Raèld Serene finds the resonances that make a sound harsh, boxy, ringing, nasal or piercing, and turns each one down only while it's there, and only by as much as it stands out. A voice stays a voice, a guitar stays a guitar: what goes is the edge you hear but can't pin down with an EQ, because it moves from note to note.
When there is nothing to cut, the output is the input, bit for bit. It runs on mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo tracks, with or without latency (QUALITY), and can be driven by another track through the sidechain.
Installing
- Close your DAW.
- Unzip
Raeld-Serene-2.0.0-Windows.zipfrom the download page or your purchase email, runRaeld-Serene-Setup.exeand follow the steps. The plugin goes intoC:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, where every DAW looks, and a standalone app is installed too. If Raèld Serene 1.0 is installed, 2.0 replaces it. - Open your DAW and rescan plugins. DAW plugin lists show it without the accent, as "Raeld Serene", so type "raeld" in the plugin browser.
Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and any VST3 host, for example Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper or Bitwig, or the standalone app. Sample rates 44.1 to 192 kHz. Mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo tracks (on a mono-to-stereo track the mono source feeds both sides), with an optional sidechain input.
If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" when you run the installer, click More info → Run anyway. Why this appears.
Activating your license
- Open the plugin. The activation screen appears; if it doesn't, click LICENCE at the foot of the window.
- Paste your key and click ACTIVATE. This can be the Raèld Serene key from your purchase email or your All Access key. You need an internet connection for this step.
- That's it: Raèld Serene is unlocked on this computer. A 1.0 key works for 2.0.
| Your key | What it unlocks | Checks |
|---|---|---|
| Raèld Serene bought to own | Raèld Serene, forever. | About once a week when online; works offline for 30 days at a time. |
| Raèld All Access subscription | Every Raèld plugin, current and future, for as long as you subscribe. | About once a day when online; works offline for 7 days at a time. Stops working within about a week after a subscription ends. |
Each key covers 3 computers. To move to a new computer, open the license screen on the old one and click DEACTIVATE THIS PC first.
Without a key the plugin runs as a demo: the sound drops out briefly every 45 seconds. Everything else works, so you can try every feature.
Quick start
- Load a preset close to your source (the menu at the foot of the window, by use), or start from Init.
- Turn DEPTH up until the harshness is gone, then back off a touch.
- Press DELTA to hear only what Serene takes out. You should hear the resonances, not the music. If you hear the music, lower DEPTH, or raise FOCUS so only sharper peaks count.
- Tell it where to listen: on the screen, drag the L and H nodes (the LOW and HIGH CUT) around the region that bothers you, or raise a band (nodes 1 to 4) over it to work harder there.
- For a mix or a master, switch on GAIN MATCH and compare with BYPASS at the same loudness.
While tracking or playing live, choose LIVE: no latency at all. For mixing, STANDARD; for mastering, HIGH.
How it works
Serene listens to the sound in three resolutions at once: long windows for the lows, where resonances are close together, short ones for the highs, where they come and go quickly. On a fine grid of 48 points per octave it draws the sound's natural shape: a smooth line through its tops, aware of a voice's or instrument's harmonics so that they aren't taken for problems. Whatever stands out above that line is a resonance. Serene takes out DEPTH of how far it stands out, shapes the cut (SHARPNESS), never cuts deeper than MAX CUT, and lets it come and go with the sound (ATTACK, RELEASE).
The cuts are applied by one of two means, chosen with QUALITY:
- STANDARD and HIGH: a linear-phase filter rebuilt about 94 times a second, gliding from each design to the next so a moving cut moves smoothly. It adds no phase shift of its own. Below about 560 Hz (STANDARD) or 280 Hz (HIGH), narrow cuts are made by a set of bells instead, which can follow a ring in the lows more closely.
- LIVE: up to 12 gliding bells per side, fitted to the cuts: no latency.
When every cut has stayed tiny for half a second, Serene steps out of the way: the output is the input bit for bit (delayed by the latency, which your DAW makes up for), until something needs cutting again.
The window
An upright console in cream enamel under espresso-brown metal. It opens small, at 470 × 560, which SIZE calls 100 %; choose 85 to 300 % there, or drag the corner (it keeps its shape). The size you choose in your DAW is remembered for new windows.
The top: screen and meters
- The screen shows the spectrum going in (filled) and coming out (the line), and every cut Serene is making, hanging from the top in red, with a slow-falling trace of the deepest. The black curve is EMPHASIS, with its six nodes. Its corners name the QUALITY with its latency, SOFT or HARD, and M/S, SIDECHAIN, DELTA, LISTEN KEY, SOLO and BYPASS when they are on.
- VU IN and VU OUT: needle meters with 0 VU at −18 dBFS. Their lamps light on peaks over −1 dBFS.
- REDUCTION: how much of the sound's power is being taken out, in dB, with the deepest single cut beside it (DEEPEST) and GAIN MATCH's correction (MATCH) when it is on.
- BYPASS and MONO are the bat toggles in the top right.
The panel
Read it top to bottom: SUPPRESSION (DEPTH, SHARPNESS, FOCUS, SOFT / HARD) and QUALITY; then TIMING and OUTPUT; then EMPHASIS or SETUP, behind two black tabs. The presets, UNDO / REDO, A / B / COPY, SIZE and LICENCE run along the foot.
Handling
- Drag a knob up or down (or round, if you choose circular drag under SIZE); hold Shift for fine control; the mouse wheel and the arrow keys work too. Double-click resets it.
- A readout shows the value while you adjust or hover, then fades.
- The knobs follow automation. Every control has a tooltip.
- Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y undo and redo; a whole drag is one step.
Suppression
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| DEPTH | How much of each resonance's excess is taken out, 0 to 100 % (50 % by default). At 100 % a resonance is brought down to the sound's natural shape around it. |
| SHARPNESS | The shape of the cuts: wide and gentle at 0, narrow and deep at 10. |
| FOCUS | What counts as a resonance. At 0, broad bumps count too (the natural shape is drawn over three octaves); at 10, only sharp, standout peaks (a third of an octave). |
| SOFT / HARD | SOFT (down) is patient and relative: a cut grows gently over a soft knee, and a bump gets its full cut only once it has stayed for a moment, so a moving formant (the voice itself) is spared. The same cut at any level. For vocals, buses and masters. HARD (up) is firmer and immediate, follows the dynamics (louder resonances are cut more) and updates twice as often. For ringing drums, harsh guitars, piercing notes. |
| QUALITY | LIVE no latency; STANDARD 21 ms; HIGH 43 ms, the finest. At 44.1 kHz: 23 and 46 ms. Your DAW makes up for the latency; switching it fades out and back in over 25 ms. |
Timing and output
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| ATTACK | How fast a cut comes in: 0.5 to 200 ms (10 ms by default), at 1 kHz. Higher frequencies are faster, lower ones slower, as resonances there build and fade. |
| RELEASE | How fast a cut lets go: 10 ms to 1 s (120 ms by default), at 1 kHz. |
| MAX CUT | No cut is ever deeper than this: 3 to 30 dB (18 dB by default). |
| MIX | The processed sound against the input. Both stay in time, so any blend is clean. |
| OUTPUT | The level out, ±12 dB. |
| GAIN MATCH | Brings the output back to the input's loudness (K-weighted, over about 3 s), so you compare what changed, not how loud it is. It holds still in silence. |
| DELTA | Hear only what is being taken out (see Listening). |
EMPHASIS
EMPHASIS says where Serene works, and how hard. It is the black curve on the screen, with six nodes: 1 to 4, four bands, and L and H, the LOW and HIGH CUT that end the region Serene works in. A band raised makes Serene more sensitive there (down to a lower threshold, and twice as hard for each 6 dB); a band lowered leaves that region be. It never makes Serene boost anything: only cut more, or less.
On the screen
- Drag a node across for its frequency, up or down for its sensitivity; hold Shift to move it a tenth as far.
- Turn the mouse wheel over a band's node to change its width.
- Double-click a node to turn it on or off.
- Click a node to edit it with the controls under the EMPHASIS tab.
Under the EMPHASIS tab
The keys 1 2 3 4 L H pick the node to edit. For a band:
- BELL, LOW, HIGH, TILT: its shape (a bell, a low shelf, a high shelf, or a tilt through its frequency).
- FREQ, SENS (−12 to +12 dB), WIDTH (its Q, 0.3 to 6).
- BALANCE: the band on both sides, or only on the first (left or mid) or the second (right or side).
- ON, and SOLO: hear only what this band's region takes out.
For the LOW or HIGH CUT: FREQ, SLOPE (6, 12, 24 or 48 dB per octave) and ON.
The bands start at 150 Hz (a low shelf), 600 Hz, 3 kHz and 9 kHz (a high shelf), all flat.
SETUP: stereo, sidechain, detail
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| L/R / M/S | The two sides Serene works on: left and right (down), or middle and sides (up). |
| LINK | Each side on its own at 0 %; at 100 % both take the larger side's cut, which keeps the stereo image. |
| BALANCE | React to both sides, or only to the first (left or mid) or only to the second (right or side). |
| INPUT | The level in, ±24 dB, before everything. It moves what HARD hears; SOFT cuts the same at any level. |
| SIDECHAIN | Another track drives the detection: route it to Serene's sidechain input in your DAW. This track is cut where the key is resonant, while it is. A key identical to the input sounds exactly like no key. |
| LISTEN KEY | Hear the sidechain key instead of the output. |
| DETAIL X2 | Analysis windows twice as long: finer detail, mostly in the lows, at about twice the CPU. |
| FAST UPDATE | The cuts are renewed every 5.3 ms instead of 10.7 ms, for fast material. HARD always uses it. |
| OFFLINE FINEST | While your DAW bounces, use the finest settings (DETAIL X2 and the fast update), whatever is set for playback. The latency doesn't change. |
Listening
- DELTA plays only what is taken out. The output and DELTA add up to the input exactly. It is a quick way to set DEPTH and FOCUS: you should hear rings and edges, not the music.
- SOLO (under EMPHASIS) plays only what the selected band's region takes out.
- LISTEN KEY plays the sidechain key.
- BYPASS crossfades to the untouched input, in time with the processed sound; MONO folds the output to mono, to check a mix.
DELTA, SOLO, LISTEN KEY, BYPASS and MONO are never saved in presets, and undo doesn't switch them.
Presets
Each preset says what it's for in the menu's description. They are a start: set DEPTH by ear on your material.
| Group | Presets |
|---|---|
| Vocals | Smooth Harshness, Tame Sibilance, Nasal Honk, Air Whistle, Live Tracking |
| Guitars | Boxy Acoustic, Fizzy Distortion, Even Bass Notes |
| Drums | Cymbal Fizz, Overheads, Snare Through, Snare Ring |
| Keys & Synths | Harsh Lead, Piano Evener |
| Mix & Master | Bus Smoother, Harsh Mix, Mastering Polish |
| Podcast & Voice | Clear Voice, De-Ess and Smooth |
| Utility | Make Room (Sidechain): send the lead vocal to the sidechain, and this track is cut where the voice is resonant, while it sings |
Plus Init (the defaults) and your own: SAVE stores the current settings; the menu also deletes them. A and B hold two settings to compare, COPY puts the current one in the other slot; both are saved with your session.
Names in your DAW
A few labels on the panel are worded differently from the parameter names your DAW lists for automation:
| On the panel | In your DAW |
|---|---|
| SOFT / HARD | Mode |
| L/R / M/S | Stereo |
| Band 1-4's SENS, WIDTH, BALANCE, shapes, ON | Band n Sens, Band n Q, Band n Balance, Band n Shape, Band n |
| L and H nodes: FREQ, SLOPE, ON | Low / High Cut Freq, Low / High Cut Slope, Low / High Cut |
| SOLO (under EMPHASIS) | Solo Band |
| DETAIL X2, FAST UPDATE, OFFLINE FINEST | Detail (x1 / x2), Update (Normal / Fast), Offline (Same / Finest) |
What we measured
On test signals with known, planted resonances, so the results can be checked exactly; at 48 kHz unless said.
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Latency | LIVE 0; STANDARD 1024 samples (21.3 ms); HIGH 2048 (42.7 ms); the same in ms at 96 and 192 kHz. An impulse comes out exactly where reported, at every buffer size. |
| Nothing to cut | The input bit for bit (delayed by the latency). On plain pink noise, idle 69 % of the time; a cut over 0.5 dB less than 0.3 % of the time. |
| A narrow +12 dB ring in pink noise, DEPTH 100 % | 87 to 95 % of its excess removed from 1 to 12 kHz, in every mode; 65 % at 120 Hz, 54 % at 60 Hz. Nothing taken out past flat. |
| An octave away from the cut | within 0.015 dB (STANDARD, HIGH), 0.07 dB (LIVE) |
| Voices in four registers | 200 Hz to 2 kHz within 0.5 dB; a held saw chord, every octave unchanged |
| Pink and white noise, at the default | every octave within 0.04 dB: nothing dulled |
| The same cut from −60 to −20 dBFS (SOFT) | 91 % at each level; nothing cut under −80 dBFS |
| A 3 ms burst | through within 0.08 dB, in every mode |
| The output and DELTA together | the input, within −136 dB |
| LINK 100 %, a ring on one side | 91 % removed; the clean side moves 0.04 dB at LINK 0 % |
| Sample rates 44.1 to 192 kHz | the same cut within 0.2 dB at 3 kHz, within 0.85 dB at 300 Hz |
| Ten minutes at every extreme | bounded, no DC, the last minute within 0.2 dB of the first |
| CPU, stereo, one core | LIVE about 2 %, STANDARD and HIGH about 2.5 %, HIGH with DETAIL X2 and the fast update about 5 % |
Where it is weaker: the fastest attack takes 27 ms (HARD) to 42 ms (SOFT) at 2 kHz to reach 90 % of a cut, longer in the lows: Serene needs to hear a ring for a moment to know it is one. A peak sweeping several octaves a second is only partly caught (HARD: 64 % at 4 octaves a second). On real recordings, use DELTA and your ears.
From version 1.0
Raèld Serene 2.0 replaces 1.0: same plugin, same licence. Your 1.0 sessions open with the nearest 2.0 settings, and your 1.0 user presets are rewritten once for 2.0 (the originals kept beside them, as .raeldpreset.v1). The engine is new, so a 1.0 session sounds close to before, not identical.
| 1.0 | 2.0 |
|---|---|
| MODEL, DEPTH, SHARPNESS, ATTACK, RELEASE, MIX, OUTPUT, DELTA | the same |
| SENSITIVITY | FOCUS (more sensitive: broader bumps count) |
| QUALITY Fast / Standard / Fine | STANDARD / HIGH / HIGH with DETAIL X2 |
| LOW / HIGH | EMPHASIS's LOW and HIGH CUT |
| TILT | band 2 as a tilt through 1 kHz |
| STEREO Linked / Stereo / Mid-Side | L/R at LINK 100 % / L/R at LINK 0 % / M/S at LINK 0 % |
Troubleshooting
The plugin doesn't show up
Rescan plugins in your DAW. Check that C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Raeld Serene.vst3 exists. Raèld Serene is 64-bit VST3 only.
The track is late, or out of time with the others
STANDARD and HIGH add 21 and 43 ms of latency, which your DAW makes up for when its plugin delay compensation is on. For tracking through Serene, choose LIVE: no latency at all.
The sound dips when I switch QUALITY
That's on purpose: the latency changes, so Serene fades out and back in over 25 ms. Some DAWs re-align the track only on stop and play.
SIDECHAIN does nothing
Route a track to Serene's sidechain input in your DAW, then switch SIDECHAIN on. LISTEN KEY plays the key, to check it arrives.
"Couldn't reach the license server"
Check your internet connection and any firewall that might block your DAW. Activation needs to reach api.lemonsqueezy.com.
"This license key has reached the activation limit"
Deactivate an old computer from inside the plugin, or contact support and we'll reset it.
Uninstalling
Settings → Apps → Raèld Serene → Uninstall. Deactivate your license first if you're retiring the computer.
Support
See the support page for common questions, or email info@raeldaudio.com with your order number.
Raèld Serene is an original design and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any other manufacturer.