Nobody can tell you some magic trick that pulls it altogether for you — even if we had a clue as to your setup that we don't know.

There are many thousands of turorials online and videos that purport to reveal all. Most are crap but there's good stuff here and there.

I will say that, without a good mixing environment, it doesn't matter because you can't trust what you hear. The Slate VSX is inexpensive and pretty good—it really is possible to mix in headphones. The Platinum Edition is actually the better buy since it includes any future rooms that may be released but the $299 Essentials package does get the job done. Does it replace my high end studio monitors? No but I do check my mixes in VSX and find it helpful.

Steven Slate Audio VSX System

There are many plug-in suites that promise the moon but if you don't know how to use the tools to get the mix you want, none of them are worth a damn. iZotope has a ton of tutorials plus a zillion more from 3rd parties and armchair experts on how to use those tools.

I'm now going to let you in on the worst kept secret among audio professionals: When bought through resellers, iZotope has no way of checking previous licenses. If you purchase an upgrade, you will get current, fully valid licenses. In this case, I recommend this upgrade to Music Production Suite 6. It has Ozone Advanced 11, Nectar 4 Advanced, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro, Neutron 4, RX 10 Standard, Exponential Audio Neoverb, Tonal Balance Control 2, Insight 2, Exponential Audio 3D Reverb Bundle, Audiolens, Brainworx Creative Mixing Set, and Native Instruments Effects Bundle. AU for Mac and VST3 for Windows—no more VST2. There are workarounds for using VST3 in BIAB which does not yet support it.

iZotope Music Production Suite 6 Upgrade

Anyway, I got over the fact that this is my standard upgrade price–and less expensive for me than upgrading Ozone Advanced and Nectar 4 alone. I've been using these plugs for decades now since Ozone 1 came out in 2001 and own everything they offer.

BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5