With intelligent tools promising automated workflows to aid the engineer, can they really know what the mix needs? We look at some of the decisions made by one of the very latest and compare it with a manually set up compressor…
On Autopilot
Drawing upon an extreme analogy, pilots rely heavily on automated flight systems, yet must have an intricate knowledge of aerodynamics and avionics themselves. That way, when things go wrong someone is there to avert disaster. Although a music mix that goes wrong isn’t going to make the news anytime soon, the comparison is helpful in understanding the sometimes emotional opposition to the advancement of intelligent audio tools. It could be argued that the client is justified in expecting the ‘pilot’ to know what is going on even if they do have their feet up on the console…
Comparison With Manual Control
‘Smart’ audio plugins are well and truly here, with offerings that range from semi-automated helpers to fully-blown AI driven presences that aim to complete the process of demystifying and democratising our craft. There are some who question the validity of these tools, but pseudo-ethics aside, automatic parametrisation can be compared with manual settings. Owing to the overwhelmingly subjective nature of what makes a good mix, this comparison is in any case only really achievable in a subjective context on the understanding that like-for-like controls don’t exist.
In the video we compare Sonible’s smart:comp 2 with a conventional plugin compressor. On tracks and busses, we first dial in settings seen as appropriate by the engineer, explaining the aim of each instance. We then invite smart:comp 2 to analyse the same sources and discuss its parametrisation and possible improvements in the context of the music.
More On Smart:comp 2
Smart:comp 2’s aim is to provide precision and transparency that is true to the input. Sonible continue, “smart:comp 2 is an exceptionally versatile go-to compressor: AI-powered algorithms and profiles for single tracks, busses and entire mixes drive the processing that will find well-balanced dynamics for any input signal. With sound-shaping options such as the Free-form Transfer Function and the Attack and Release Shaper, it has never been easier to achieve distinctive sounds. The compressor’s revolutionary spectral processing ensures a dynamic balance at all times with up to 2000 bands constantly working to enhance transparency”.
The key points of difference in use when compared with conventional comp can be summed up as:
Engage smart:comp 2’s Learning section. Select a source from the dropdown. Play the audio around a loud section for the most appropriate analysis. Its parametrisation can be reverted to using the ‘smart’ icon next to the dropdown.
If needed, all conventional compressor controls are there for the engineer to adjust in a conventional way. When used like this, smart:comp 2’s Learning mode can be used as a solid foundation for further subjective tweaks.
For the advanced user, smart:comp 2 features highly controllable compression curves that go far beyond the ‘big four’ controls of a conventional comp. In addition to the user-editable attack and release shapers (including tempo sync Release), the Free Form Transfer Function editor allows highly advanced editing of breakpoint ‘thumbs’ for custom design. Templates are provided. Complex upward and downward combinations await…
Who Knows Best?
Audio mixing, especially for music, is undoubtedly the place where art and science live in a rare moment of peaceful co-existence. Whichever ‘leaning’ any given engineer has towards one or the other, both the method and the result is highly subjective. It goes, then, that an intelligent audio plugin is also free to make a ‘decision’ that has a wide gamut of possibilities. When faced with binary choices, such as clip avoidance, any tool that allows the non-technical engineer to clip channels or mixes could be reasonably discarded. However the answer to “how much to use?” is harder to pin down. This wriggle room gives developers a window in which to deliver, as the product of previous human decisions can be quantified and replicated even if the rationale of how they got there cannot be.
Music mixing is subjective, so it goes that an intelligent audio plugin can make “right” decisions when correctness doesn’t apply. Basing its parametrisation on music by numbers means it can never ‘know’ the mix, yet smart:comp 2’s decisions are justifiably “appropriate”, forming a solid basis for the best sound that errs on the side of caution. If needed, refinement is then available to the human engineer from basic “I want more” to wild sound design territory and beyond. Smart:comp 2 will certainly keep the plane in the air and possibly make your music better in the process.