interesting mindset, here's a video:

TLDR/W: plugins like Soothe, Gullfoss, iZotope assistant stuff etc.. are making things sound boring and by design combat creative decisions to conform boring standards

thoughts?

 

An engineer or a musician already has the best built-in plugin they need above all others - Their ears.
Ultimately, that should determine how good something sounds or does not.

 

It's cliche but as with most things I think mileage may vary. Like when I first stumbled across these plugins I was not balancing my mixes at all really they were just kinda all over the place. So something like gulfoss was a big clue that I wasn't even close, it was radically changing the song- since then I upgraded my monitoring setup and also started paying attention more.

I think dude has the major point down... these are tools TO ASSIST not replace. They assisted me in improving but now I don't use them at all really, what I do use still is tonal balance control. It gives me the same kinda info but I have control on how to get a song in some preconceived eq curve.

 

"It doesn't consider interaction with other elements, I mean it actually does through sidechaining options, but for the purpose of this video, it doesn't."
Eh?

I get it, removing every bit of character adhering to a preset curve and idea of what is balanced, makes everything bland.
So don't use them that way, let them show you what you couldn't hear and fix it manually.

 

The problem with Artificial Intelligence is only relevant if there is Natural Intelligence. In this case it is not. What that guy presents as a good mix is a crap mix. Simple solution: declare the crap mix as "interesting", "creative", "innovative". Then use AI and tell everyone that AI ruins your mix.

10 minutes of my life gone for another halfassed "producer".

 

The problem is as it mostly is, difficulties in their definitions.

Those are not resonances. Those are sounds.

So to be a bit errant again: What you eliminate is not a resonance, or a ringing, or a harshness or whatever error people get into their minds because what have gotten them into "mixing/mastering" is fiddeling around with some beautiful magic fairy dust.

It's just eliminating or at least taming sounds.
There is no option to amplify sounds in those tools.

So you want to tame sounds? That's fine. Just be aware about your definition.

There is by the way a norm that defines acoustical terminologies - DIN 1320.
Music and harshness is not included there.

 

I think smart plugins make sense when you yourself have identified specific issues you want to fix. What's the point in sweeping from 590hz to 623hz for five minutes to find the exact hz of that resonance that annoys you, when a smart plugin can do it in ten seconds?

But I wouldn't want smart plugins to make creative decisions for me, at all.

 

IA asisted plugins suck. ANYWAY HERE'S A 2 MINUTE AD ABOUT OUR WEBSITE.

At least throw in some "techniques" like in other videos. These tools are already everywhere and are going to be used no matter what, instead of bitching about it maybe they should show how to use them more effectively, idk.

 

No plugin on this planet is ruining any mix, never had, never will, it's the engineer who uses it (the wrong way). Soothe & Co are capable of things other plugins can't do. Used correctly, they are indispensable. But if you abuse them, you're ruining the sound or the mix.
And they've nothing to do with intelligence.
But he's right about one thing, if you insert a plugin into a track it, doesn't take the whole mix into consideration...

Spoiler

... then you need to insert it into a subgroup or the main out (what a genius)

 

Personally I think these things become problematic when something is taken as canonical, when a rule of thumb becomes the law.

And it's these things that tend to get absolutes with any sort of automatic assistance. While yes, I do start a mix by sticking a highpass on every channel, doesn't meant that I actually want to end up everything highpassed. And sometimes highpassing even low freq sounds like basses or kicks can help (if you tune it with a low-shelf or a low-Q band afterwards). Same thing with "harshness" and such things. Sometimes abrasive sounds are called for, especially if they're not high in the mix.

But as everybody said above, good tools but tools can't and shouldn't create the end result.

 

they aren't ruining mixing, but you can absolutely ruin your mix with them if you do not know what you are doing. Many of the people (but not all) who gravitate towards these types of tools are looking for the "magic solution" which doesn't involve real work. In the wrong hands, they can ruin a full mix very quickly and efficiently. Particularly iZotope. If anything is really "ruining mixing", it is clickbait influencer-style youtube videos all repeating each others bad advice.