Ozone 9

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MBantle
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Ozone 9

Post by MBantle » Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:53 am

Dear All,
Did anyone already upgrade to Ozone 9? I am quite happy with version 8 and would like to hear from other users whether they feel the money for the upgrade is well invested.
Cheers,
Matt

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by iplaydatmusic » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:30 pm

I also have Ozone 8(Advanced). I just completed an online class from Berklee College, "Advanced Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools", and we used Ozone 8. So I am also curious how Ozone 9 has worked out for people. I may be buying my upgrade to Ozone 9 Advanced before the year ends. If so, I'll post here again.
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Re: Ozone 9

Post by GBall » Wed Nov 20, 2019 9:05 am

I'm curious also how everyone feels about the sound of Ozone 8 OR 9 - I used Ozone 8 advanced and Neutron Advanced for about a year (splice rent, so I could give it back and I eventually did). I've also used Nectar and Ozone 5 way back when. How I feel is that... I just don't like the sound of Izotope. As best I can describe it, the whole goal of their AI, tonal balance, etc. is bland to me. And not just when I use it, but when I listen to their examples or tutorials. I've fooled myself before because I was prejudiced or didn't understand, so I'm definitely ready to be schooled by anyone here.

It looks like to me that the automation/AI/bass balance features Ozone 9 will let you work more quickly to the end goal. I WANT to love Ozone as I like the ideas behind it - but if you don't prefer their outcome...

I'd rather mix into a hyper fast compressor plugin, like an 1176 to manage my peaks, followed by a Vari-Mu type compressor plugin like a Fairchild 670. (Pick you favorite vendors) Something like Ozone 8 elements is maybe okay to me after that as a measurement tool and last resort problem catcher. Way more game changing for me is Sony's Reference 4, because when I can trust what I hear I work way faster and I don't necessarily need to rely on a visual display of tone or an AI's opinion.

Thoughts?

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by RPaul » Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:05 pm

I upgraded to Ozone 9 Advanced by upgrading to the Music Production Suite 3 bundle (from Music Production Suite 2). In addition to upgrading Ozone, that included the Nimbus and R4 reverbs plus 1 year's all-access pass for Groove 3 training. Upgrade cost for that timing was $199. I don't recall what it would have been to just upgrade the Ozone, but I was curious about the new (to iZotope) reverbs, and the Groove 3 training was something I'd at least been considering due to their having an introductory Cubase 10 course. (I've mostly used Cakewalk by BandLab, which was formerly Cakewalk SONAR Platinum, but picked up Cubase and a few other DAWs as "insurance" when Gibson dropped the Cakewalk products. I've done a few projects in Cubase since then, but the workflow conventions, and where to find things, were a big struggle. The video course helped immensely.)

As for the Ozone question, I was interested in the improvements in the AI-related assistant stuff, as well as some of the new tools like for rebalancing a mix when you don't have the original tracks or stems. It remains to be seen how much I'll end up using all that since I am mostly working on my own projects, and, even for older projects, I usually have enough of the raw ingredients (and often am replacing parts of those), so it's not a straight mastering job from a stereo mix (or older master).

In practice, while I almost always use the Ozone Maximizer at the end of my mastering chain, specifically because it makes it easy to set a target LUFS figure and peak level, which can be helpful for trying to have some consistency between project master levels, I don't use Ozone anywhere near as much as I used to for the mastering side of things. I find myself using Waves AR TG Mastering most often lately -- I just like the sound of that (and a few presets that get me in the ballpark on certain types of projects). I've also got IK's Lurssen Mastering Console, which can be about as near to instant gratification as I've found for quick one-offs, though it is a real hog on the performance (and I'm also mastering from within my mixing projects). I've used other tools at times, as well, both other one stop mastering programs (e.g. T-RackS) and just combinations of plugins (e.g. from PSP Audioware). It's not that I don't try Ozone on my projects, but usually I'm not finding what I want compared to whatever I end up using quickly enough (and I'm decidedly not a mastering pro) and just go with what sounds best to my ears in the context of the project. I did use it very frequently a few years back, though. It's really only since I got the one Waves plugin that things changed.

I do occasionally use Ozone components, such as the Vintage Tape plugin (though I also use other plugins for that function), among others, so it's not like I'm not using Ozone components at all. As for other iZotope stuff, I've got most of their products other than on the esoteric side of things. I actually did one mix using only Neutron and its calculated settings, but that was a project pretty different from my norm. It happened to work well on that one, but hasn't worked for much for me since then. I try it from time to time, and sometimes I use it here and there, but, much more frequently, I am using other plugins instead.

I have yet to actually use the new reverbs in a real project. They have so many presets they are truly daunting (and their UIs have a lot in them, too).

Rick

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by Tunesmith » Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:35 pm

Hi All,

I have Ozone 9 advanced upgraded from Ozone 8 elements. There are great tutorials/videos on Groove3.com that goes throught new features and how to implement. Been very very helpful for me.

Best,
Linda C

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by Rockinpop » Fri Mar 20, 2020 4:27 am

Rick,

You mentioned you have used Cakewalk by Bandlab. That is what I'm using for all of my recording...Been with Cakewalk-windows since Cakewalk 3 and feel comfortable. Bamdlab does updates and it seems to work well for me.
Question: Since ozone 9 has the BIG MARCH SALE, was wondering if you've used their products with Cakewalk yet. Cakewalk isn't mentioned in the DAW's supported on the ozone 9 site. I sent an email inquiring about it, but no response yet. I'd like to check it out in win 10.

Ron

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by Kolstad » Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:33 am

I left Izotope at v5 or something. I felt the sound was characterless, and they lost me with endless upgrades. Pointless money grab for me. I got IK T-Racks and have never looked back. Very happy with the sounds I can get now.
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Re: Ozone 9

Post by RPaul » Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:08 am

Rockinpop wrote:
Fri Mar 20, 2020 4:27 am
You mentioned you have used Cakewalk by Bandlab. That is what I'm using for all of my recording...Been with Cakewalk-windows since Cakewalk 3 and feel comfortable. Bamdlab does updates and it seems to work well for me.
Question: Since ozone 9 has the BIG MARCH SALE, was wondering if you've used their products with Cakewalk yet. Cakewalk isn't mentioned in the DAW's supported on the ozone 9 site. I sent an email inquiring about it, but no response yet. I'd like to check it out in win 10.
Hi Ron,

Yes, I use Ozone 9 Advanced on the latest Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB). I also have the full Music Production Suite 3 (https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mus ... suite.html), which includes Neutron Advanced, Nectar, RX7 Standard, two of the Exponential Audio reverbs, Insight, and VocalSynth, plus a year's all access pass to Groove3 online training (which I've found very useful). I use RX7 quite a bit for dealing with noise/artifact issues on audio tracks, and it integrates nicely with CbB once you learn the "dance" on how to call it up on a clip (or set of clips) and get the fixed audio back. I tend to use the Ozone Maximizer and Tonal Balance on every project, with other pieces varying a fair bit.

When it comes to my main mastering processing, I switch back and forth between Ozone, Waves AR TG Mastering Chain, and IK's Lurssen Mastering Console a fair amount, depending on what feels best on the project. (I also have T-RackS MAX, but I rarely use that for mastering. I do use their individual plugins a fair bit, though not as much as PSP Audioware and Waves plugins.)

I'm not sure why they don't support Cakewalk formally, but I've never had any major issues with the plugins' working. The only thing I did have some challenges with was figuring out how to make RX7 work with it as the documentation they'd provided at the point when I was starting to try and figure out was clearly wrong (it also had problems in Cubase Pro at one point, but I think that turned out to be a temporary bug rather than the documentation's being wrong).

You've been a Cakewalk user longer than I have. I started at Pro Audio 9 and then went through each new version through SONAR Platinum and now CbB. I was beta testing for Cakewalk between SONAR 2 and 6.

Rick

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by Rockinpop » Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:31 am

Hey Rick,

Thanks for your response. I did receive a reply from iZotope and they told me they don't support Cakewalk because they only have a few customers who use their products with Cakewalk. I guess you're one of them. They do, however, allow a 30 trial (demo etc), if I'd like to.

My main need is for Mastering, since I have Tinnitus (3 tones in my ears). Since you've used ozone 9, would you recommend it to others with CbB? I've never used a Mastering plug-in yet and I'm reading that iZotope has a good product.

Ron

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Re: Ozone 9

Post by RPaul » Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:20 am

Rockinpop wrote:
Fri Mar 20, 2020 9:31 am
Thanks for your response. I did receive a reply from iZotope and they told me they don't support Cakewalk because they only have a few customers who use their products with Cakewalk. I guess you're one of them. They do, however, allow a 30 trial (demo etc), if I'd like to.

My main need is for Mastering, since I have Tinnitus (3 tones in my ears). Since you've used ozone 9, would you recommend it to others with CbB? I've never used a Mastering plug-in yet and I'm reading that iZotope has a good product.
That's pretty funny that they claim they only have a few customers who use their stuff with Cakewalk (especially if you add SONAR to the picture since it is just an older version of Cakewalk). I participate in a Facebook group related to Cakewalk (https://www.facebook.com/groups/sonarusergroup/), and I've seen a lot of people mention their using iZotope products including Ozone.

Anyway, Ozone 9 works well in Cakewalk, as have earlier versions (I've been using Ozone since the first version, though I may have skipped a small number of versions between then and now), and it's pretty powerful stuff in terms of functionality. If your mainly looking at it for the Mastering Assistant (which is similar in concept to services like Landr that try to automatically make settings for you), the results may not be all that great -- at least I have never ended up using the results from my attempts to use that, even as starting points for tweaking. However, there have been some presets I've found to be pretty good starting points, and, of course, you can tweak, rearrange modules, etc. as much as you like. Also, if you get the Advanced version, you can use the modules individually.

One thing I do use a lot is Tonal Balance 2, which gives you visual ideas of how your production is mapping to references in terms of frequency distribution. With Tonal Balance 2, they provide a number of presets for different genres, but you can also have it analyze tracks of your own choosing, be it for a single song or a whole directory's worth of songs. That can be particularly helpful to help compensate for lack of "golden ears", and I use that even when I'm mastering with other plugins.

iZotope also has lots of educational videos that can be helpful for understanding their software and approaches to mastering.

Rick

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