Smart:EQ 4 - AI equalizer of ALL TIMES! (like last 3 years?)

Рет қаралды 16,783

Күн бұрын

Helllooo, people! Smart:EQ4 is out and I could put my hands on it quite early. Yes', it's great and I won't even try to hide this fact. Enjoy!
0:00 Intro
1:02 First look
2:19 Auto EQ-ing separate sources
7:25 Group mixing
9:42 Smart:EQ4 for mastering
10:50 One more idea...
12:59 Final mix vs Smart:EQ3
14:45 Summing tha thingz up!

Пікірлер: 117

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Heeey, people! What do you think about Smart:EQ 4? Did you have any earlier version? Another audio EQ? Many AI is not your thing? Lemme know down below!

@mhavock 6 ай бұрын

Yes! Smart mixer do good. Me only need 1 brain cell now to make music. 🤣

@Studio22mix 6 ай бұрын

I do weekly post mixing for live gigs and for this it’s a huge timesaver. The tracks don’t meant to be studio quality because they need to capture the vibe of the show. Also it’s not needed to put hours of work into it that won’t get paid. This gets me into the ballpark fast and mix fast which is great for this kind of content. For client mixes I would dive in manually to get a unique sound but for live mixes I would definitely use it. 👍🏼

@dalil260175 6 ай бұрын

What amazes me the most about sonible is the fact that their plugins are very cheap compared to how good and sophisticated they are.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Absolutely same feelings here. Unbeatable price to quality ratio!

@alfredgrupstra 6 ай бұрын

Something different then the Izotope/Native Instruments pricing. Time they had some serious competitors!

@kostyakonstantinoff 6 ай бұрын

Yes, the price is very reasonable compared to FabFilter

@kelvynification 6 ай бұрын

Yup! A company doing right by their customers. €29 is a 🎁 for this massive upgrade😊

@mintyswirljoy 6 ай бұрын

most plugin shops would charge $89 for this upgrade with groups. Not Sonible= $29. They rock

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

They do!

@vcodev108 6 ай бұрын

I was just waiting for your video, and I knew you would do a video on smart:EQ 4, and here you are with an amazing vid, thanks!

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

No probs, my pleasure, man!

@anthonylee3311 6 ай бұрын

Brilliant demonstration, thank you for taking the time to put this together. I agree with all of your conclusions - I was amazed when you took the mastered track and improved it with Smart EQ 4- I will upgrade for sure

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Thanks, Anthony, enjoy SmartEQ4, all my studio folks have been introduced to it already :)

@monkmusic5994 6 ай бұрын

Paul, great channel, love it! Have just bought the upgrade eq4. Will use it after the xmas madness. Have the feeling it is even the next level here...

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Thanks, so good to hear that from one more viewer. Enjoy the chan and hope to hear from you soon!

@Left2See 6 ай бұрын

The true potential lies in time savings. All the prep work that one has to do before diving into the creative decisions in mixing is primarily tedious work. Here, you simply run the tracks through SEQ4, have a clean audio profile, and can then start doing what truly brings joy: mixing.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

This is what I do exactly, when mixing film dialogue with Smart:EQ!

@KBoxx 6 ай бұрын

What does your usual workflow look like when using this? Do you throw it on individual tracks and then print them, and then begin “normal” mixing? I’m trying to figure out the best way to use this without having to commit too much time to experimenting. I’ve tried it a few times and really liked the results on most things, but it did hollow out some vocals on me once, but it wasn’t a great recording to be fair.

@Left2See 6 ай бұрын

Usually, I prepare tracks for mixing, meaning I try to create a clean sonic image. Since I primarily mix rock and metal, I start with the drums and bass and then work my way up to guitars and vocals. Currently, my first step is gain staging, setting everything to -18dB. Then, I create groups. Drums go into one group, bass has its own group (often I mix a heavily distorted bass track softly under the original). Guitars and vocals each have their own group. On each respective bus, I apply Smart:EQ and use automation at 100% adaptive. I then render these as stereo tracks, which I import into a new project. On those tracks, there's usually a compressor already in place where it makes sense. Oh, and I also edit reverb tracks separately. Sometimes, if there aren't too many tracks, I don't open a second project. In that case, I simply place Smart:EQ on the busses quite early in the effects chain. Whether this is the most efficient or smartest method, I don't know. If you or anyone else has some good tips, I would be more than happy to accept them.

@opticplot 6 ай бұрын

⁠@@FoliaSoundit would be nice to see a video about using smart eq 4 for film mixing dialogue.

@skrabio 6 ай бұрын

Been using all of the Sonible suite for awhile now. First class UI, great sound, and absolutely zero issues across all of their offerings. Everything from them is an easy instant buy from me.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Anotheer cool factor about Sonible: their plugins are also neat and clean inside and they just work!

@Studio22mix 6 ай бұрын

Great demonstration 👌🏼 you got me subscribed 😊

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Nice, thanks a lot!

@dedaluz100 6 ай бұрын

I like version 4 a lot, it has changed a lot compared to version 3 and I would say above all on the smart function which now applies filters which to me almost always seem 100% appropriate, even with very difficult material that I couldn't fix with other plugins. This time I trust the sound I get with it more. The dynamic function is not immediate and intuitive due to its menu at the bottom and in my opinion a function that took into account one or more sources for the sidechain should have been implemented, but at the moment it remains a fantastic plugin. I'm trying out the groups feature, but right now I'm finding it difficult to save and load a session without something changing in the settings

@PharaohLawLess1 6 ай бұрын

Whoa! I have Smart Eq 3. I think I’m going to upgrade today as a Christmas present to myself

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Good idea!

@jamesrutherford 6 ай бұрын

Always a great entertaining and informative My Friend

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Thx, James, as always!

@antonm_ 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for this. Your demos of these types of plugins help a lot. PS: I don't know if this applies to NFR keys but you might want to hide the License Key; it's visible when you open the settings page.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

:O Ooops. I used the key already, so I believe it's all good :) Thanks anyway!

@MarkVO 6 ай бұрын

I think, like the best AI tools, they will get you close, but we'll still need professionals such as yourself to make it perfect. I will say that, the mix sounds great with SmartEQ 4 but it doesn't sound finished to me. I'd say that, instead of replacing you,, it makes your job easier which means you'll be faster and get your ZŁ sooner!! Thank you for the enlightening demonstration, Paweł, and Wesołych Świąt!

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Thanks, Mark, Wesołych Świąt, too! :) The point with AI tools they get better and better every day, so imagine them in two or three years...

@eren3390 6 ай бұрын

Good improvements, will upgrade :)

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Good idea. Cheers!

@saardean4481 6 ай бұрын

I was cooking and in the backround had your video playing. When you said „what He did…. what IT did“ i almost dropped the things i was holding lmao !!! :-) and while typing this i hear „what if we throw another track at him and i almost spit out my food loughing hahahaha. Paul you made my evening

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

xD You never believe I can change it, right?! I'm working really hard on this one, wish me luck! Cheers and thanks!

@saardean4481 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound i am not sure anymore if i want you to change it :-)

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

In Polish language personalizing tools the way I do it is 100% correct and we do it all the time. That's why I'm reproducing this grammar feature in English...

@saardean4481 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound thats very interesting as i am partly greek and i am accustomed to similar things. However i cant help but find interesting that you always (or at least from what i can remember) personalize-choose „he“ over „she“ . I mean its „the“ equalizer as in „it“ . But „the“ does not sound more „he" than „she" to me so this goes back to the language foundation i guess and why „it“ becomes „he“ rather than „she“ if that makes sense. Its all a naive observation of mine without any weighting or merit. Just thinking about it as i find it interesting. And no i am not here in order to fight for equality (or fight in general) or anything :-) just wondering

@Nineven 5 ай бұрын

I think there is nothing to worry about concerning AI taking the job of people. If machines can do things for us, then it will just force us to focus on being more creative rather than technical. The real value of human creativity will be more focused on instead, rather than technical skill.

@mikelo303 6 ай бұрын

I did not use group mixing in SEQ3 because for me it sounded bad. Now I can hear they fixed it! Great!

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Yes, they definitely did. Cheers!

@cachelesssociety5187 6 ай бұрын

Yeah, one of my issues was I really didn't like the results in the previous one. I haven't tested this but it seems like it could be better. And I like the hierarchy GUI feel better in v4.

@TeslaOsiris 6 ай бұрын

I freely admit that your smart:eq3 video was what sold me on trying Sonible in the first place and I’m so glad I did.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I'm very happy to hear that :) Thanks and enjoy Sonible stuff, it's really exceptional!

@samphelps856 6 ай бұрын

Thank you

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

My pleasure, Sam!

@cachelesssociety5187 6 ай бұрын

Was curious if you didn't want to re-run your Smart E! 3-to-4 test when discovering one was "vocal high" & the other "vocal low" preset. Would you consider going to full defaults and running it to see if it's really different or pretty much exactly the same? I plan to upgrade because I like the better feel of dragging around the tracks to prioritize them - that seems like a much better way to control - plus being able to see each track in the same interface - a lot clearer. Starting to hold up to Sonnox Claro in that regard. Glad I have both Smart EQ and Claro. One is full on "plugin does most of the work" and the other is a bit more 'creative control left in user's hands'.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

4 does have a different curve than 3, that I can tell you for sure :)

@David-vg8lm 6 ай бұрын

Hello sir, I have a question. I mixed a song in 44khz 24bit. If I want to bounc it to 320kbps mp3 do I need to dither it? Thanks in advance

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I think it depends on the material. Do you have a smooth fade out? Do you experience any low bit resolution issues, when having quiet moments? If you do, go for dithering!

@alfredgrupstra 6 ай бұрын

Also worth mentioning, you can use your own reference tracks!

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Right, I forgot to mention it for some reason :( Too much excitement at once!

@alfredgrupstra 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound That show how high this update is. Probably it's worth a video of its own.

@yanperchuk1 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for your videos! AI is a really interesting thing. It feels like we're really at the very beginning of it. Contrary to the common belief, at this point, AI plug ins would probably be my last choice. If you need a quick fix - yes! If you need a commercial, creative, professional mix - no! AI suggestions can hardly see a big picture, let alone read a creative direction dictated by the artist or a label. If a mix was all about cutting 200hz in the vocal and boosting 60hz in the kick, we would all end up creating professional mixes. However, I do think that iZotope 11's AI algorithms opened up a whole new dimension for mastering. In conclusion, expressing my own opinion only, AI is a useful tool, but more than anything it still requires a real professional to use it wisely.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Very well said, Yan, thanks!

@sadelili 6 ай бұрын

İ have mcdsp SA 3 & Pro Q3 & MautoEq…Do you think i need Smart eq 4? Thank you your channel is great love from Istanbul

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Hey, greetings from Warsaw! SmartEQ3 does essentially different job than SA3 and is way more advanced than Melda, which is also great, by the way. I believe getting Smart:EQ4 is the right move.

@shawnyvibes 6 ай бұрын

it get better for real

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Oh yes, it did!

@mcmentalmusicmakers3219 6 ай бұрын

The EQ dream realized dude. Happy hunting

@JaeH0202 6 ай бұрын

Hi, is the plugin cpu intensive? In my experience with Sonible plugins, latencies were issues and cpu hog on my pc. I'm wondering how it will result for several incidences for bus mixing. If they resolve it, I'm sold. Please let me know your thought!

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

It's not the lightest one out there, but I'm running 7950X on fastest RAM and SSD drives, so I'm probably not the best source of info ;)

@adithyasatheesh127 4 ай бұрын

Just a quick question. Rarely would a song have the same Front, middle, back mix going on throughout the song. At some point the bass might have to step in front or go back. Maybe the Drums would take the back seat at some point. how would you deal with that when using this plugin through out the session.

@FoliaSound 4 ай бұрын

Good question, but I believe most of its parameters are simply automatable, so shouldn't be a hassle to change the dynamic mix balance :)

@mawot_music 6 ай бұрын

I remember in 2001, i coudn t run 4 tracks in logic 5 in a PC...what happened in 20 years in audio is as u say --KRAZY..........AI is crazy

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Yes, it is. Cheers!

@johnnyvegas2015 6 ай бұрын

I like that

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Thanks, Johnny!

@mygoogle1525 6 ай бұрын

How do ypu think would it work in live performance? Does it introduce a lot of latency? I've got Pure EQ but it's unusable in a live setting. Tdr Nova works great thou. Dzieki

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I wouldn't use SmartEQ 4 in real time, but Sonible got SmartEQ Live and you should definitely check it out!

@mygoogle1525 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound Nice one. I actualy got smart eq 4 and it works perfectly in life . Just gotta keep phase on mininmum. Dzieki za odpowiedz🤙

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

No probs, good to hear that. Another of my viewers wrote, that SmarEQ4 has been seriously optimized compared to v3. All that is really good news.

@youssoubarro1671 6 ай бұрын

❤

@mcmentalmusicmakers3219 6 ай бұрын

Did the update and it is great

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Happy you like it too!

@Joshua_Griffin 6 ай бұрын

Yaaay

@Artek604 6 ай бұрын

I got free upgrade to EQ4 so *trying* to d/l right now to try it out :) Good I've your video :D

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

N i c e !

@phadrus 6 ай бұрын

How did you find out if you qualify for a free upgrade?

@Artek604 6 ай бұрын

@@phadrus I got email with a code that brings the upgrade price to zero; but I purchased it literally last week

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

They have a grace period? Didn't know about that, so cool!

@GermanFragEditing 6 ай бұрын

@@Artek604 me too but I dont got an email :(

@Xylume 6 ай бұрын

I can't find a way to solo each track in the group from within EQ4's groups. I keep having to go to each track to make sure I know which track I'm EQing. Having things labeled helps, but it seems like that should be available like in many other plugins. Maybe I'm missing something?

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I don't think it's possible from the plugin level...

@Xylume 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound Thanks.

@wojtekmajewski2155 6 ай бұрын

Thank you for the review. As an engineer take care of your "sssssss". My headphones are just lying there yet its killing.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I do and believe me or not - it's my speech itself, not the lack of deessers.

@wojtekmajewski2155 6 ай бұрын

@@FoliaSound Thank you for your kind reply. Understood. Sorry for the harsh reply. Nonetheless excellent reviews. Dziekuje bardzo!!! Pozdrowienia z Namibii!!!

@karo2090 6 ай бұрын

I watched the whole video thinking that mix engineers are no longer necessary. Any musician with a minimum of knowledge will be able to do the mix himself.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I think that for any home musicians starting their careers off - It's absolutely true in a matter of three years from now on.

@Barnassenter 6 ай бұрын

Hm, the split function was in EQ3 to, so a bit strange that you just discovered that now :). Also, had you used Add Instance instead of one by one frem your DAW and then clicked Learn all, it would have been faster and easier. Finally, what would have been interesting to see was if you uploaded your own reference track to see haw that would have worked when dooing the whole mix. Other then that, a nice video. Looking forward to testing it myself later today.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Nooo, split band was there in 3? :O OMG, can't believe I never used it...

@GTSongwriter 6 ай бұрын

This crashed in Reaper during the "get results" stage. Then when I opened that project back up, it crashes the DAW again! I had to use backup file to get back on track, but lost a lot of work!

@Xylume 6 ай бұрын

I've used EQ4 in Reaper for days now without a single hiccup or crash.

@GTSongwriter 6 ай бұрын

@@Xylume I've got Windows 10, running on an old Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ with 32 gb of RAM, 2 TB M.2 SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M...I understand it is an older system, but it can play World of Tanks fine and even the CPU hungry iZotope Ozone 10 Standard plugin. I'm currently comfortable with my computer setup and have no reason to upgrade.

@GTSongwriter 6 ай бұрын

@@Xylume I'm currently using Smart EQ 3 for doing EQ work as it is stable compared to version 4!

@Xylume 6 ай бұрын

@@GTSongwriter I'm using it with Windows 11, AMD Ryzen 3600, 16 GB of DDR4, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 1TB M.2 SSD. I've retired my slower machine, but have it saved for an emergency. This machine handles my plugins much better. I should have opted for an RTX 4060, but I was able to save $50-100. I'd say, just keep it going and wait for a big upgrade one day.

@GTSongwriter 6 ай бұрын

@@Xylume One of the reasons I use Waves Audio plugins is they work with my older machine with no issues. Sonible must not have access to an older machine to test their plugins on.

@izhaarali1426 6 ай бұрын

Please use a de esser on your vocals too 🙏

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I am using it, my speech is that harsh by nature, I'm afraid :(

@kipling1957 2 ай бұрын

Isn’t expression “of all time?”

@allenpolley 6 ай бұрын

Compared to SEQ3... SEQ4 is much more optimized as well. Takes a lot less CPU. On my end anyway. I had 4 going in Dynamic\Adaptive mode. No CPU spike at all.

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

Nice, thanks for the info!

@CostasLilitsas 6 ай бұрын

The autogain algorithm does NOT take into account the actual SOUND volume of the output. It just sees the db gain/reduction of your filter and makes a cheap extrapolation of an output gain setting. This is NOT “autogain” and it actually guarantees the exact opposite, a gain mismatch. You can actually see the mismatch on the in/out meters if you make a gain filter on a point of the spectrum that has little to no sound. Is this a malfunction or just a cheap marketing stunt?

@FoliaSound 6 ай бұрын

I adjusted gain manually and I don't care much about any auto gain on any plugin. I don't trust it at all :)