Izotope 5

[Lil Dude]

So what do you guys think of the mixing and mastering program IZzotope 5?

 

[dacalion]

IZotope is a really good 'overall' program and probably one of the best 'bang for the buck' programs, but there are much better out there...My personal favs are...

Overall
Waves Mercury - http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=1685
Brainworx - http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/bundles

Specialty Tools
Flux - http://www.fluxhome.com/products/
DDMF - http://www.ddmf.eu/products.php
Sonnox Oxford - http://www.sonnoxplugins.com/pub/plugins/products/bundles.htm
Sonalksis - http://www.sonalksis.com/products.htm

 

[Lil Dude]

mixing and mastering

so which one would you prefer to get for that radio sound mastering?

 

[mono]

There are no shortcuts to a good mix or mastered sound. You can make anything sound impressive with Ozone, but it does not auto-balance and clean up your mix for you. For example when using the stereo delay thingy, it will sound cool compared to not using it, but it will most certainly backfire when listening to your track in mono.
Nevertheless, Ozone is a good tool to learn about mastering and get some quick results, as it has the typical stages involved in a mastering process built-in in a single tool. Check the "Mastering with Ozone" tutorial from Izotope's web site. It's well written and easy to follow when using the plug-in and reading the stuff side by side.
In the end, the tools are really exchangeable, but as said before, Ozone is a good starting point for learning.

 

[dacalion]

Flux Alchemist! hands down for mastering, the key is...you have to know what you're doing with it like mono said (or anything for that matter). Ozone has some awesome presets that will get you well in the ballpark, Alchemist only has preset storage so you can create and save your own presets.

 

[thedreampolice]

Not sure how to NOT sound like an ass here but oh well.

Izotope is a company. Like Ford or Apple, asking if we like izotope 5 is like asking "Hey do you guys like the new ford 32"

Now I can only assume you are talking about Ozone 5 a product that is simply amazing and NOTHING waves has can compare to it.

Third, if you want to get that radio ready sound prepare to spend YEARS learning how to do a proper mix, then more years learning how to master. There is NO such thing as a preset to give you radio ready sound. If you don't want to spend the time to learn, pay a real mastering engineer to it. If you are at all serous about making a quality product this is a no brainier.

Also if you don't have good speakers/monitors (and I mean more than crappy $200 whatevers) a properly treated room, ETC You can't do a proper mastering job PERIOD.

There is a reason the top mastering guys get 10k+ per album.

@Dac you can store presets for any plugin, including Ozone. But using preset to master is like using the same three colors to paint a painting, it just doesn't work.

 

[dacalion]

Ozone -vs- Waves...we've already been down that road, it's like beating a dead horse...but just for reference purposes...check this...http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may06/articles/ptworkshop_0506.htm

For the life of me, I can't figure out how/why people can read something (in general) and apply more to it than was originally stated...but just to make things clearer for you...I NEVER said that you couldn't save presets in Ozone(or any plugin). But, just like in the past, you seem to see things that aren't there...here's a refresher...

Ozone has some awesome presets that will get you well in the ballpark, Alchemist only has preset storage so you can create and save your own presets.

My point with the Ozone/Alchemist statement was that Alchemist doesn't even bother with presets (if that tells you anything)...how you can get anything else from that truly amazes me.

 

[Lil Dude]

mixing and mastering

Yo i appreciate the feedback. I'm actually gonna starting a college class for my bachleor's in music production just for this i have the ear for leveling my sh!@ i just want to learn more depth. I got the ozone 5 advanced and yes it it the sh!@ and just by applying it to a beat without doing any tweak it sounds 20X better. i had ozone 4 so i kinda know how to work it but i need to what everything means and what it is used for cause i'm doing it all by ear and with no monitors just headphones.....bogus huh? but thanx for the input. Let me know if yall got any ?'s for me.
http://www.soundcloud.com/lil-dude-414

 

[Muszolini]

thedreampolice and dacalion got great advise. just thought id mention that..

 

[Fade]

Izotope Ozone is a great product. I haven't used it in a while but I'm about to check it again soon because I remember it had some really good presets for getting the job done.

 

[Relic]

No fighting.

And I like the whole "izotope 5" packege.

 

[Lil Dude]

........

Yea i just got it a few months ago and tried applying to to all my old beats and been fucking them up by adding the presets to them. its mostly because i dont have my monitors anymore,

 

[UNORTHODOX]

I'd recommend Izotope 5 for its diversity, features, and quality. Wish I had the $$ for the advanced its impressive and the sound you can get out of it is comparable to pro CDs if you know what you're doing. From the testing I did, I'd say its a step up from the previous versions, definitely.

 

[thedreampolice]

Ozone -vs- Waves...we've already been down that road, it's like beating a dead horse...but just for reference purposes...check this...http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may06/articles/ptworkshop_0506.htm

For the life of me, I can't figure out how/why people can read something (in general) and apply more to it than was originally stated...but just to make things clearer for you...I NEVER said that you couldn't save presets in Ozone(or any plugin). But, just like in the past, you seem to see things that aren't there...here's a refresher...



My point with the Ozone/Alchemist statement was that Alchemist doesn't even bother with presets (if that tells you anything)...how you can get anything else from that truly amazes me.

First off that sound on sound article is 6 years old and waves has fallen WAY behind, it is well known that they are the bottom of the heap now for mastering tools.

Second when you say things like " Alchemist only has preset storage so you can create and save your own presets." to me that imply's the other product doesn't work that way. I was only pointing out that it does. Sorry if I misunderstood.

There is just SO much misinformation about mastering that people can go in the wrong direction for years, and it is frustrating.

 

[dacalion]

It's been said a million times on every forum...if you want your shit done professionally...go to a professional master, well isn't clear by now that EVERYBODY isn't going to do that? So what do you expect? Some of us make 2, 3, even more beats a week, and we post them, share them and have fun with them...What do YOU expect everybody to do, make the beat, send them to a professional mixer, then send them to a professional master, then post them on the internet? Come on, be realistic! Most cats want to learn the process for Mastering their beats, that doesn't mean they want to be Mastering Engineers...and even if they did...so what? Where do you start? Most of the Masters that I see are former musicians that had mediocre careers at best and decided to switch over. Too many people act like Mastering is something that's placed on you at birth. It's the same with Mixing, Compression, Limiting, Gating. I'm waiting for it to hit making beats...

"Ummm, thats NOT the proper way to make a beat...If you want to make a beat, you MUST have a Professional Beatmaking Engineer to do it...

LMAO!


EDIT: Oh and let me speak on this... "There is just SO much misinformation about mastering that people can go in the wrong direction for years, and it is frustrating". Show me 2 Mastering Engineers that master the exact same way down to how much is added here, how much is added there, every setting in the exact same position and so on...Mastering is all about the principles, and feel, NOT the settings...if that were the case then everybody COULD be a Mastering Engineer because there would only be 1 setting. =)

 

[Relic]

Where the hell did that quote come from?

 

[dacalion]

it came from ass! lol

 

[thedreampolice]

It's been said a million times on every forum...if you want your shit done professionally...go to a professional master, well isn't clear by now that EVERYBODY isn't going to do that? So what do you expect? Some of us make 2, 3, even more beats a week, and we post them, share them and have fun with them...What do YOU expect everybody to do, make the beat, send them to a professional mixer, then send them to a professional master, then post them on the internet? Come on, be realistic! Most cats want to learn the process for Mastering their beats, that doesn't mean they want to be Mastering Engineers...and even if they did...so what? Where do you start? Most of the Masters that I see are former musicians that had mediocre careers at best and decided to switch over. Too many people act like Mastering is something that's placed on you at birth. It's the same with Mixing, Compression, Limiting, Gating. I'm waiting for it to hit making beats... LMAO!


EDIT: Oh and let me speak on this... "There is just SO much misinformation about mastering that people can go in the wrong direction for years, and it is frustrating". Show me 2 Mastering Engineers that master the exact same way down to how much is added here, how much is added there, every setting in the exact same position and so on...Mastering is all about the principles, and feel, NOT the settings...if that were the case then everybody COULD be a Mastering Engineer because there would only be 1 setting. =)

Well first off, you should not be mastering your beats EVER period. Mastering is for a final album. A beat is not a final peace of music, as someone will still rap over it. If you master a beat, then someone raps over it you will have a mess on your hands because you have to master it again.

Most REAL mastering engineers have master degrees in electrical engineering and thoroughly understand how frequencies really work, how acoustic's work, how a compressor REALLY works. And they have at least half million dollar rooms. AND have been mix engineers for usually 20+ years BEFORE they get in to mastering. Sorry you can't do that at home. If you take two mastering engineers the work will sound different. Of course BUT the principles will be the same. The foundation will be the same.

The best quote on this is on the Mercenary audio site

"Doing your own mastering is really kind of a kin to trying to do your own dentistry" but every now and again you could be successful [we think of the "home dentistry" scene in the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway" when ever this thought is mentioned]."

http://www.mercenary.com/mastering.html

 

[dacalion]

1. Whats the ratio of beats submitted on illmuzik that have rap vocals compared to not?
2. Who gives 2 cents about a REAL Mastering Engineer's background?
3. Who here cares that you should do an entire album BEFORE you Master?
4. Who here cares that you dont have a million dollar room to master in?
5. This is ILLMUZIK! not the Mercenary audio site.

It's obvious that you just don't get it.

 

[thedreampolice]

It's obvious that you just don't get it.

Funny I was about to say the same thing about you.