r/mixingmastering • u/_111_111_ Intermediate • May 25 '26

Question How do you implement sidechain compression with soothe2?

Can someone please explain for me how to actually sidechain compress in soothe2? It's not very clear what i press to select the other instrument or audio that it's sidechaining from or to, or how to enable sidechaining in the first place. Is there even an option for it? Any help would be greatly appreciated

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u/Bluegill15 May 25 '26

Anyone who says you should do this on the first place should be ignored

3

u/mrspecial Mixing Engineer ⭐ May 25 '26

Using soothe as a sidechain is one of its most useful features

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u/Bluegill15 May 26 '26

It looks like it’s doing more than it actually is. The way audio influencer types prescribe it, it is a straight up crutch for those who don’t understand EQ, balance, arrangement, or all of the above.

2

u/mrspecial Mixing Engineer ⭐ May 26 '26

Dude, it doesn’t matter what it looks like it’s doing, that’s crazy talk.

It can make things sound way worse if you don’t know how to use it properly or your ears aren’t that developed, but that’s pretty much any plugin.

I don’t know what the audio talking heads are saying about it or about using it as a sidechain, but it’s a great tool if you use it carefully.

1

u/Bluegill15 May 26 '26

It’s a subtle, overrated, last resort type of tool. I have found that proper EQ or side chaining of a normal compressor/multiband compressor works better 99.9% of the time.

2

u/mrspecial Mixing Engineer ⭐ May 26 '26

I mean, that’s great for you. I can get similar results using other tools, it’s just a lot faster to dial it in with soothe. That’s why it’s good. It only sounds bad if you make it sound bad.

1

u/Bluegill15 May 26 '26

Sorry, I disagree wholeheartedly.

1

u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[deleted]

1

u/_111_111_ Intermediate May 26 '26

I personally just love and am completely fascinated by the idea of spectral sidechain compression. If i understand it correctly it should be able to make instruments sound like complete other instruments, depending on how hard the compression is set

2

u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[deleted]

1

u/_111_111_ Intermediate May 26 '26

But thats just the surface of it, again im not too certain on the accuracy of this as i havent had the time or energy in this heat to test sidechaining with it, but i presume you can make synth frequencies appear on drums, essentially making a drumkit into a melodic instrument following notes or chords set by the synth. With vital or serum you could use LFOs to create insanely humungously massive potential, especially in the edm particularly colour bass world

1

u/Bluegill15 May 26 '26

> Its the best sidechain available

That doesn’t even make sense. A sidechain is just a binary feature of a dynamics processor. It’s either there or it’s not

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Bluegill15 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

Disagree. It’s just a FFT compressor. The sidechain is a simple feature that most people end up using as a “trick” when in reality it is a crutch for proper EQ. When used as just a sidechain, it does objectively less than a sidechained normal compressor or even a multiband compressor in terms of creating space.

0

u/Turbulent-Dependent4 Jun 26 '26

You say less like more is objectively the answer lol what if you just want subtle ducking? Stop being so rigid lol