Let’s get straight to it: Ozone has already established itself as a do-everything mastering tool. It’s a suite of interconnected modules handling frequency and dynamics, designed to work together in an integrated interface. It does so much, in fact, that it’s hard for an upgrade to do more, but Ozone 5 promises new sound and visual feedback that could further entrench this popular tool.

And that could explain how Ozone 5 stole the Audio Engineering Society trade show in New York. AES is a flurry of knobs, dials, and faders, but some of the major buzz we heard was just this single upgrade to the software. (CDM’s Marsha Vdovin was out on the floor, and the word “Ozone” kept cropping up.)

Ozone is eminently visual software, so a lot of what’s new you can glean just by looking through the screenshots. But there are sound improvements, as well, both in the standard Ozone and the spendier “Advanced” edition.

What’s new:

• Updated modules. iZotope says they’ve “refined” their DSP algorithms. (Let’s see, carry the one…) The idea is, existing modules should sound better. There’s a detailed list on the iZotope site – aside from more subtle changes, you’ll find very specific adjustments to how parameters are controlled and how they impact the sound. To give one example, there’s a …
• New Limiter. The latest version of iZotope’s “psychoacoustics-based” limiter in the Advanced edition has a new stereo link control for handling left and right separately or together, and new intelligent transient handling algorithms, among other improvements.
• Enhanced EQ. Analog-matching EQ models analog shelf modes and frequency response, matching is easier than before, as with other modules, you can use left/right separately, and now zoom and display stereo info in your spectrum. There’s also new variable-phase functionality.
• New Reverb. Yes, sometimes you use reverb when mastering. (A little light reverb can do wonders.) A new modeled reverb algorithm adds new models and spaces and gives you unique early reflection control, as well as “cross-mix” for stereo imaging.
• New UI, workflow. I’ll let you just see what this looks like, but suffice to say parameters and labels are better-organized to be friendlier to advanced and beginning users alike. Past versions of Ozone were sometimes pretty-but-counterintuitive; this looks a bit clearer. Of course, you might not notice while dazzled by the…
• Slick visual feedback. In the standard version, metering has been enhanced. In the Advanced version, you get slick 2D and 3D plots of your sound spectrum for the Meter Bridge and Meter Taps modules. They look awesome, yes, but I also think these kind of “alien world mountainscape” views can help you better visualize what’s happening in a sound, so there is a practical use, too.

And, of course, all of this means you can easily wow clients when mastering by showing them visualizations that look like Geordi LaForge is studying abnormal quasar activity from the deck of the Enterprise. Just try to avoid opening up a cosmic string-related time wrinkle while mastering.

(And yes, when you’re all alone and no one is looking over your shoulder, you can do something useful with it.)

Pricing: US$249 (€195); US$999 (€799) Advanced.

Why is Advanced so expensive? Well, each module is also an independent plug-in you can use in your host. With that in mind, this starts to look like a better deal – some terrific reverb, EQ, and dynamics you can use anywhere. You also get the Meter Bridge and Meter Tap for analysis, fancier 2D and 3D spectrographs, and more advanced loudness meters. On the other hand, the basic version will also work with your host and gives you the sound-processing functionality minus all those more sophisticated meters you might need.

This month, there’s also steeply discounted intro pricing: US$599 for Advanced, US$199 for the standard edition. Expires December 1.

Ozone 5 was announced last month, but is now shipping. An OpenGL 2-capable video card is required for the 3D visualizations, but nearly all machines now provide that (including most integrated chipsets, too).

Ozone 5 Product Page @iZotope

For a look at what this tool can do, here’s our friend and experienced mastering and mix engineer Danny Wyatt, talking about how he works with limiting. The new UI and meters are actually a lot clearer than what you see in the video, and offer some nice, new functionality. I can tell you, Danny is a fully-converted Ozone lover, having worked with him in the studio as he mastered my own album. He’s got a big toolset of other stuff, but Ozone is very often what the real work comes down to, and — I think I can say this, Danny — he’ll be happy to evangelize the tool if you talk to him.

This isn’t a review, mind – in fact, my only significant reservation is that Ozone is so slick, it could distract from the reality that good mastering probably doesn’t need it. A great mastering engineer can do wonders with a fairly simple tool and their ear – no wild visualizations required. (“Great mastering engineer,” also known as, “not me.”) But that same person may well appreciate the level of precision iZotope, working with algorithms they’ve developed entirely in-house, can provide.

We want your feedback, as always. Ozone users – what do you think?

Users of rival products – what’s your all-in-one mastering tool of choice, and why?

Mastering to me is a bit like applying stain to wood: done correctly, it brings out the definition of what’s there rather than covering it up. But making mastering effective is a really special art. Danny Wyatt, a veteran mastering engineer now working as an instructor with Dubspot, has some serious credentials both on the mixing and mastering side and as an educator. He’s worked with a range of artists over the years (Wax Poetic featuring Norah Jones, Curtis Mayfield, Thievery Corp., the Roots, Ultra Records, and Mos Def, to name a few). But he also doesn’t mystify his knowledge: he’ll tell you straight what he believes, both face-to-face and as a teacher.

I feel I know Danny’s work a whole lot better, too, having had him master my new solo electronic album, which will be released soon. You can get sort of a loose sense of how someone works when they’re manipulating someone else’s material, but you really get close to their technique when they’ve got their hands on your own stuff.

I like handing over work to a mastering engineer both because they can then provide some objective distance, and because they specialize in the craft. But knowing basic mastering technique is increasingly essential for anyone working in sound – aspiring engineer or not.

Danny has some free videos out, included here, that explain some very useful techniques and tools:

• How to use a limiter, here illustrated with iZotope’s Ozone 4, including its “Loudness Maximizer.” We’re talking distortion-free loudness, not nasty, justly-notorious brick-wall limiting.
• Mid-Side EQ, which I’ve heard Danny call “ear candy,” for widening the stereo effect of a track (here with another of my tracks as the example). Again, he uses Ozone, though other tools could work, too.
• Compression of a bass with URS Classic Console Strip Pro – dubstep-style here, but applicable to a wide range of things. especially with the emulation of the LA-2A modeled compressor.

If those videos whet your appetite, Danny’s class is now taking enrollment for an in-depth online course, so you can benefit from this level of instruction without having to be in New York:
http://www.dubspot.com/mixing-mastering/

And stay tuned, as I did an interview with Danny that digs into his workflow and approach, which we’ll have here on CDM soon.

Have a look at the videos right here:

Hardware greatly eclipsed software among music tech announcements and last week’s NAMM trade show. But the one software release that has been generating buzz amongst producers may be iZotope’s Stutter Edit.

BT told me in an interview some years ago about how he was using software in beta that he said would change the world, as he claimed credit for the stuttering, sliced editing style that has since become so popular. Now, in a release from iZotope, BT’s Stutter Edit is available as a finished, polished product. Note: The conversation made an impression on me, personally, but I’m recalling something that happened some time ago. The video interview here is likely your best bet for getting his current take, direct from the source.

The idea is this: take the style of sliced-up, digitally mangled, stuttering micro-edits, and turn it into an instrument. Ableton’s Beat Repeat and Audio Damage’s superb Replicant, among others, do something like that. But Stutter Edit is more of a multi-effects stuttering effect, packed with different processors and rigged for life performance. It does repeats of different musical lengths, but also pitched effects, buffer position, bit reduction and digital distortion, delay, gate, pan, and filters. All of these settings are cleverly mapped to performance controls so you can play the resulting effects. The results may be closer to what some people have done with Reaktor patches and the like than a previous product. It’s far deeper than I would have imagined in its combined modules, and while I’m not sure it’ll shake me from some other tools, I’m impressed with the combination of tools.

In the intervening years it’s taken to release Stutter Edit, though, we’ve heard a lot of these sorts of effects in live performance. Since only BT had this software, users often took tools like the fairly simplistic Ableton Beat Repeat (or others) and combined them in more sophisticated chains. Sometimes, that leads to obvious and uninteresting results, but with some skilled laptop performers, it has also created some unique, personalized beat slicing contraptions. For all the breadth of tools here, any one effect on its own isn’t new – certainly not in the year 2011, though I think it was probably more unique when BT first started using early builds.

My first reaction to Stutter Edit was that it would be a sort of instant BT machine. I think that’d be grossly unfair – if anything, Stutter Edit may face the opposite challenge. There’s so much in this one plug-in that some users may stick with building their own solutions in modular environments or continuing to use chains of other tools. But if you want all of this combined into a semi-modular suite, Stutter Edit’s promo price of US$149 should be a steal. (The price goes up to US$249 after Valentine’s Day.)

One significant innovation is that, in addition to modules and presets, Stutter Edit uses what it calls “gestures,” pre-programmed combinations of effects with which you can easily perform. It’s a smart idea, and the tool not only processes audio, but provides “generators” that produce sweeps and rushes of noise from scratch, on the fly.

Also, while BT’s stamp is clearly on the tool, Richard Devine, for one, also contributed heavily to presets and gestures.

The deeper question may be whether this kind of audio slicing and stuttering and digital effects itself is where artists most want to go with laptop performance. That I can’t answer, but laptop artists will.

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/stutteredit/

A demo is available. Windows, Mac support, VST, AU, RTAS. You need a host that can route MIDI input to the plug-in, like FL Studio, Cubase, Reaper, Live, SONAR, etc.

Richard Devine shows off some of the gestures he built. Via the ever-vigilant Synthtopia.

If you’re looking for something fun to fiddle around with this weekend, this could be your ticket: we’re tipped off that iZotope have released a video game-themed expansion for their iPhone-iPod touch drum machine.

As Timbaland would surely say, were he asked:

T: It’s from a video game, idiot! [laughs]
P: [laughs]
T: Freaking jerk.

(Look that up, if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)

Update: VIDEO. Sweet, brilliant video.

Sure, it’s no LSDJ, but it could be a more-than-fun diversion – and I still think iZotope did one of the most elegant interface designs for the iPhone anywhere, in terms of actually designing around the touch interface.

And to think you can get it and a whole new iPod touch for the price of a Logic upgrade. Just sayin’.

iDrum Video Game Edition [iTunes]

Vinyl

Previously: iZotope Trash, Mastering, Spectral Plug-ins Supports Mactel Universal, Pro Tools 7, Windows x64