Agree

 

just tried it.. really really good.. really transparent and loud sound! i might start using it ONLY for mastering.. great thing

 

I agree with some of this. The less tools the better.

On the front of new tools. The stem EQ is actually kinda cool. Running some tests if you cut the lows on the "other" stem it helps clean up some stuff that gets created in summing all tracks together. After i low cut that area of some test songs it opens things up!

the unlimiter is cool for EDM OTT squished channels

I always like master rebalance for when im making DJ edits. (everyone uses these tools for other ways than just mastering their own songs)

 

I don't understand why Izotope doesn't use Backward Compatibility for their plugins. I have Ozone 9, 10, 11, and now 12 on my system because of previous projects.

 

Hate that, too. That's one of the reason that I don't use iZotope at the moment.

Otherwise am I the only one who likes the Ozone plugins for mixing? I think they are not only for mastering quite handy, especially the Ozone Stereo Imager (but I don't use it anymore, because there are better alternatives nowadays.). I know theres Neutron for mixing, but I'm not so familar with Neutron, maybe I should use it more?

But I must admit, that I don't know much about mastering, mostly a friend of mine does the mastering for me.

 

I think it's mostly commercial advertising
Otherwise, if I need an equalizer and compressor for mixing, for example, it doesn't matter if I use Ozone's equalizer or Neutron or another equalizer or another compressor

Of course, I have to say that in the digital world, I think iZotope is one of the highest quality companies that makes accurate digital plugins

But the marketing, sales, and advertising aspects of all companies should also be considered.

The world of mastering is a big world of small details

which requires a good acoustic environment and excellent monitoring to be able to hear the changes in small details.

Otherwise, with ordinary studio headphones or 1000...2000 euro monitoring, you will not achieve the mastering that is defined by mastering legends like Bob Ludwig or Tom Coyne...

 

This has created problems for me in the past. Wish I could try these tools, but I know it would lead to issues for me again.

 

Been doing some sound design with some of the new tools in the suite. Really good tools for unique results! That stem EQ does some cool things on random content.

 

I don't understand the mindset that new tools or technology are bad. It's perfectly fine to stick with the methods you learned 50 years ago, but the industry has changed, and it's smart to adapt. While everyone agrees the fundamental techniques might remain the same, the people we work with today are different. Not everyone operates with professional capacity anymore, especially when you deal directly with artists and creative people instead of business professionals (A&R or label representative).

New tools are created to solve new problems. For instance, the traditional idea of "going back to the mix stage" or asking a client to correct a file isn't always a realistic option anymore. I learned the hard way that asking clients (younger, new gens) to modify their work can be a quick way to lose their business these days, for good! One would be labeled "soft" back in the days, but we're (still) in the woke era, so yeah. Now, I try to have every tool I can get my hands on to fix issues myself, which allows me to work efficiently and keep a smooth client relationship (read: talk/demand less or not at all)

That said, I'm curious about the new Ozone 12. I haven't tried it yet, but the YT videos look promising. I'm waiting a month or so for them to release a more stable version, but I'm especially curious about whether they've improved the real-time stem separation quality. It wasn't very good on 11.

 

I still use versions 4, 5, 8, and 11.
These are the versions where they changed the algorithm engine and were reborn.
In my opinion, even-numbered versions always represented a more complete product.
12 will completely replace 11.

 

Still not there IMHO.

Loaded a master ready mix and let Ozone do it's thing in auto , then custom mode. Set to "Gain Match" and listened while turning "Bypass" on & off through playback. Overall sonic definition was lacking, worse than original mix.

Set about turning off all modules & bringing them back on-line one-at-a-time to determine what was causing the issue. Seems that most of the modules were individually causing their own issues. It was obvious that the "Soft Clip" & "Transient Emphasis" in the Maximizer were causing issues when dialed in & out.

The "Dynamic EQ" distorted the low end when the "Low Shelf" was lowered from 200Hz to 100Hz or lower. This while being the only active module. Turned off "Gain Match" & observed same behavior.

Makes me wonder how thoroughly the humans tested each module & the plugin as a whole.

 

ozone 5 is in my opinion still the BEST

 

People discuss things that way when they can only see their own scenario. If all you have to do is open the project back up in your DAW because it is your music, then this makes some sense. Or if they have it cooked up in their mind that every track is some masterpiece someone is paying a lot of money to "master for them", or they need to be in and out, fix everything and never know you were even there. (LARPing). If you are going to send an email over every little problem; even though the problem is in the file/s you were provided, someone can very easily assume that you should just be able to fix it for them. Isn't that what they are paying for? They begin to think you are the problem, not their files. Until you start charging an email and re-download fee, the minute you fire up an email; you are working for free. Someone might even think, they may even notice every tiny little fix you do, because they got an email about them. They won't at all. You will never hear about it again.

Complaining about extra features in software makes sense when they are really unrelated and are nothing but bloat. Otherwise, every single piece of software anyone ever uses for audio is going to have stuff in there you do not need. All you have to do is ignore them.