Gus Berry reviewed oeksound’s "sonic-fixing" Soothe2 plug-in in Tape Op #138 and noted how handy it could be for suppressing bass resonances. I’ve been using it for years since that review, but exclusively for taming upper midrange harshness and rarely digging into the lower frequencies… since I didn’t properly do my homework. I didn't even think it worked on low frequencies! I guess I should read my own magazine. But I did use Soothe2 a lot on my mixes. Rough-sounding electric rhythm guitars, nasty-toned lead guitars, poorly recorded cymbals, and other out-of-control tracks could be calmed down to work properly.
Soothe3's product lead, Aleksi Taipale, says, “The DSP algorithm has been redesigned and is now significantly more transparent in everyday use.” I agree. I installed both 3 and 2 on some of the same problem tracks for comparison and could hear a noticeable sound quality upgrade. This reminded me why, at times, I was reticent to try Soothe2 on some sources. I'd use it on lead vocals and then remove it, as the sound changed too much. I don't hear that with Soothe3. While reviewing this update, I used it on mixing jobs. I get sent all sorts of oddly recorded tracks to deal with, and if I've learned anything after all these years, it's that there's never "one fix" that works all the time for any of this work. A skilled mixer needs a variety of ways to solve a number of problems, so here are some real-use scenarios for Soothe3:
For one song, the lead vocal was a strong, solid performance, but the microphone used was incredibly midrangey and poked out at certain unpleasant frequencies. It was sorta sitting okay in the mix, but damn, it would have been nice to pull out my Telefunken U 47 and re-track through that. I used a vocal chain that usually works, and the sound got better, but it was still missing the richness I wished for. I dropped in Soothe3, found a preset called "Phone recording rescue," and was shocked at how much better it sounded. It came up with some reduction choices I would never have stumbled across, suppressing frequencies I didn't want and allowing deeper, smoother tones to come forward. This took all of a minute to sort out.
I've been building my own dynamic EQ presets for FabFilter Pro-Q4 plug-ins [Tape Op #166] to manage electric bass guitars, so I set up Soothe3 in this role. A "Remove mud" preset was okay, but adjusting the Attack, Release, and Depth quickly dialed in an appropriate sound that was similar to my Q4 settings and worked really well.
As noted above, electric lead guitars can have a nasty tone that might need some taming to fit in a mix. I had some multi-mic'd leads on a session, and though I frequently just pick one mic and toss those extra files, in this case the blend obviously offered more than one mic alone. With two very different settings on each mic's track, I found ways to tuck in overbearing resonances and open up the sound while still keeping the grit and bite of the solos in place.
I was given access to beta versions right before this plug-in came out, and it was interesting to see the changes happen in real time before release. oeksound has significantly improved Soothe3, to the point that I will be using it far more than I was previously. If you already have Soothe2, the upgrade is affordable, but if you're in need of a plug-in like this, it's worth it. Trust me, it had me working faster and gaining better results.