I'm thinking about doing a rent to own deal for Ozone 8 through Splice. They have both standard and advanced versions available as well as packages that include both Ozone and Neutron. I have 2 questions for anyone who works with these products.

1. Is there a huge difference between standard and advanced verions of ozone and what they can do?

2. Is it better to use both Ozone and Neutron together or should I just get Ozone for now?

A few thought for you to consider while giving your advice... I will be using the program in Cubase Elements 9 which does not have side chain capabilities. Also I am fairly happy with my mixes but want to improve my final sound in the "mastering" phase to get radio and tv quality recordings for licensing and online downloads.

Ozone advanced allows you to use any of it's modules as stand alone plug-ins. Not a huge deal. But the inclusion of the Tonal Balance is, at least for me, a BIG deal.

Ozone is primarily a mastering tool while Neutron is oriented around individual tracks. There are other differences mostly involving the interplay of the two packages via the advanced versions.

This page will show you the differences in the various Ozone versions and you can also find an equivalent page there for Neutron.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/master-and-deliver/ozone/features-and-comparison.html

Bud

Thanks Janice and Bud for the info. Looking at the link I see that the standard version says "available as module" and advanced says "available as pluggin. What Is the difference between a module and a plugin? Do they work the same?

I think you were noting some of Ozone's modules being different in the two versions...not Ozone itself. In the advanced version each module can be used as a module within Ozone or as a stand alone plugin by itself on a single track. This is only a memory saving convenience. If you have the horsepower you can load Ozone 8 on any individual track and select only the module you want. I rarely use modules as track plugin's because I process most of my tracks with Neutron 2, Nectar 2, several of Waves products and some of my DAW's (Logic Pro X) zillions of effects.

Bud

Samuel,

I have the advanced version of Ozone 8. I really like it. Prior to this, I used the standard versions of Ozone 4, 5 and 7. In every case I used Ozone as a plugin in Reaper. As each version has come along, it's become increasingly easier to get better and better sounds.

How I use it is as a plugin the Master track (my only plugin in that track in fact).

Firstly, I prepare my song without Ozone being active. Then, when the song is as good as I can get it, I activate Ozone so that all the output I hear goes through the plugin. I guess this is Ozone in the mastering position. I then play around with presets, find one I like and then sometimes, though not that often, tweak it a bit.

I know nothing about Neutron but I certainly wouldn't be without Ozone.

Like so much software, once you get over the financial hurdle of buying the first product, special offer upgrades come along from time to time that make upgrading easy on the pocket.

Regards,
Noel

Hi Sam

I use Ozone 5, Neutron and also Nectar from Izotope on every mix.

Nectar is for vocals and I usually use the “solo performance” preset but occasionally use other presets (depending on the song).

I use Neutron on individual instrument tracks, bass, drums, guitar and piano. I sometimes use ozone 5 on individual tracks if there is something specific I want to achieve (such as reducing slaps and clicks on acoustic guitar)

I use Ozone 5 for mastering, usually the country basic preset but occasionally the gentle tube preset.

I haven’t upgraded ozone because I haven’t seen a need but obviously if I was purchasing for the first time I would buy all the latest plugins.

Like Bud said Ozone is used most for the mastering where Neutron is used mostly at the track level. The advanced versions include the Tonal Balance Control plugin and can communicate with all the EQ plugins from Ozone and Neutron directly. This allows the Tonal Balance plugin to adjust any EQ settings on any track that has an instance of a Neutron or Ozone EQ on it. Quite slick actually.

Also as mentioned the advanced versions allow the individual plugins to be put on a track instead of the whole Neutron or Ozone which is quite a load on the CPU if you use these on every track and have lots of tracks.

The Track assistant in Neutron and Mastering assistant In Ozone are really good at analysis and can either suggest of automatically set all of the parameters of the module's.

Each program has there own use and I have no regrets buying both of them.

I suggest watching the videos on their website and see if this is something you may or not need.

Brian

Hi Samuel,
I have Ozone 8 and N2 and I love them I have to say.
The plugins that are great for me are the Visual Mixer as it leaves all the panning in front of you like a movable picture and the Tonal Balance which compares ur song with the industry norm and you can see where it may not be balanced and then work to correct the imbalance.Also if I am not sure a track needs nuetron I can use a Mix Tap on the track which allows all the communication between plugins still to go on.
So if you can afford it the advanced is very good.

No problem using both together,they are made for each other.The question I have is when using OZONE on the Master buss should I leave it on before going to Mastering stage or take it off.The delimma is that if I leave it on its like double mastering to a certain degree.I would love if Izotope did a specific video dealing with Ozone on the Masterbuss ,pros and cons etc .For me I think you can really go a long long way with BIAB,Izotope and a good vocalist H

Hi Samuel again,
Also the Insight plugin is very good for measuring Luffs and various TV and Internet norms for loudnes ,it looks like it has them all H

Thanks for all the great info everybody.

Hugh, I use O8 in the stand alone mode. Why? It eliminates the temptation to “test master” the song during mixing. And that could negatively affect the mix.

Mastering can’t make a bad mix sound good but it surely can make a good mix shine.

Bud

So I broke down and got Ozone 8 and Neutron 2 Advanced. I've only been messing around with Ozone on the mastering chain of a couple songs so far and all I can say is...

DAMN THAT SOUNDS GOOD!

Wow! I'm so glad I bit the bullet. I and tell already that this is going to take my recordings to a new level of quality. Can't wait to share some songs here soon. Thanks for all of the advice y'all.

Great news Samuel, Yeah I have been looking at this option also, waiting to hear the results.

I find that often the O8 “light cleanup” preset with a few tweaks to the maximizer is all I need.

Also the Neutron 2 masking feature is a great way to get the kick drum and bass guitar to not compete. And to get other rhythm tracks to not step on one another. This will give you a mud free clean mix that requires little mastering intervention.

FWIW

Bud

Well, I have Ozone 3 & 4. I have auditioned some of their other offerings... Free 30 day trials etc.... and really, after that, I decided spending the money to buy the other products was not really necessary. I can get good results for instruments and vocals with that one product.

For the most part, you can accomplish your stated goals, producing a polished mix for Broadcast Quality recordings with the default plug ins in your DAW. However, using Ozone makes it a bit easier because they have some nice presets ready to go. Just tweeze them a bit and you're all set.

As for me, I tend to use the same presets in Ozone. I have created a few tweezed presets and saved them for male vox, female vox, acoustic guitar, drums/bass, and master mix. It's rare that they get used from their default preset even though I tweeked them.... each song is slightly different but the presets get me there quicker.

I'd recommend buying the latest version of Ozone and use it to see how it does before you consider buying the other products. Learn Ozone first.

Yes, I've got quite a bit of mileage using that particular feature!

If you are using BIAB drums and bass as delivered from PGMusic this is typically not an issue, but once you start adding additional processing to those tracks you can run into collisions. Also if you are using something other than RealDrums (i.e. EZDrummer2). I've also used it to eliminate/reduce collisions between bass and B3 on occasion.

Hi Bud,
Should I not use Ozone on the master buss or just use it on the individual busses ?In one way I cant see the point in putting it on the masterbuss unless I am just using it to AB it to see how it may sound mastered .I like ozone in stand alone mode too ...Thanks Hugh

Hi Hugh,

It's intended for mastering, so would generally either be put on the master bus.

Alternately, you could render your song as a WAV file after mixing, open a new project, and import that WAV file onto track 1, where you also put Ozone as an insert, and import some reference songs on tracks 2, 3, 4, etc, so you can compare your master to the references tracks. I don't use Ozone, but the latter is what I do when mastering my own songs (using different plugins).

Thanks
Kent
PG Music

I use it the way Kent describes, i.e., as a stand alone. As I mentioned it reduces the temptation to check out a master while mixing and it makes referencing very easy.

Further to both Kent and Bud, IK Multimedia has something called MasterMatch. You can load in a song reference and it will ask you, basically,

"So you want your song to sound like this?"

You click yes and your songs sounds like that, with a few tweaks.

Kinda neat.

I understand the latest Ozone has something like it.

Kent, Bud, that's how I like to use it as well.

I will only come back to the original mix if mastering made an instrument or vocal stick out too much. Then I'll lower the mix version problem and run through mastering again.

I like to put my mastering plugin (now Ozone) on my master channel. I won't use it till I'm done with the mixing phase but then if something needs a little adjusting it can be done easily without bouncing tracks back and forth.

Ozone is phenomenal on a master bus, or the final stereo mix. I prefer the highly-related Alloy to put on individual tracks in a mix (when needed) because Alloy is designed to use much less computer resources.

Thanks Bud n Kent ,some of the stuff is cool even if it can be complicated ,h