sounds excellent I think for me it has really become a game of “how quickly can I make this plugin work for me and how easy is it to translate what I want out of it to actually getting it to do it.” Splitting hairs when you’re working with evenly matched great sounding tools. A happy healthy eco system is what we all want! ❤️

[@tonitontohintikka]

Your Attack and Release settings are different.

[@stavrosvakis]

Indeed they are. I'm working on a new, more in depth video but this was comparing basically default settings with similar frequencies

[@Khaliqri]

Pro-Q4 sounds better to my ears. Soothe 2 has a Muddiness I don't like.

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you for watching! For me there's very audible saturation of the signal whenever I use Soothe2, even on relatively conservative settings. Pro-Q4 is cleaner in my ears!

[@brianmartin7710]

nnice to see this comarision video. but your settings on soothe do much more reduction in db and also in frequencie range.

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you Brian, will do another comparison on vocals with better matched settings

[@diegoalejo15]

I´m starting to leave out Pro MB and Soothe from my sessions...

[@stavrosvakis]

I feel that!

[@Phat-Monkey]

Soothe is 100% better, but then again comparing to PQ4 is unfair, Soothe has more control, PQ4 is mainly an EQ with some extra handy functions if you so need them...

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you for your input!

[@cosmoganic]

Heya Bro' Thanks for the video, did you find a "delta" option in spectral Q4 so you can hear what frequency content you are subtracting, like you can in Soothe2?

[@stavrosvakis]

Thanks for watching! It does not have a delta option exactly, but if you expand the band's dynamic section, there is a headphone icon you can click to hear "the current signal the spedynamics processing is triggering on" (FabFilter's words). So it's not exactly the difference before and after processing, but it's helpful because you can have the spectral processing get triggered by a completely different frequency range and that helps you dial it in to taste!

[@blacksaonamusic]

Both sound terrible, lol. Jokes aside, the more i learn about soothe, the less i use it on my mixes. I started to use less soothe on harsh frequencies and more eq with multiband compressor, because there is a quite some artifacts inserted by this plugin. For variable boomines or nasality i tend to use more Bloom instead of Soothe.

[@stavrosvakis]

My first line of defense is always EQ. I go from basic tools to the more “complex” ones, depending on how much I struggle to fix a problem

[@davelordy]

I learnt a new word today . . . "nasality". Thanks !

[@joeromersa]

Too subtle to compare

[@stavrosvakis]

I’ll do a heavy version for the vocal comparison, then!

[@dougb3854]

Close enough cheaper and does more as a whole . Fab !

[@stavrosvakis]

There you go! Thanks for watching

[@MehmetKuculmez]

soothe

[@stavrosvakis]

@@MehmetKuculmez 😅

[@AlekseiLazic]

Now you're just trying to entice me into buying Pro Q 4...

[@stavrosvakis]

@@AlekseiLazic literally you have to now

[@Sasq2890]

Soothe sounds brighter. Pro Q a little warmer. Both have a nice effect and I guess which tool to reach for depends on what kind of feel you’re after for your production. I own both, and I’ve always been a Pro Q fan, so I can’t see myself using Soothe as much anymore now. Purely for the fact I can do it all in my favourite EQ plugin now. Nice comparison. 🙏

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you!

[@ofrilivshits1378]

pro q 4 is the goat !

[@stavrosvakis]

I'm with you!

[@constantinranis]

Soothe for sure

[@stavrosvakis]

We do love soothe

[@exhaust4246]

Try vocals next. :)

[@stavrosvakis]

Will do!

[@katekibby]

great video!

[@stavrosvakis]

Thank you!

[@mrhao1541]

Soothe 2 low Latency, low Cpu use

[@beatsandstuff]

This, using the spectral dynamics in Q4 turns that band to linear phase, thus latency.

[@stavrosvakis]

I’m not too worry about it as I’m not doing live sound or anything like that!

[@Corpsegrinder_69]

@@stavrosvakis It's not just about live sound, lol. 😀But sure, if you're bedroom producing with 5 plugins total in the entire project, then it's not a problem. But first, you should learn what those plugins do and make a valid comparison with same settings engaged.