oeksound Soothe 3 review | A $55 upgrade for Soothe 2 users, and a $259 decision for everyone else

If used right, it’s more adaptive than a regular EQ, more transparent than a dynamic EQ, and more natural-sounding than a De-Esser. It’s also very easy to over-use; too much Soothe can take the life out of a sound, leaving it flat and dull-sounding. Like all good tools, it’s the user that will make it or break it.

Now, almost a decade after the original Soothe was introduced, oeksound has released Soothe 3. The latest version aims to refine and perfect the concept, giving you more control over the algorithm and frequency targeting, alongside a range of quality-of-life updates that make it more flexible and easier to use. It seems like a pretty straightforward upgrade; every area of Soothe has been improved upon without any dramatic overhaul or gimmicky new features. 

But is it worth buying in a market with hundreds of dynamic EQs, De-Essers and other frequency-cleaning tools? Is it worth upgrading from Soothe 2, its predecessor that was already considered the benchmark in resonance suppression? Is it the best option for taming your recordings, or do you just need a better mic and pop-filter? This article will look at the new features, common uses, creative applications, pros and cons of Soothe 3, with a final verdict to help you decide if it’s the right plugin to elevate your mixes.

What’s New?

>> Redesigned Processing Engine: Soothe 3 introduces an entirely new resonance suppression algorithm, designed for more transparent and natural-sounding processing while retaining the adaptive behaviour that made it so popular.

>> New Soft and Hard Processing Modes: You can now switch between two processing modes; Soft mode aims for more transparent results with adaptive thresholds, while Hard mode is closer to the aggressive, fixed-threshold behaviour of Soothe 2.

>> New Detail Control: The Sharpness and Selectivity settings of Soothe 2 have been combined into one Detail control, simplifying the workflow and allowing you to control how precisely Soothe targets resonance with one main knob. 

>> Expanded EQ-like Controls: Soothe 3 adds more node shapes and improved band control, allowing you to more precisely target problem frequencies with a familiar EQ-like workflow. This includes a tilt control for adjusting how parameters like Detail, Attack and Release behave across the frequency spectrum.

>> Max Cut Parameter: This new setting allows you to choose a maximum reduction amount, preventing the overly-aggressive cuts that can lead to dull or unnatural results.

>> Quality-Of-Life Updates: Oeksound added a low-latency mode for tracking, immersive audio support for multi-channel setups, and UI changes to make navigating the plugin easier.

Dynamic Resonance Suppression

Soothe 3 is still a powerful and intelligent resonance suppressor at its core. It works by identifying and reducing resonant frequencies, like metallic ringing in percussion, harsh “ess” sounds in vocals, feedback-like screeching in guitar amps, and resonances exaggerated by overusing EQ or compression. The interface is an EQ-like display, and you use EQ curves to select the areas you want Soothe to work on. Soothe analyses these areas in real-time, reacting to any resonant frequency build-up (you can choose how quickly it reacts and how slowly it lets go with Attack and Release controls).

The most common workflow for Soothe is to place it directly after an EQ on a track with recorded audio. After cutting the room-rumble and otherwise shaping your sound with the EQ, Soothe steps in to clean up all the problem frequencies and keep the sound free from any harsh spikes or muddy low-end boxiness. When working with problematic recordings, it’s common to use the Hard algorithm, high Detail settings and fast Attack / Release times to control the rogue spikes. For general audio smoothing, you’ll be better off with the Soft algorithm, lower Detail settings and a slower Attack / Release for a more natural sound.

For vocal processing, Soothe is mainly used for targeting sibilance (sharp “Ess”, “Shh” and “Tuh” sounds) and occasionally plosives (harsh “Buh”, “Puh” and “Duh” sounds). Sibilance mainly occurs in the higher frequencies, and plosives are usually in the low-mids, so a good practice is to create bands in those areas, then fine-tune the Detail, Attack and Release until it sounds clean without ruining the vocals natural dynamics. Treating sibilance with Soothe won’t always remove the need for a De-Esser or multi-band compression, but using a multi-stage approach to taming vocals is generally a good idea if you want to keep them sounding lifelike. 

Soothe 3 is similarly useful on cymbals (which often have high-frequencies resonances), snares (which can have low-to-mid range resonances), amped instruments (which can have random, note dependent resonances), and even digital synths (which often over-emphasise harmonics with saturation). Using Soothe instead of a fixed EQ cut helps to retain the character of these sounds, whilst avoiding the harshness that can come with them.

Improved EQ-Style workflow

My favourite new feature is the improved EQ-like interface. All producers know the EQ workflow; select nodes to create boosts, cuts and high / low pass filters that shape the sound. With the expanded node and band controls, Soothe feels more intuitive to use, and makes the most of its visual feedback by giving you complete control over how its algorithm interacts with the frequency spectrum. 

You can now create and delete nodes, and choose between eight different band shapes. These shapes include high and low pass filters, so that you can completely exclude areas of the frequency spectrum from the processing. This is most useful when using Soothe to intentionally target a single problem area, like in de-essing or cleaning up muddy low-mids. 

The new Tilt control adds to this flexibility. With Tilt, you can adjust how parameters like Detail, Attack and Release behave across different areas of the frequency spectrum. This comes in handy when working with dense recordings, like entire drum sets or expressive vocals. For drum tracks, you’ll likely want higher levels of Detail and Attack in the upper frequencies, to tame the cymbals and hi-hats, and more natural settings in the lower and mid frequencies to keep the tone of the kick and snare. Similarly, highly expressive vocals might demand more detail in the upper-mids to better control the harmonics, and lower Attack settings in the lower-mids to retain dynamics and allow the compressor to do its job more accurately. 

With these changes, Soothe 3 feels more accurate and versatile than version 2. They won’t be needed for every instance, but when you need full control over the key sounds (like the kick, snare, vocals or lead guitar), these new EQ-like settings give you more options for precise sculpting with predictable results.

Soft / Hard Processing Modes and Detail Control

Another important new feature is the introduction of Soft and Hard processing modes. Soft mode is the most transparent, using adaptive thresholds: the threshold automatically adapts to dynamic changes, resulting in smoother reactions to changes in the audio. Hard mode uses a fixed threshold, more aggressively reducing resonance, which results in similar behavior to Soothe 2. The difference between the modes isn’t too dramatic, and only becomes obvious when you really push Soothe with high Depth, Detail and Max Cut settings. 

In practice, most users will likely default to Soft mode, only switching to Hard to fix problematic recordings and highly resonant sounds. Soft mode will usually be best for vocals, acoustic instruments, mix buses and other tracks where retaining the natural tone and dynamics is important. Hard mode is better suited to peaky drums, harsh synths, distorted guitars and recordings on low-quality microphones, where the audio is being “saved” more than “smoothed”. Having both options is a great improvement for Soothe, giving it more depth and versatility, but it shouldn’t replace good recording practices or careful sound design.

Sidechain Resonance Suppression

An underrated use of Soothe is its sidechain function. This mode allows you to include a separate sound source in Soothes analysis, causing it to dynamically suppress frequencies in the main signal that overlap with the sidechained source . This is usually used to create separation and space between sounds; for example, you can carve out space for your vocal in an instrument bus to bring it to the forefront of the mix, or target the bass to make room for the kick. One trick I use often is putting Soothe on an instrument bus or the master channel, setting it to 100% Mid, 0% Side (so that it only affects the mono frequencies), then sidechaining the main vocal and reducing the max cut to around 2-4dB. This works to subtly carve out room for the vocal in the center of the song, whilst leaving the side elements untouched. 

This sidechain technique isn’t a replacement for traditional sidechain compression. Sidechaining with Soothe is much more transparent, avoiding the pumping effect that compression can create. This is useful in some instances, especially for subtly creating separation and clarity without overly affecting the tone of your track. It won’t replace sidechain compression in EDM, Hip-Hop, or any other genre where the pumping sound is often a desired feature, but it’s a great option when you need a more low-key approach.

Max Cut Control

This is a surprisingly useful feature that acts like a safety net when using Soothe. By setting a maximum reduction amount, you can safeguard against over-processing. A good practice is to set the max cut to around 4dB while dialing in the settings, gradually increase it until the effect sounds exaggerated, then dial it back. Using Max Cut is a great option for more complex and energetic arrangements, as it retains the tension and release of a dynamic track whilst doing its job to prevent rogue frequency spikes. It’s a simple addition, but one that encourages restraint and subtlety when mixing, which I always appreciate.

Quality-of-life updates

Soothe 3 comes with a variety of QOL changes, some more useful than others. I like the UI redesign as it looks a lot cleaner and centres the most important controls, while still giving you the option to go deep by opening the sidebar menu. The low-latency mode is less useful; I can’t think of many use-cases for using Soothe in tracking. The immersive audio support (up to 9.1.6) is great for mixed-media productions like video games, film and TV, but is more niche in music production. It probably won’t be used by most, but is a good addition nonetheless.

Pros

• Still the best option for dynamic resonance suppression
• More transparent and natural-sounding than previous versions
• Improved EQ-style workflow
• Soft / Hard modes and Detail setting provide more flexibility
• Sidechain mode is useful for mix clarity
• Max Cut helps to prevent over-processing
• Reasonable upgrade price from Soothe 2 ($55)
• Soothe 2 purchases after 18 Feb 2026 qualify for a free upgrade

Cons

• Expensive for first-time-buyers ($259)
• Can still be overused and flatten sounds
• Similar plugins (like Ewan Bristow’s ANINA, Gullfoss and Smooth Operator) offer similar results at lower prices

Our thoughts

Soothe 3 is a welcome update, improving on the original concept and providing more flexibility and control. The most important update for most will be the new algorithm; Soft mode simply sounds better and more natural than Soothe 2. I’m a huge fan of the EQ-style workflow, and I use the sidechain mode in my mixing pretty heavily. As with any plugin, it’s worth checking out the competition. But for its specific job, Soothe is still the final word in intelligent, dynamic resonance suppression, and is a worthy investment for serious musicians, producers and mixing engineers that work with live recordings.

Price: $259