These Plugins Are Ruining Mixing

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[@guglielmonigro]

As said in other occasion, both sooth2 and Ozone11 can be used however you want, and you can listen to every single move you make. So, it's up to you. Mixing and mastering myself the same songs, what I often do, is master my way and then lounch Ozone for a check. It is an outside and standard look to the song. And I see if it suggests something I didn't think about. Plus, Ozone, Neutron, Nectar are great music suites full of different plugins you can use the way you want.

[@aether962]

I appreciate your thoughts. I personally believe that like all tools they can be used for good and bad. I like to limit processing to target areas of harshness. If I like something with a little grit, I’ll leave it in and then often amplify it, but can use these tools to quickly and transparently de-ess and clean up particular regions without having to be super surgical setting multiple dynamic bands. Always love the vids!

[@pianoatthirty]

Decades and decades of incredible records made without the use of these plugins. This is a great topic. It's easy to get dazzled by these kinds of new and shiny things and say "ok I guess this sounds better".

[@pianoatthirty]

@@herbie_the_hillbillie_goat Sure. Ultimately composition, arrangement and performance are the most important elements of music - not mixing tricks. That's something that doesn't get addressed enough.

[@trackaccino5724]

That's true, but music evolves and changes alongside technology. What people listen to in current days sounds very different to what people did back then, so if you want to be a professional music producer or engineer, you must evolve with the times. I think it's great that these plugins are revolutionizing many aspects of music production and engineering. Obviously it's easy to misuse them, but saying they are "ruining" mixing is just as silly as when people said computers were "ruining music". They are simply tools at your disposal.

[@FireF1y644]

The key word is "records", and if they are not too good, you need plugins like Soothe to fix the source.

[@sleeeto]

@@trackaccino5724 The title is weird, but the video shows he's more talking about it ruining mixes in general.. and not even necessarily ruining it, just potentially making it less interesting and dynamic. Not "is ruining the art of mixing as a whole" lol

[@pianoatthirty]

@@sleeeto He actually had some really interesting and inspiring things to say in the video.

[@AndersHansgaard]

Great stuff. The audio examples are very good and the simple graphical work is just brilliant 👌🎶

[@alexybaddie]

Hey, I wonder if you can check out Sonible's smart bundle for mixing and LANDR's mastering plugin for mastering the mix, I'm curious about your thoughts about it, personally I feel like the sonible smart bundle is better than izotope's neutron as it allows for more customization of the sound.

[@_mickmccarthy]

Sonible's latest Smart EQ has a great feature where it listens to all other instances in a group that you've setup. So if you have one on a drum bus, another on bass, lead etc. They listen to the output from those other channels to make better decisions. So you don't have the issue being discussed here where a plugin is making 'intelligent' decisions but only in the context of the channel it's on. It still tends to make the mix sound a little over-prcessed IMO, but at least it can be turned down a bit (or even inverted!)

[@MurphysLaw996]

The AI assistant of Ozone is not trained to properly master a track that is already mastered. Also, the best way to get good results is to use Audiolens to capture the tonal balance of a reference track that is in the same style and has a tonal balance that we want for our song. Then use this curve with the AI assistant of Ozone to give us a good starting point. Note that even in the AI assistant window you can choose the amount of loudness, saturation and strength of eq compensation that Ozone will use when trying to hit the requested profile. Ozone is an AI assisted mastering suite but it’s far from being totally automated, we still have to ear the results and decide if it’s ok.

[@mycosys]

Yeah this is 100% PEBCAK errors, dude needs to RTFM before he starts making tuts

[@cameronasberry9017]

I used the master assistance to give me a reference point of my master but I don’t rely on it because sometimes it takes away to much bass for the sake of balancing. Because I do other things prior it’s not that much of a difference. I also do things in the 2 track mix to mid/side the bass so the track sits better with vocals when I do my thing

[@coastatv2359]

honestly this is one of the best videos you have made !! very forward thinking ! saying that ' these plugins are doing these things in solo ' was a real gem .. !! thank you .. another gem was putting the master in !!! 🙃 ''' if the plugin is not intelligent enough .. '' wow !!!! thanks again !! these plugins still need to be used but with confidence and with moderation !!! small increments !! mix knob etc thank you

[@Justin_the_Analog_IC_architect]

I use Soothe 2 in instances where i have really strange noticablle resonances. (So not very often) It takes a few seconds to clean them up this way. I don't use it for anything else, and while I have licenses for all those other plugins, I have no use for them.

[@nwilt7114]

Yeah, I heard it's for soothing resonances mainly from live recordings or shite samples. That's how I use it anyways.

[@hotmilkstudio5721]

Excellent video -- I agree with your assessment! My experience with Soothe has been that it has rarely made it to the end of a mix. It is exactly as you said, it was making my mixes worse and it removed too much character. I now use notch EQs to remove nasty resonances that are annoying in the overall context. On vocals I rarely remove upper midrange frequencies, usually only the tubby or boxy lower midrange (usually somewhere between 400-600 Hz). On a rare occasion when I receive an extremely poorly recorded signal, I'll consider using Soothe.

[@starsandguitars2050]

Thanks for your channel. I always learn something, or gain an insight into a interesting area of mixing.

[@trmus]

What about Phase produced by DAWs and audio drivers like CoreAudio ?

[@AlanCreed]

Be interested to hear your take on the “mastering” section of the master channel in Logic.

[@AdelSweezy]

Sonible smart eQ4 take in count all the tracks if you put it in all the tracks you can balance between tracks like you want

[@MurphysLaw996]

Well, most of the time SmartEQ 4 does a good job but I once had a song where 5 out of 6 of the EQ curves had to be reversed by manually setting the compensation amount negative because the default behaviour of SmartEQ was to shape the tonal balance so that each track was more or less flat while a proper mix was to emphasize the peaks of each track because each instruments had their places in the spectrum and were not interfering with each other. So even if SmartEQ is taking other instances into consideration to calculate an eq curve, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s always the right thing to do.

[@AndrewCCM]

It also kills your CPU when you add all those tracks.

[@fcmas]

​@@AndrewCCMget a better computer. Mine works just fine with it

[@AndrewCCM]

@@fcmas ​ @fcmas Perhaps... But when a M1 can't handle something, it's a pretty heavy plugin IMHO. I have entirely too many plugins and see how others work in comparison....It works fine across a handful of channels...but more than 5 or 6 and it chokes my machine. I do have a M3 Max MBPro...but it's not my studio machine.

[@DEVDLXRD]

adel ? xDDDD

[@dennisg967]

Thank you for another great video. I think that the point you have made that AI plugins don't really know your mixes as well as you do is very true. So I think that you should be the ultimate decision maker when using these plugins instead of fully relying on these plugins. I personally use them for resonance suppression, which works really well. Also they can make suggestions. I started boosting mids with the smallish Q and increasing stereo field in the midst too after ozone suggested it. It think my mixes sound much better now. But I think that ultimately we should be the ones to decide if we wanna go with the AI suggestions or not.

[@PaulEubanks]

I would very much like to see Soothe2 updated to include resonance modality - that is, only remove resonances within frequencies which lie outside the key signature center - or a specified number of narrow band frequencies based on user definition. Maybe even 3rd vs 2nd order harmonics. ScalerEQ sort of does this, but not in a program dependent way. I do like using Soothe2 as a side chain for overlapping frequencies though, it seems to work much more elegantly than say TrackSpacer for that application.

[@chabbybowy1391]

You're the best teacher 👑 🙌 ever! Huge fan and student from Africa, Zambia 🇿🇲

[@tasenova2717]

I can agree with most of this, but toward the end of vocal sidechaining with soothe and inverting the signal, I still have to take that chance. It has the mix louder. it really was one of the best things I've used ever since you covered it. other than that, I don't usually use these plugins.

[@jloiben12]

I fully agree with the dullness of many of the intelligent processors. However, with that being said, at least with the Izotope products you can capture the EQ curve of whatever you want. Find a song/part/etc that you like capture it. Then you can use that. You aren’t AS reliant on the developer’s taste when it comes to Izotope’s products

[@SiegelBantuBear]

Thanks to you Sage🤝🏼👍🏼🙏🏼

[@Migesteban]

Love this video ❤!

[@DanBires]

I do use soothe and a few other dynamic eq's but just in small moves.

[@PeterSavad]

Right, intentional small moves is the way. It's not a cheat code for good sounds.

[@sparella]

I find Melda MSpectralDynamics to be versatile and occassionally use it for ducking bass-kick or pads-leads, taming unwanted saturation, and reducing resonances. I think of spectral processors as precision tools, not mix enhancers.

[@tigredejadeec]

Serious question: If you use soothe2 on a track, and then you bounce it in place/print it. What happens if you throw in another soothe2 on that new printed track? Does is create new curves or does it recognize the signal as "perfect"???

[@PeterSavad]

It probably will look at the remaining resonances and start attenuating those...or just push the same ones down even further. Just put two instances on a track, no need to bounce and see.

[@mileshurst9823]

sounds like a fun experiment. keep running it back through lol

[@bdmcohen]

In my experience, overusing soothe creates its own kind of harshness. Thats generally how/when I know I need to focus a smaller area or use it more subtlety. When you remove every peak of x width you're then left with new peaks of a slightly thicker width

[@gulagwarlord]

It would be like having two instances of the vst in series

[@iamyungroc]

I was almost willing to argue with you to the bone and spine when yiu made an earlier review on soothe 2 and Glufoss.. But good you're back here to reverse it. Great finding

[@billyhughes9776]

Really excellent video with useful information.

[@VioletSepe]

i like a little gulfoss when mastering just to see what it does and if I agree, then I adjust. I rarely if never mix w it

[@StollerEaven]

Interesting (new) point of view. Actually it depends how much you use Gulfoss and Soothe. I believe if you use them in particular situations they do a good job. But not on a whole mix.

[@aeons_light]

I think overall these plugins are pretty useful, at least soothe since that's the only one I've actually used. I don't really ever use it unless I'm specifically trying to resolve an issue though. For instance if I like what it's doing in one part of a vocal and not another I'll just automate the plugin to be off until I need it so that it only turns on to fix a problem.

[@digitalmafiamusic]

With Soothe 2 turn on 4x over sampling and it won’t sound “dull”

[@gulagwarlord]

They are great tools. One trick I like to use is to see what these intelligent plugins are attempting to do to the mixbus and then go back to my mix and try to get there with more traditional methods. They seem to be trying to match to a pink noise curve or something like that, which is very useful in heavily processed genres like bass music.

[@chriswhite7636]

Soothe I’m fine with, using it lightly it has helped many times on vocals and some synths when the time was right to use them. Gullfoss, no, for some reason when I use gullfoss I get lots of strange transient behaviour so I’ve just stopped using it.

[@PhilipRikoZen]

A funny use for me of Ozone Assistant is to turn it on and see what it would change, then turn it off, basically as an opinion since I always work alone and don't have access to someone I would trust quickly. Does it get the right genre and boosts 10db in the low end? Does it lowers how wide are my mids but widens the tops? Does the impact thinghy do a lot of work or does nothing? After studying the results for a minute I ask myself: why did it do that and was it better? Does my mix need a bit of that? Sometimes the answer is no, sometime the idea is interesting. Basically I use it for what it is, an assistant, a subordinate of mine which may have an interesting opinion and not as my lead mastering engineer.

[@YourGrandpaBob]

I think you make good points, however I think those points only apply to acoustic and recorded tracks. I believe soothe's main target audience is electronic producers, and sometimes electric basses and electric drums can be far to harsh and far to messy to just try eqing. Soothe is a tool where if you use wrong it'll ruin your mix (just like ott), however it can also make your mix sound crisp and clean without having ear piercing transients or highend.

[@JBeatz305]

Sage audio never fails 🤨great platform

[@Prodbytodden]

This is what growing as an audio engineer is all about. Amazing video 👏

[@KLOVOrecords]

sooo much gems for producers on your channel! 🙏🙏🙏😎

[@mtsugarcan]

I agree. They make sound flat and dull to a certain extent. Soothe is useful when the vocals were recorded in a bad room acoustics. In this case, it is really challenging to fix all the unwanted resonance and comb filtering surgically. So in this case, I use it in 30% of parallel and EQ again on it. Or sometime it’s good to check the problematic frequency as an analyser.

[@Dorkan77]

Excellent video 💪🏻

[@reziahamed6654]

U N B E L I E V A B L E !!! I ALWAYS remove off Gullfoss/Ozone Stabilizer sometimes Soothe 2 for how they make the mix THIN.. I ALWAYS USE TO doubt myself.. When things didn't sound right .... Now I see I'm not alone & really happy Sage Audio is in my boat too..... PS - Mix knob "could" be your saviour !! 🎉🎉👊👊✌

[@MrNEWDY]

I can totally see why these can be abused. I use soothe predominantly on heavy guitars to fix the insufferable upper mids and sometimes on very poorly recorded material like rough vocals. I use gulfoss as a gentle shaping tool on vocals and acoustic, and sometimes lightly on the master bus, but I mostly just use these as a first step and if I don't get what I'm wanting from them I move to another tool. But people who aren't confident in their ears I can see overusing these as a crutch.

[@Brutuscomedy]

I plan to try Reso on an entire mix but we'll see whether it actually helps...

[@DrBuffaloBalls]

Reso allows you to be surgical in what cuts you add and how much they are attenuating, so you should be able to get some decent results. Like anything else though, it can be overdone, and at that point it will start hurting the music more than it helps it.

[@phaigemartin8621]

the trick is that way less is more... and knowing how to use a thing ... and in the case of these types of programs its best to know what they are doing... rather than just turn a nob clockwise means better and counter not as good... good info/vid

[@naughtyducky6325]

6:33 lol the standard for my genre is between -5 and -4 LUFS some styles call for that loudness

[@edexymusic]

yup, also EDM has heavy subgenres of dubstep, which hits -1 LUFS or even more:)))

[@cccccccmc]

soothe is great. unfortunately i get latency every time i use it. so i only do it in mastering situations

[@andersjanocha6960]

great analysis, I totally agree

[@cedricblomhof1269]

Soothe I only use for sidechain

[@GloveBunniesVideos]

100% agree with all these. The assistant programs are great WHEN you have issues you can't correct with traditional methods. Throwing them on an already good mix, or track, is overkill. Don't fix what's not broken. Thanks so much!

[@fcmas]

If you're throwing it on anything with no inherently reason, YOU'RE the problem, not the plugin. Plugins like Soothe2 have virtually complete manual controllability. The finished sound is what YOU set it to create

[@zazyczech]

Very interesting point.

[@DayBeforeTomorrow]

Interesting. I sent three emails to sage audio requesting info on mastering and they never responded.

[@Serenade314]

I mainly use Gulfoss for color on some synth sounds, but I wouldn't put it on the final mastering chain. Soothe is great for masking issues, and giving a quick fix for terrible recordings - it's a helpful tool if you use it as such. I agree that a lot of the AI-driven plugins these days make a lot of stuff sound samey, and it's a shame. But just like Garage Band makes the average Joe think he is a kick-ass composer because the stuff sounds decent, it all kinda lacks character and the fun that the bare-bones method brings with it. Thanks for the video.

[@JeydetaJosen]

Youre right, but let me tell you I am as a Dubstep and Drum and Bass Producer love this tool. I wouldn't use Soothe on instruments or vocals unless I clearly hear an interference signal that I can't get out with an EQ. But for bass design let me tell you this tool rocks!

[@risingphoenix1484]

I have a question....has anyone else started to mix more out of the box? I have started to mix more and more out of the box using a Neve 8816 summing mixer to guide my EQ decisions.... I find myself using way more outboard hardware, my mix bus is hardware..... I still use UAD software but over the last 3-4 years I just noticed I started leaning more hardware and less software. I was curious if anyone else was going through the same evolution.

[@kayahanli]

This just came at the right time as I was mixing my song. The issue is technology enabled music production at home but mixing profession takes many years to master. No AI tool to fix all mixing issues yet. You still have to master those AI tools too...

[@sonofyah_]

amazing video.

[@Out_of_Orbit999]

You have a Strong Point , maybe i should question my current ways

[@OtterLakeFlutes]

Great video. Makes me happy that, were I to spend money on iZotope stuff, I gave the least priority to Ozone and more to some manual Brainworx stuff. I got Neutron 4 in order to pick apart what the AI tried, never to trust it implicitly but, rather, to take it like the opinion that Data's brother Lore gives me around the campfire. Whether it sounds good or even bad, I can pick apart the settings and it helps me learn after struggling with gates, sidechaining, compression, etc. for years. I'll also subscribe to Sage very soon, as soon as I knock out more raw work for 90 days or so where it would go unused.

[@industryandaudio]

Yes!! I’ve noticed these A.I. plugins add “artifacts” to the mix. Ozone and Soothe2 were the most noticeable. I think the key is to limit the use of them and add your own spin to the mix! Everything sounds homogenized. I love Gulfoss tho 😅

[@BVK.]

7:34 Words of comfort, Thank you sire

[@MelloMay]

It's good with noiz shaping but not with the lows

[@kaymurdagee6513]

I use these type of plugins to know we're I'm at as far as frequency build up from multiple sounds around the same frequency

[@sensaivers]

Totally agree. I've gone back to using just the actual tools that have been around forever like straight up eq, compression, etc rather than "intelligent" plug ins.

[@jonnymak1079]

I make buses or all the intraments ... eq individually... then on bus... then glue it together in the master...

[@MrFelonyLoc]

Thanks , I said something to this nature on one of your previous videos

[@ganyimiklos]

I hate myself to don’t trust myself when I feel and thought the same, but cause everyone show this plugins everywhere, search the problems in myself and goes depressed. Harsh reality is we have to trust what we hear and be confident!

[@williamillington]

Thanks for talking me out of smoothing EQ plugins. I like Izotope a bunch but don't agree with everything it "chooses for me" I have enough brains to tweak it just like it was a synth preset.. it's like a mega channel strip and it's a good tool for the tool box.

[@greatkenyanmusic]

This is quite helpful.

[@elcantantejr1]

Usarlos a modo de trackspacer creo que es el mejor uso que le he encontrado a estis plugins.

[@michaelf.6569]

Me inclino mas al uso de soothe que de gulfos, no se porque me da la sensacion de que al gulfos le tienen parametros de " estandard para masters" con esas curvas, tanto que se siente que a todas las canciones las procesa igual

[@mttlsa686]

I think that soothe 2 it's more for single elements (mainly vocals) than for the master bus...Btw you obviously use these plugins if you need them. I mean, for example, why applying a soothe 2 to a vocal already processed to sound aggressive if soothe's job is taming and making it smoother and "flatter"? They're tool and they should be used if you need them...

[@jordisonjr1]

Those are very interesing words bro!!!

[@guytisdale]

I use isotopes analyzer and match the sound of my sig to others Thar it sigs line that ate cheat tipping hits and then use the matering match in ozone

[@akoustixx]

This Vid just gave me a sigh of relief. I bought soothe 2 two years ago and haven't used it once on vocals,,, every time i used it, it made the source dull, even when mixed 50% with 1 or 2 db/s i had to ask myself was it actually making things smoother or better and the answer is NO. i knew it was popular among top mixers and was making me feel as if i just didn't get it. Baphometrix also shared similar sentiments on a youtube Vid.

[@SoundsBy80K]

i think it depends a lot on how you set it up and where you are going to use it. esp the higher ranges, mid, high mids etc. getting obsessively processed on a single band setup. the sidechain function is very useful because it has a much faster response/processing time with less artifacts. there are cleaner ways to achieve the basic kick-bass-sidechain setup, but doing it like Jaycen Joshua is not bad. the problem seems to be that people think they are buying a tool that fixes things without knowledge or effort.

[@akoustixx]

Trust me, i have the knowledge. Iv'e put more effort into this plugin than any other since it cost me 200 quid ^^ @@SoundsBy80K

[@digitalmafiamusic]

Turn on 4x oversampling in the quality tab. It won’t sound as dull

[@ScottThePisces]

I thought this too, but then I started using reference tracks and saw that my vocals were way to harsh and it was just my ears tricking me that brighter was better. Defo use references in conjunction with these tools. Soothe has saved my butt on so many vocals.

[@akoustixx]

Thanks for the input Scott, i'll keep that in mind.@@ScottThePisces

[@lalitkilaya]

TEA SIS!!!!!

[@foreverthestudent]

In this contex, I have more faith in my ears and my process than anything else!

[@TurnMeUpGhost]

great video

[@ir8123]

Video I needed to confirm my suspicion,thank you.

[@Adziakowsky]

I wouldn't use soothe2 or any other similar plugin on a full master or audio clip. This is very good tool for getting rid of unwanted frequencies in certain range similarly like using multiband compressor or single band dynamic eq althoug shoothe is more detail oriented. Just is it wisely.

[@allen394]

The "Smile" eq curve is visible your first example. We should be mixing with our ears, not a cleverly designed graphical interface. A lot of great mixes were made using no computers, just a well treated room and a mix engineer with good knowledge and hearing. If they used their eyes it was to keep the VU meters in their sweet spot or not to overload the master out.

[@platterjockey]

And, the room wasn't even tuned, and the monitors were less than optimal. It's all in the skill of the engineers. I worry that today we have nothing but young "engineers" who think you have to do something to everything! Sometimes, the best solution is to do nothing at all to your mix.

[@deswestens]

Extremely important video❗️

[@monkeyplusplus]

At least with Gulfoss, I like to put it on my master like a kind of 'second opinion' - if I like what it's doing, I'll go back and adjust my mix in that direction with the goal of either removing it, or just letting it barely 'kiss' the mix.

[@PeterSavad]

I don't mess with these types of plugins. Glad to hear this point of view. Reminds me of the time I tried AI to master a rock song. It attenuated the mid range in the vocal...it was there to cut though the mix! So vocals became dull and buried. AI is not best used this way imo.

[@_madonkey_]

Always use those ears folks with good monitors or headphones. You can still use plugins to your heart's content but your ideal sound may be different than what preset eq plugins are adjusting to. Adjusting to those preset parameters too aggressively can take away from your sound.

[@johnlance3860]

Well done and this needed to be addressed. Good work

[@oliverschmidt4831]

Don't buy plugins, spend your money on our services instead...

[@summerfazed]

Spending money on mastering instead of plugins 💯

[@russenduf]

Dan Worral is the best youtube tutorial voice and this one comes pretty close 😊

[@rocktonmusikschule]

I think everything can be helpful when used not too much. But I agree that often such plugins make things sound worse. A.I. can not replace TASTE.

[@enterthehacks]

This should be titled "misusing these plugins is ruining mixing" And then the video could be about how these modern-standard plugins are so advanced and in widespread use, that a lot of ppl are using them without really understanding how to use them *effectively.* ..and then link us to a good mixing tutorial video 😁

[@Six2Nine]

Good arguments on the ai stuff! I think soothe is dope a a sidechain plugin but its like a template. It push the mix through it and all dounds the same

[@elonthebass6870]

Shots fired!! But in all seriousness, thanks for addressing this. I’ve privately held the same suspicions for some time now. And usually I’m met with hostility when making these criticisms. I agree 100%. More often than not, these tools totally dull and degrade mixes. I own both Gulfoss and Soothe and haven’t used either for some time now. And I honestly don’t miss them. My mixes sound better without them.

[@christopherharrison2405]

AI = eventual singularity = sameness= Boring. He's got a great point about these plugins and I have a feeling that if Led Zeppelin, Queen and any of the great classic rock bands used them then life would have been extra boring.

[@christopherharrison2405]

@@herbie_the_hillbillie_goat Speaking of Intelligent Processors. Thanks for the insult. :)

[@christopherharrison2405]

Fake account. You are simply a misanthrope. You have no account history. And you used a straw man to distract from the point. It would have ruined the natural energy in their songs so I'm quite happy it didn't exist then as many recordings these days are clearly over digitalized and quite boring in that regard. Now kindly go be a misanthrope somewhere else please. :) @@herbie_the_hillbillie_goat

[@christopherharrison2405]

@@herbie_the_hillbillie_goat Replies missing. LOL.

[@bluematrix5001]

I agree, it is very easy to screw your tracks with Soothe specially if you use it in several tracks

[@OKFCPrez]

Awesome, a professional producer finally said what I have been thinking for some time as I have seen these "black box" tools being used more prominently. Thanks for saying what needed to be said.

[@OKFCPrez]

@@herbie_the_hillbillie_goat No.

[@Fwuzeem]

I only use Soothe and only really fit the master as more of a dser

[@richardcooke1419]

You know what’s funny, I’m watching this on a phone and when you enable the plugin, the songs sound more balanced and clearer on my iPhone. So I’ll stick to using them thanks. I guess it sounds “dull” on your monitor system but I think these plugins help improve translation. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@MilezAwxy]

these plugins aren't meant to be used on the master, but rather on individual tracks & not too much because yeah they will take the character out of the sound. ozone's one is the worst & most aggressive, i believe its a spectral processor rather than a dynamic eq like gullfoss or sooth, it makes things sound like low bit rate mp3

[@cefahprod]

Those plugin are not ruining anything. This is just a presentation of missusing them. I do not think those plugin are like a must have and it is needed to achieve a great mix because ultimately this is true with any plugin.

[@alexandar5253]

My mix never sounded good with iZotope ozone. Always harsh and somehow "plastic".

[@raniamarym1678]

F6 ftr or fab q3 ❤ only

[@jon0830]

TEOTE is still cool imo, much more tweakable and doesn't kill resonances or transients

[@assshakerstudios549]

I wholeheartedly agree! They can be useful on single channels but are terrible on masters or busses! Should not be used that way, but everyone slaps them on everything of course! And only once in a blue moon!

[@rodeointblud]

I'm using baby audio smooth operator. It's something in between these two plug-ins and I use it in sidechain mode just a little bit to give some space. If I had a soothe I’d also use it only this way. Literally sidechaining for a couple of decibels. Maybe even less. This is my compromise with myself. Using plugins like this or especially several at once in the chain just doesn’t feel right. If anything I can load tonal balance control and match frequency levels by my test with a quality EQ without questioning what the fuck this plugin doing to my sound. It seems to me that the problem with using helper plugins and ai plugins is that people do not trust their solutions and do not believe the inner voice of mixing engineer. It's easier for them to rely on someone else's decisions in their own mix. I don't want to sound like some kind of smart guy, but to tell the truth I got best mixes and masters when I allowed myself to do what I feel and hear. Music is an art after all. It doesn’t need to be perfect and it’s an expression of you. Not your plugins.