OZONE 9 or IK-T-Racks

[Rockinpop]

To All Passengers,

Looking for the most user-friendly Mastering Suite, due to time. I'd rather spend my time writing more songs.

Sweetwater is saying OZONE 9 Music Production Suite 3 is more "user friendly" than IK-T-Racks 5 Max. I'm reading differently. Watched a few videos and Ozone seems very time consuming to me.
What software would be best for someone with Tinnitus, with presets that sound great, and are quicker? I'm using Cakewalk by Bandlab in Win 10.

Would appreciate any feedback. Please vote or recommend something else that's affordable.

Thanks,
Ron

[MBantle]

To All Passengers,

Looking for the most user-friendly Mastering Suite, due to time. I'd rather spend my time writing more songs.

Sweetwater is saying OZONE 9 Music Production Suite 3 is more "user friendly" than IK-T-Racks 5 Max. I'm reading differently. Watched a few videos and Ozone seems very time consuming to me.
What software would be best for someone with Tinnitus, with presets that sound great, and are quicker? I'm using Cakewalk by Bandlab in Win 10.

Would appreciate any feedback. Please vote or recommend something else that's affordable.

Thanks,
Ron

Hi Ron!
Could you perhaps provide us with a link as to why Ozone is deemed time consuming. Ozone has a built in Mastering-Assistant that works very well (it takes only 20-30 seconds) and in many cases provides a great starting point (or even a final position) when it comes to mastering a track at home.
Cheers,
Matt

[Rockinpop]

Hi Matt,

The Video I was watching can be found if you go to https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/how-to ... inish.html

Ron

[Kolstad]

Why are you looking for mastering plugs anyway? If you see what Ozone has, you can already make a similar chain from your stock DAW plugins. Presets arent really faster, as you will have to make desicions in context of your track and your target.

Use reference tracks, and learn how to operate the plugins in your daw. There is no magic, and this isnt a Disney world.

[Rockinpop]

I currently do use plug-ins in CW, but you may be right about learning how to be more effective with them.
TAXI TV does talk about mastering not being so important, but the feedback I get on my submissions is telling me differently.

Thanks for your time,
Ron

[MBantle]

I think that Ozone in conjunction with its Tonal Balance plugin is a safe way to getting a decent 'master' out there quickly. Building up you own chains is IMO rather something for the more experienced. For a beginner I think Izotope plugins are a great way to get decent results fast. My five cents.
Cheers,
Matt

[cosmicdolphin]

I think that Ozone in conjunction with its Tonal Balance plugin is a safe way to getting a decent 'master' out there quickly.

Yep 100% agree. Thing is the mix has to be decent first ! It's not a panacea.

So for me there's a chain of : -

Great writing > Great Playing > Great arrangement > Great Mixing > Great Mastering

Mastering is the least of these ..the final 5 - 7% difference maker. I can totally put my mix through the Ozone 8 mastering Assistant and have it be " Broadcast Quality " ..but only because I hopefully got the things before it right. I've certainly had placements of stuff that was mastered just with the Ozone MA. These days I have a couple of extra things in the chain first like Brainworx XL ( for mid - side shenanigans ) and Zynaptiq Intensity sometimes for some extra sparkle..or FIremaster sometimes instead.

But there's loads of tools that can get you to the same point, it's just I find OZ8 is quicker for me. Tonal Balance Control is a great tool as well.

Mark

[shalashaska888]

I personally use Ozone, but as others have said, mastering is only the final polish on your track - the mix itself has to be clean and balanced, then the final touches can be added. Usually I'll start with a preset and then tweak the EQ/compressor/limiter and sometimes add some other modules in there for taste.

One feature that Ozone has is the ability to load in a reference track and A/B while you're mastering, which I find really helpful. The stereo imager and analog emulation plugins are really nice as well.

[MBantle]

I think it really depends on the individual purpose of 'mastering'. When we talk about e.g. churning out 10 instrumental tracks fast what we are looking at is a good level and of course improving (what hopefully is already) a good mix. Using Izotope's Tonal Balance and Ozone (I agree A/B is another great feature) has worked like a charm for me. If you ever have an important vocal production where you invested a lot of time in producing it then, yes, that IMO warrants a deeper look or engaging an external mastering engineer. At the end of the day it's a budget question and investing a big budget for mastering instrumental cues seems an unreasonable allocation of budget to me. Personally, I always use Tonal Balance and Ozone and never had any complaints. I also do not hear any notable impact sound-wise using Ozone. I sometimes insert a Gulfoss EQ or a Waves desk emulation before using Ozone and that also works great to my ears...
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Matt

[CFJ]

I've got Ozone 9 advanced as an upgrade.However, I find myself going back to the presets in Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain.It's a cpu hog but surprised me how it gave instant quick solutions for a variety of different tracks- on sale as Waves plug-ins frequently are!