Soothe Alternatives: Plugins for Resonance Suppression
More affordable options to get that Soothe sound.
3,7 / 5,0 | 
Few plugins have become as popular in recent years as Oeksound Soothe. The plugin offers AI-based resonance damping at an extremely high quality, but with a steep price tag. It also relies on iLok as copy protection and some do not like its sound and its workflow. These are more than enough reasons to look for Soothe alternatives.
Originally published on Gearnews.de by Julian Schmauch. Translation by Julian Schmauch.
In this Article:
What is Soothe?
Soothe from Oeksound is a so-called intelligent resonance attenuator. In other words, the plug-in’s main purpose is to automatically find and dampen resonances in recordings. Usually, this is done during mixing by manually sweeping EQ bands in normal EQ plugins and finding overly resonant frequencies. If you don’t do this, these frequency ranges will sound too dominant in the mix. That can lead to masking other instruments and also lead to harsh-sounding distortion and reverb effects.
But can’t you just do this with a standard dynamic EQ like Fabfilter Pro-Q? If there is exactly one resonant at one frequency band that does not vary in intensity, then that’s fine. But most recordings are resonant in far more than one place. And then also at different volumes. Imagine having to do all of this with a giant array of EQ plug-ins and an insane amount of automation! Soothe does the job for you.
Soothe’s algorithm detects resonant frequencies in the range you set. Then it attenuates these resonances, depending on how much attenuation you desire. Since Soothe’s release, its fan base among producers and audio engineers has grown rapidly. So, what do Soothe alternatives need to bring to the table?
What features do Soothe Alternatives need?
Any of the Soothe 2 alternatives we’re going to suggest today will have to offer these features: Automatically detect and attenuate resonant frequency ranges. Determine the speed and detail of the attenuation. In addition, the plug-in offers up to four times oversampling, and it can also be used in mid-side mode.
The first and most obvious reason you might be looking for Soothe 2 alternatives is the price. Because at 199 Euros, Soothe ain’t exactly cheap. Manufacturer Oeksound does sales from time to time, though. But even then, the plugin will mostly go for 139 Euros.
In addition, there are quite a few producers and engineers who avoid everything concerning iLok (a copy protection mechanism) like the plague. To be fair though, Soothe 2 only uses the software-based version of iLok. So, no need to get a dongle.
Soothe 2’s bright blue interface, its workflow, or even its extremely neutral sound may also not be to everyone’s taste. So, let’s take a look at the best Soothe 2 alternatives! But before jumping in, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the full 20-day demo of Soothe 2.
Soothe Alternatives: Waves Curves Equator
Most of us don’t have the privilege or pleasure of recording in acoustically optimized spaces with pro sound proofing, so intuitive tools like the Curves Equator plugin can be extremely helpful. By using linear phase filters, you can isolate and reduce the harsh, resonant parts of any signal, as the ‘Learn’ feature analyzes the input and creates a customized suppression curve.
This feature also has a sidechain option, so you can use external signals to unmask parts of your mix or create mix pockets. While the Rider function will attenuate according to the sidechain input, the unique Dynamic Auto-makeup gain adjusts the output level based on the input RMS reading. This ensures consistency and balance.
Because each application for resonance suppression is slightly different, the Shape and Tilt controls have different characteristics to suit specific tasks. Overall, with three processing bands and eight frequency nodes, Curves Equator provides a great deal of control, and it comes at a friendlier price than many other resonance plugins. Get it at Thomann.*
Soothe Alternatives: Baby Audio Smooth Operator Pro
While maintaining the same accessible interface, Baby Audio has upgraded its popular spectral processing tool to its latest version, Smooth Operator Pro. Designed to subtly tame harsh frequencies on your mixbus or surgically target resonant parts of an individual signal, Smooth Operator Pro can get you out of some tight spaces when mixing.
With each of the frequency nodes, you have a set of parameters to target and fine-tune the resonance suppression. Meanwhile, the global correction controls allow you to choose between the Even profile, which targets all frequencies equally, or the Skew profile that leans toward a more pleasing frequency response.
In addition, you can adjust the level of high and low frequency content you’d like to preserve in the process, which can help you target different areas of the spectrum. What’s more, you can pinpoint the detection with the Detail and Isolation controls, as well as control the dynamics with the compressor or use specific channels within stereo or mid-side configurations. Get it at Thomann.*
Soothe Alternatives: Brainworx bx_refinement V3
Over the years, Brainworx has developed a range of tools that have become favourites among producers and engineers. With bx_refinement V3, you have the ability to control resonant frequencies within vocals, instruments, or your entire mix. The main Damping control reduces harshness with a peaking filter, and there are three character settings to choose from.
However, the most important aspect of this reduction process is that it is triggered either dynamically or by an LFO. Equally, the Presence control adds a shelving filter for the treble range, and can also be triggered in the same way. This allows you to target specific problem areas in signals like overhead mics with different LFO wave shapes.
While the Dynamic modulation source allows external signal input, the LFO also has flexible features like Sync, Depth, and Phase. Overall, with the ability to clean up vocals or control your drum bus, bx_refinement V3 is a powerful tool, and it’s easy to use. What’s more, you can set it to process the mid or side channels exclusively, and there’s a wet/dry mix control. Get it at Thomann.*
Soothe Alternatives: iZotope Neutron 5 and Ozone 11 – Spectral Shaper, Sculptor, and more
iZotope Ozone 11 features three very Soothe-like modules: Clarity, Spectral Shaper, and Stabilizer. In addition, the AI-based mixing tool iZotope Neutron 5 offers a similar Sculptor module. Just like Soothe, these modules in Ozone 11 and Neutron 5 work in the spectral domain. And they are all aimed at damping resonances and improving the sound of your mixes.
As these modules are more on the advanced side of things, you can only get them in the advanced versions of Neutron 5* and Ozone 11*. Both are among the most comprehensive Soothe alternatives given their extensive feature sets, and you can get them at Thomann*.
Soothe Alternatives: TBProAudio DSEQ3
It doesn’t analyze with as many bands, and it does not offer quite as logical a workflow – but in terms of functionality, DSEQ3 from TBProAudio comes closest to Soothe 2. Compared to the Soothe, DSEQ3 needs to be trained first on the material it’s supposed to work on. But after that, it often yields even cleaner-sounding results. And just like Soothe 2, DSEQ3 offers an M/S mode and up to four times oversampling.
Therefore, DSEQ3 comes pretty damn close to Soothe 2 in many aspects. You can get the plugin at TBProAudio’s online store where DSEQ3 costs 94.01 Euros, including taxes.
More Soothe Alternatives and runners-up
The sheer number of Soothe alternatives is too big to list them all in the same detail as we have up until this point. But here are a few others worth mentioning:
- Trackspacer by Wavesfactory is extremely useful, especially as a spectral sidechaining tool between kick and bass (get it at Plugin Boutique*).
- RESO by Mastering The Mix is one of the cheapest Soothe alternatives (get it at Plugin Boutique*).
- Sonible Smart:EQ doesn’t attenuate resonances quite as precisely as Soothe, but also improves the sound through AI (at Thomann*).
Some readers may wonder why we didn’t include Gullfoss by Soundtheory as one of our Soothe Alternatives. The plug-in also operates AI-supported, and it also raises and dampens many frequency bands simultaneously. While it is not suitable for targeted damping of resonances, it is a great dynamic EQ alternative. Which is why we included it in our FabFilter Pro-Q Alternatives roundup.
Free Soothe Alternatives
If you try to find a free alternative to such a versatile and high-quality plug-in like Soothe 2, you will inevitably have to make sacrifices. But there are some VSTs out there that come close. For instance, when it comes to dynamically attenuating only a static frequency range, i.e. you want a dynamic equalizer, TDR Nova is one of the best free dynamic EQs.
And if you happen to own FL Studio, take a look at Mitigate, a software tool specifically written for the popular DAW. Last but not least, Wavegrove’s Vastaus works in a similar manner to Soothe 2, but only with high frequencies.
Conclusion
Oeksound Soothe 2 is one of the most powerful and high-quality audio plugins of its kind, but it comes at a price. Whether it’s worth the investment or one of our Soothe alternatives is more suitable is up to you to find out.
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2 responses to “Soothe Alternatives: Plugins for Resonance Suppression”
TDR Nova GE and TDR Slick EQ GE and Master have Special Operations that can find resonances and help a lot.
Not to mention, they both are parallel EQ and one of them Dynamic comp/expand.
I thing they are worthy a try…
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