$129 ($79 introductory price)
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Baby Audio’s original Smooth Operator plugin from 2021 offered a clever solution to unwanted resonances and uneven dynamics within a mix and was widely praised for its innovative approach. Despite its impressive abilities, there was a lot of room for improvement, and so, having listened carefully to user feedback, Baby Audio has overhauled and improved the plugin, resulting in the new and more serious Smooth Operator Pro.
If Smooth Operator Pro is a compressor, why does it look like an EQ?
Like its predecessor, Smooth Operator Pro looks aesthetically like an equaliser. Its window is dominated by a real-time spectrum analysis overlaid with what appears to be a typical EQ curve with control nodes dotted along its length. But a closer inspection reveals parameters such as threshold, ratio and attack that have no place on an EQ. And, as it turns out, rather than being an EQ curve, the overlay is actually a compression threshold curve.
As you might expect, the nodes on this threshold curve represent specific frequencies, and moving a node left or right changes its frequency. Moving a node up and down changes the compression threshold at that frequency, and this is measured as an offset from the global threshold, which is set with a large, ever-present dial. Adjusting this dial causes the entire curve to move up or down, which, coupled with the spectrum analyser, makes for a highly intuitive means of understanding which frequencies within a signal are exceeding, or are below, the compression threshold.
As with an EQ, the frequencies around a node are impacted by a lesser amount the further they are from the node. Smooth Operator Pro allows the width of this spread, similar to the Q of an EQ, to be adjusted so that the compression threshold of a wider or narrower band of frequencies can be offset from the global threshold.
Nodes can be added to and removed from the threshold curve, with support for 12 nodes in total. However, two of these nodes – the lowest and the highest – are always present, and produce a shelving rather than a bell-shaped curve. There’s also a couple of controls for preserving low and high frequency content – that is, removing extremely low and high frequencies from any processing – and this is (somewhat) analogous to the high- and low-pass filters found on EQs.
What all of this amounts to is a compressor that operates in the frequency domain, and so can vary the strength of compression on a per-frequency basis. A spectral compressor, if you will.
How does Smooth Operator Pro work?
To achieve all of this, Smooth Operator Pro splits the incoming signal into multiple FFT ‘bins’, which are conceptually similar to the bands of a multi-band processor but far more numerous. The exact number of bins created depends on various factors such as sample rate, the frequency spread of individual nodes, and so on, but in a typical scenario, the plugin will be working with at least 4,000.
That’s over 4,000 detectors listening to exceptionally narrow frequency bands, and the same number of gain controllers ready to step in when the amplitude of a frequency band exceeds its threshold. It’s a seriously impressive feat, but it also makes for a compressor that’s more demanding of system resources than most dynamics processors, although it’s no resource hog – in fact, given what it’s doing, it’s remarkably efficient.
Moving away from the threshold curve and visualisations, every other control presented by Smooth Operator Pro is pure dynamics processing. Controls are arranged into groups: Setup contains Low and High Preserve and Make-up gain. Focus has controls that impact detection, namely Peak / RMS sensing, Detail, which determines the resolution at which each node’s detector operates, and Isolation, which controls the width of frequencies that a node’s detector will listen to.
Comp contains the familiar ratio, attack and release controls, plus the option to switch between hard and soft knee operation. Imaging switches detection and processing of stereo signals between L/R and M/S, and provides control over the balance and detection characteristics for each stereo channel. SC (sidechain) enables and controls the gain of an optional external sidechain signal. Finally, Output contains the wet/dry balance control and master output level, as well as the option to isolate and monitor only those parts of the signal that are being processed by the compressor.
Particularly powerful, though, is that the controls contained in three of these groups – Focus, Comp and Imaging – can be overridden on a per-node basis. These are the groups that contain the most important dynamics parameters, such as ratio, knee, attack and release, and so this ability gives a huge amount of independence to each node’s impact on Smooth Operator Pro’s processing. You can, for example, use one node to hone in on and improve a specific problem area – an unpleasant yet intermittent resonance, for example – whilst using another to apply some gentle ‘glue’ to a wider frequency range, much as you would with a conventional multi-band compressor.
Do I need Smooth Operator Pro?
Smooth Operator Pro’s capabilities make it an excellent tool for stem and full-mix processing, where it can add a general sprucing-up and polish, as well as allow specific problem areas to be addressed in a way that’s far more transparent than when using EQ, dynamic EQ, or conventional compression. Experienced mix and mastering engineers will be able to achieve many of the same things as Smooth Operator Pro using a more conventional set of processors, but they would have to work harder to achieve that same result, and so should definitely take a close look at this plugin.
The plugin can also be very helpful when processing individual parts and instruments. I find it particularly effective for tidying up the boominess of kicks and bass amps, and for mitigating masking problems between parts in similar frequency ranges. I also like how well it works on vocals and voiceovers, allowing incredibly detailed control over the complex frequencies and dynamics involved.
A clear, easy-on-the-eye layout is also pleasing, as is the quality and intuitive legibility of its visualisations. The generous collection of presets, which is something I tend to ignore in audio processors, is also surprisingly helpful for getting things into the correct ballpark, from where all that’s then needed are a few tweaks of the controls to hone things to suit your music.
In short, Smooth Operator Pro is surprisingly easy to configure and manage, and this is all the more noteworthy when you consider how much is going on beneath the surface.
Smooth Operator Pro is more than just a combination of a compressor and EQ. It’s an affordable, all-in-one fixer and sweetener that’ll be an exceptionally useful addition to any producer’s processing toolkit.
Key features
- Spectral dynamics processor plugin (AAX/AU/VST)
- For Windows 10 and macOS 10.11 or higher
- Define up to 12 frequency-specific nodes on a threshold curve
- Creates thousands of FFT bins for sensing and processing
- Linear-phase processing for the highest possible sound quality