7.2.5 Smooth

7.2.5.1 What Smooth does

Smooth listens to your track and automatically turns down whatever frequencies are resonating right now — the harsh edge on a vocal, the boxy ring on a guitar, the sizzle on cymbals — dynamically, band by band, only while they stick out. It leaves everything else alone. Reach for it when a sound is almost right but has one or two frequencies that jump out and fatigue the ear.

Unlike a static EQ cut, Smooth acts only when and where a resonance rises above the natural tone of the sound, so it stays transparent on the parts that are already balanced.

7.2.5.2 The window at a glance

Across the top: the Smooth mark and name, then Δ, A/B, BYPASS and close. Below is the spectrum, then three control groups — SUPPRESSION, MODE and OUTPUT. Drag the top bar to move the window. Every knob works the same way: drag up/down to turn, hold Shift for fine adjustment.

The spectrum

Shows the live input, a dashed reference trend (the tone Smooth expects), and a red shade wherever the signal rises above that trend — i.e. the resonances being tamed. Watch it to see exactly what Smooth is reacting to.

7.2.5.3 Controls

The MAX REDUCTION read-out under Mix shows the largest amount Smooth is pulling down at that moment, in dB — a quick gauge of how hard it's working.

7.2.5.4 Key Protect (unique)

When Key Protect is on, Smooth biases its reduction away from the notes of the song's key (set on the global bottom bar). It still removes harsh, inharmonic resonance, but it eases off around the fundamentals and lower harmonics of the key/scale tones, so it never dulls the musical notes the song is actually playing. No other resonance suppressor can do this, because it needs the DAW's live key. Leave it off to behave like a conventional suppressor; turn it on when Smooth starts thinning out sustained musical notes.

7.2.5.5 Quality & latency

Quality sets how finely Smooth listens. Higher quality gives finer frequency detail (better on low, dense material) but more latency; lower quality is snappier, with less latency.

Smooth reports its latency to the host, so the DAW automatically delay-compensates every other track — the timing of your mix never shifts.

7.2.5.6 Δ Delta & A/B

Δ (Delta) plays only what Smooth is removing — solo the difference to hear the resonances by themselves. It's the best way to set Depth: turn Depth up until Δ starts to catch the good tone, then back off. A/B compares two settings at matched loudness, so you judge tone, not level.

7.2.5.7 A quick workflow

1. Insert Smooth. Start in Soft, Depth around 6 dB, Sharpness/Selectivity at 50.
2. Play the track and watch the red shade on the spectrum — that's what it's taming.
3. Press Δ and raise Depth until you clearly hear the harsh resonance in the difference; then release Δ.
4. Use Selectivity to ignore gentler peaks, Sharpness to go surgical (one ring) or broadband (general harshness).
5. If sustained notes dull, turn on Key Protect.
6. Compare with A/B and BYPASS; trust "less is more".