So Neutron Standard is among the Izotope plugins I have now. Today I discovered something very interesting.

In February, as some of you know, I participated in February Album writing month and spent hardly any time on mixing, just did really quick writes, with a lot of one-take everything and fast mixes. On the master bus I had one tool (IK Multimedia's "One" plugin which is pretty cool) so there would be at least something. I.e., it did the trick for the time-being.

Today, I decided to take one of the "master stems" from one of the tunes that has a really tricky instrumentation (sonically) and some hard sounds to master, like piano.

I took that stem and ran it through NOTHING but Neutron 3 Standard and chose mastering assistant. In other words, no Ozone 9, no nothing, and I have Ozone 9.

The results to me in terms of overall balance, tone and warmth, of especially the bass and piano and the positioning of instruments (or frequencies rather) was astonishing.

I saw that what I had done with just the "One" plugin was not actually "bad" and not far off--that I did not need an overhaul or a heavy-handed preset loaded with effects.

I just needed some balance. I feel I could actually go with this new master just using Neutron and I would be quite happy.

That was a real eye-opener for me.

Also, never in a million years could I have made the mixing decisions and EQ decisions along the way that Neutron made after the fact.

However, I think because I spent at least some time "getting it close" that Neutron was able to "take it from there."

Anyway, this was interesting to me and I will study it more.

I have acquired both iZotpe's Nectar Plus and Ozone9 standard this year due to their significant discounts ($59/each) on both products. I have realized similar "benefits" from using both products, and with the excellent presets they provide, I get much better vocal end results with Nectar than I did previously where I used several plugins for the vocals and most recently have been relying on Waves Scheps Omni Channel for both vocals and mixing. Nectar Plus is very good and very easy to use, but eats up CPU, so I've had to alter my workflow to create the instrument tracks first, export a rough mixed track and import that into a second DAW project where I use Nectar to process the vocals.

Ozone9 does a similar very good job for mastering, the benefit of which is can be, and should be used, in standalone mode, to allow better CPU handling.

So now my workflow starts with BIAB2022 to develop and pre-mix an instrumental track; export the tracks into my DAW; process the tracks with plugin instruments and effects as desired; export a mixed track into a seperate project; record the vocals and process using Nectar; then export the vocal track(s) back to the instrumental project for final mixing. Then a simple export of the finished mix into a standalone Ozone9 for mastering. Seems more complicated and time-consuming, but allows me to keep using an older PC with the newer, more CPU intensive products, and still enjoy the "art" of making a personally pleasing song!

I have a similar process, and am not ashamed

I try to keep the basic tracks to seven (though I may have four or five vocal tracks) because clutter never works for me.

Then I have separate boards for mixing drums, often use up to 8 tracks for those, and vocals. I use so many VSTS on the vocals and drums it just would not make sense to try and do that on one single board. Then I mix those down with effects.

Once the mixed and processed stems are in the basic mixing board I have no need for CPU hogging stuff and any computer could handle it.

This takes MUCH less time that having a large messy file on one board, and trying to figure out what is going wrong. I would RATHER deal with drums and vocals on different boards so I can see and hear exactly what is going on. Because again, I use A LOT of plugins on those tracks.

The final exported master stem will be treated by whichever plugin will do the best job. Sometimes it will only be audacity, because the sound will already be exactly as I want it and I do not want it "squashed" or too doctored. I choose my plugins in mixing carefully.

I like Ozone, but sometimes it is just too much.

I am astonished, as I said, on just using Neutron 3 and only Neutron 3 on a recent track that had IK's "One" on the output and what a difference it made--and it still sounds like real music, not a blue brick. I hate the overcompressed blue brick sound.

My favorite Neutron feature is the Un-masking module. I use it in every mix. Dunno if the standard version has it.

Bud

I see it on Nectar.

Dang... all I have is Ozone 4

If you had said Ozone 5 I could respect you.

That thing is a beast!!

They could have just stopped there if you ask me.

Many producers swear by Ozone 5 to this day.

iZotope and Native Instruments have an interesting deal going on right now. Yes, these bundles include Neutron 3. Here's the link.

iZotope Music Production Suite 4.1 and Komplete Offers

If you own some of their products already, the savings are pretty deep.

Coals to Newcastle for me. I already have all of this.

I like Ozone 9 adv because I can use any of the modules separately from the package and IMHO and based on comparisons I feel the later versions of the modules are superior. I particularly like the Dynamics module that is essentially a multi-band compressor. And of late I've discovered the benefits of the Dynamic EQ module that is, for me, a great benefit in helping creating the "open airy" mixes that we like. FWIW, I find that Ozone 9 is light years beyond earlier versions (and I started with V3 or V4). We have created a large bank of our own user presets that with minor tweaking per song work well for us.

YMMV, grains of salt and many FWIW's

Bud

I dont kaare. Is that how you spells it. Y'all fancy talking people don't make me no never mind. All I know is I grab an old 1972 Yamaher and mic 'er and run 'er through some Ozone 5 and I'm gonna best ya ever time.

You can flap yer gums all you want about yer Ozer and your Nuetrers and I just ain't listening Bud.

I'm gonna do it the way I always have because I'm me and you ain't.

So there. I got me some corn likur drinkin to do so goodbye.

I agree 100% Started with Ozone 2, moved to Advanced with v.3, am now at 9 Adv. and never looked back.

Unfortunately, iZotope's subscription model does not include all the functionality of the Advanced versions of Ozone or RX. Nuts to that noise!

Ozone 5A did have a Reverb that I liked for Room and small Hall settings but that module disappeared in 6 and I got over it with other reverbs.

I still use Nectar 2 for most of my reverb use. It has a sim of the old EMT 140 Plate reverb that I much like. It was not carried over to Nectar 3 and the only reason I haven’t yet upgraded to Monterey is concern it (Nectar 2) might not run properly.

Bud

I love Nectar 2.

Aside from my joking, I think I have pointed out that I have more than 900 plugins now and think I have pretty much everything Ozone and IK Multimedia ever made.

But I still pick and choose--a lot--depending on the song and what I am going for. That is, for just one example, I have Ozone 9 and I have Ozone 5. In some cases I will want to use one, in others, the other--or something else entirely. Like "One" from IK Multimedia. It just depends.

And in some cases, just good old Audacity.

To each his/her/their/we're own y'all!!!! Rock on!!!

RE PLUG INS.
Heres a little fun challenge ive done in the past.
Give it a try. Do a mix with just the standard pg plug ins and the plug ins built into your daw.
THEN redo the mix with all ones fancy plug ins, and then play both for the “man in the street”.
And see what they say.
…………………………………………………………
Heres my own logic.
Tween pg and reaper jesusonic/vst plug ins and the plug ins from computer music mag, {the combo being highly underestimated imho) i have something like 180 plug ins and instruments etc.
THUS if i cant do a good song with that lot, then i’m at fault.
Further my logic goes something like this.
BP (before plug ins) great songs were done over the decades. Further i would propose
That the great AE’s of the past would prolly still do great songs using the pg and some free plug ins. Cos thats their forte with inventiveness added into the mix.
The other piece of logic i muse over is ive seen first hand the magic good AE’s in big studios
Wield. Thus prolly if someone was interested in one of my songs…it would be often remixed in a big studio facility with all the added fancy gear such have.

In conclusion, the above are some of my thoughts i’m shareing when i get gear lust for
Fancy plug ins. One of my other thoughts is….how many people when they become a first
Time pg biab/rb user really explore in depth and experiment with the free pg plug ins ?
OR do they go “oh they are free, cant be any good”.

Finally , there is a great thread with goodness so many views about free plug ins at reaper.fm
(and other net sites) that is interesting to read.

Finally i’m not saying i’m any good blah blah, just suggesting alternatives to explore if money is tight. Cos i like to eat…lol.
Anyhoo try my little plug in challenge sometime, and see if it brings a different perspective.
And for those that havent done it , respectively really try in depth the pg plug ins in conjunction to copying and sliding track copies related to the original track <<an old skool clue.

Best/happiness
Silly old muso.

Kind of. But not really. Maybe we are on the same page but I have a hard time following you sometimes.

When the Beatles went into Abbey Road there were entire rooms with columns and plates and chambers just to get some reverb. Their plugins were literally the size of a house.

Now, you can get many of the same effects they used and 900 to 3,000 others (or more, but I only have 900) from plugins on your laptop.

Producers are people who pick and choose and aren't married to one thing. They are constantly experimenting.

Yes, Reaper has some good stuff and I use it. But there are some things Waves plugins can do that others can't, and the same with Ozone, IK Multimedia and others.

I like having lots of choices. Very, very specific choices.

Back in the old days, before all these fancy plug in FX gizmos with tons of presets.... they had a very limited number of options and yet... some of the best classic rock and roll mastering came out of those studios. Stuff that people today still aspire to replicate.

It's not about the toys and tools, it's about what you can do with the tools that you do have. At least that's my POV. Learn to work well and produce good results with the couple of things you have vs throwing a couple dozen things at it hoping that one of them will be the magic touch. (Throwing things against the wall to see what sticks)

I have a limited number of FX. I had a bunch in my former DAW and when I built this one, I decided to only migrate the stuff that I actually liked and more importantly, used. Literally I have the defaults in my Daw, Ozone, and Melodyne. Those are my go to FX.

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way but that's OK too.

Everyone always says that Herb until someone like BIAB introduces playable Real Tracks in 2022 and then some people, who are honest, have to admit that whatever they were using in Reason 2002 no longer compares.

Just sayin.



Hey man how's that Molly Hatchet cover coming along by the way?

Did you turn it up to 11???

Exactly. We use nothing but a suite of Logic Pro, Waves and Izotope FX via presets curated by us. A lot of these presets were to match as much as possible sounds we used got during our analog recording days. These specific choices have at the least enabled us to dig into and learn the in's and out's ( ) of these products. Meaning we do not have to experiment every time we work on a production. The older I get the more I avoid new rabbit holes!

Bud

I too am a big fan of the Izotope products. I love the unmasking feature in Neutron. I use it for drums and bass. Ducking the bass I.e. side chain dynamic eq and the kick.

Also adding relay to the keyboard and rhythm guitar busses you can check the masking.

Also the overall mix can be dialed with Tonal Balance and your genre based reference tracks.

Very cool tools

For those not completely on the Izotope train (I've only got the entry-level versions of the tools), TrackSpacer can be useful for carving out space when there are competing instruments.

Of course, you'd want to wait until a sale instead of paying the regular price.

But having an all-in-one solution certainly makes life easier!

I have none of the above partially because I'm a miser, partly because I learnt to "EQ carve" early on with stock plug ins and, finally, because I don't master.
We each have our ways based on DAW, workflow preferences and budget but we can all learn new things that fit within those parameters.
I did some research into Neutron Unmasking and found it very interesting but not a solution for a current problem.
I also looked into Trackspacer with the same result really.
I do, now, have those in my awareness in case I need them in the future - thank you.

Huh?

I have Track Spacer and the current versions of all iZotope products. I rarely need TS but the iZotope plugs are essential to my work.

Amen to that - I totally agree

Hi, Mike.

I was referring to Ozone's unmasking feature that Bud mentioned.

David,

Do you have Neutron 3? Just wondering. It has some really neat stuff in it.