After watching this video, I went to buy Ozone 8 and apply what you taught but my screen's brightness made me realise I was raised in the dark supported by my elders. Man, I swear never to tell this...
Bro i cant stop playing the witcher 3 and i should be studying and mixing ...now i saw your comment and can you feel this pain and confusion? When your parents start to lose it.
TAKE NOTE: when adjusting dB, they go in increments of 3. So for example; if something was -4dB and you wanted to make it twice as loud, -1dB would be double, then 2dB would be double that, so on and so forth.
You can use the Ozone 8 for monitoring RMS/LUFS for your referance tracks as well. You can choose which track to audition at the I/O tab above "Peak" above the volume faders to the right of the UI :) This way you don't need to use the bx_meter.
I always knew there was a distinct difference between my tracks and commercially published tracks... this whole time I've been killing myself trying to get the perfect mix while this entire time I wasn't mastering!
VicaMOOR Mastering is the last 10% and is important for getting that commercial loudness. Just make sure your mix is as clean as possible to make the whole package that much more amazing
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I have been thinking about getting Ozone 8 for a while but I was just intimidated by how complex it looks, but you have helped me understand it! You’ve earned yourself a sub!
Back on my last album, I still used the TC Electronics Finalizer 96K. I am seriously considering the Ozone 8 for the tools to help with referencing. Mastering an entire album can be draining and serious ear fatigue. Embrace the technology, don't hate!
Great tutorial! I'm finding the Imager sounds more like an EQ than a stereo widening tool. Moving the faders up accentuates those frequencies making them louder, not just wider.
The more I watch your vids the better my sound gets! Quick question: what type of CPU do you use? I’m looking to start streaming live videos myself and I’m also starting to edit on premier. I def need an upgrade but don’t know what specs I should shoot for on a new CPU. Trying to stick with Apple but idk if 16g of Ram is enough for a full time producer...thoughts? A studio tour vid would be clutch! Cheers !
tip for anyone new to mastering - it's only subtle changes you should make! if the mix is whack don't go to the mastering stage! and avoid trying to 'fix' bad takes when recording! #mixnotfix
God bless you brother, its nice to see u, doing what u love, may god keep on blessing you to teach us all. cause im looking to learn how to mix and master my own songs, aswell. so thank you for this, we keep in touch , your brpther from The netherlands
great tutorial. just wish there was a liiiiiiitle more detail towards the end in what we were looking at around the 7:40 mark to the end--with the logic meter and the double Ozone meters. Thanks.
Oh, also Sean. What is the most optimal effect chain order when mastering? I know some say to go off preferences, but what are some effects that have to always be in the same place in the effect chain? I’ve heard a limiter should always go last. What else should I know about izotope’s chain order? Thank you!
So, I just got started learning about mastering. I want to know a couple things. I understand that -6dB in headroom is ideal. I also learned that a bit lower than that, around -8 or -10 is also acceptable to be able to master comfortably. I did also want to ask some questions from people that are more mastering friendly than I am. I wanted to know the reason behind distortion? I seem to get a hiss of distortion here and there. My track is never screaming and clipping, it’s just certain spots. I go back to the mix and I fix things, and come back to the mastering to find that the levels that were clipping are now too low and inaudible. I know this probably sounds stupid, but I really want to learn the key to mastering. I know the first thing is a good mix, which I try my best to do. I pan, use EQ to clear out dirty or clashing frequencies, compress only when needed, don’t overcompress, and I always make sure that effects such as reverb and delay are using according to each track, I don’t use the same reverb preset for two different types of track. I hear people doing loud, wide and huge masters with only software, such as Ozone, UAD and T Racks, and Logic and Pro Tools etc. . But other people tell me that in order to get that real sound there has to be some hardware involved. Can someone, anyone help? I’m open to all criticism. Note: I’ve always been a composer and songwriter and have arranged music for the past 5 years, but I just now want to learn to do better mixing and mastering for myself. Like I said, open to all comments and all critique, I need all the advice I can get.
there's a lot of reasons for distortion - in your case, it may be frequency buildup in a specific band that's not as extreme until you're bringing up levels with the limiter / pushing the stereo bus. The key here is to create the properly balanced mix and also be aware of what mastering essentially will do to your sound. This comes with experimentation and experience. Stay patient and the results will come! As far as the hardware vs. software talk, I'll keep it short and say in 2019 that debate isn't truly relevant if you know how to get the results you're after. Ozone 9 is every bit as capable as the hardware in most mastering studios :)
Sean Divine Thank you! I have definitely heard that the debate between software and hardware is a thing of the past now, since most emulators like UAD and the software plugins are achieving close to, if not the same, results as traditional hardware mastering. I do have the patience, although I still want to ask a mastering experienced engineer and it looks like you have quite a bit of experience from the way you’re speaking on it. If anyone else that’s reading this comment can explain, I would be more than happy to listen and take your advice. I hear masters from other engineers that are friends of mine, but they’ll never give me the secrets or hints to getting the results they do. I use T-Racks 5 and I seem to get nice loud masters, yet they feel overcompressed. I have one song, that I allowed a friend to master and mix for me, and he got such a loud nice sound, without the overcompression, yet at the same time, was still so wide, and fat and loud. I do get the basics of things, but he only once said that if he didn’t use his hardware and software in a combination, he wouldn’t have gotten the results that he got. (Again, he didn’t say what hardware he used) but I know he’s a UAD plugin suite maniac. Lol.
Convinced brutha! I was going back and forth between this and Wavelab Pro 9, but I have the early version of Izotope and feel like I can get around much better there. I knew by first name alone you were gonna be probably at genius level or close...and you are!lol Off to Sweetwater to order!
The guy is trying to tell you he about to hurt himself in the song and you sitting here trying to give us mix video....CALL THAT RAPPER AND GIVE HIM A HUG BEFORE HE LOSE HIS DAMN MIND!
Highs are a bit harsh/fatiguing to my hears on this track. The increased stereo separation and tape harmonics helped the sound quite a bit. The outro clip didn't seem to have the same high end harshness that it did during the tutorial. Nice explanations.
amazing. i got my hands on Ozone 8 now. quick question for you sean... is there a real world scenario when mastering where you combined using Ozone 8 and Waves plugins? If you were to do so, in which order would you apply these plugins in your mastering chain for the most optimum result? thx always bossman !
Often! The main point would be to have the Ozone Maximizer last in the chain. Also, the imager would be before that… just be mindful of signal flow and combine as you wish 🙌
i just got this plugin for free lol. if you sign up to the plugin boutique newsletter they will send it for free.... just thought id share cos its like £130 to buy.
Maybe you can you get the upgrade cheaper now ? They probably wise to that ! The elements offer is a way to wet your appetite because your missing all the bells and whistles till you buy advanced ! Damn!
I dont know if I do something wrong :O I use the master assistent, but every time the master assistant creates the same preset (raise bass, lower the highs). On every single song i tested it out. For test reasons i disabled all synths which play the higher frequenzies (so only a piano and the bass was left) and still the assistent lowerd the high (which wasnt even existent) and boosted my bass.
Dude. Your videos are always top notch Man. I’m always referencing to them for knowledge. I have a question. I'm extremely new to this. I noticed the Imager for izotope has dots that that are showing red on that little graph (I guess we can call it that.) that shows the width of the frequencies. I'm not sure what that means.
it represents anti-phase and is helpful for mono compatibility. Check it in mono and if you don't hear anything funny, it's not something to worry much about.
Hi Sean, quick question: I noticed you kept the the ceiling at 0.0dB on the maximizer (with true peak enabled), but your song RMS was around -6.0. I've read that you should AT LEAST keep the ceiling at -1.0dB true peak when putting your song on services like Spotify or iTunes, especially if your song is that loud. I also read (from Spotify's website) that your true peak should be -2.0 if your song is louder than -14.0 LUFS. I guess my question is this: why did you keep the ceiling at 0.0dB in the video? Is that where the ceiling should be normally? Great video by the way! Thanks!
hey Luke, I would generally suggest a ceiling below 0db TP for submitting to streaming services to be on the safe side... it's not a requirement but rather a strong suggestion by the platforms to avoid unwanted results upon release
When looking for reference tracks to use, are you looking more for artists that have a great sound overall, OR for artists that are similar in genre and also have a good sound?
hey Ken, I do both. I have a general "mix references" playlist with a lot of different styles and sounds. I may pull a couple from that but then will also pick a few that fit the overall aesthetic of the song and are in the same genre.
Ozone 8 bundled with Neutron 2 is on sale for $500 right now. @Sean Divine Is it worth it? Because the thing is that the Music Production Bundle 2 is on sale for $700.
What I don't understand about mastering with ozone is while starting with Master assistant. When selecting reference track, do we have to upload the reference track in the DAW that we are going to work on the mastering. Because, during master assistant, we have to some parts of the audio so that the software will analyze it to start. In this video, the reference track used and the track to be mastered sounds same to me. The reference track is what is being mastered here. I may be wrong.
It would be cool to get a tutorial like this using Ozone STANDARD instead of advanced. Lot of us can't afford to go with the advanced version & frankly those extras seem cool but not super necessary.. nice for those who have them, but as I keep looking for a mastering tutorial on Ozone 8 Standard, guess what... they are hard af to find!
Thanks for this Sean. I've know you've stated in other videos that you are aggressive with your mixes. So am I. I use soft clipping to ensure I'm at 0 db in the mix. My question is: do you give yourself headroom before mastering with ozone?
hey Femi, it depends. If I'm mixing and mastering in the same session, I prefer to mix into a brickwall limiter at just below 0dB. Otherwise, yes I export with at least 3 or 4 dB of headroom for mastering in another session.
Good mix and mastering man. I notice that it seems to always make similar cuts on the dynamic EQ...always drastic cuts around the same frequencies. It seems like there must be something under the hood that most of us are missing or the module is broken. I have to admit, sometimes Ozone has a brain fart on its suggested settings and does some weird stuff like completely cut everything below 20kHz with a low-cut filter where I don't hear anything...I think it's a bug or something. Anyway, one question: How come you don't use a linear phase EQ on the master bus? I don't think Ozone 8 advertises that it using a linear phase EQ as the final EQ in the mastering chain. If it is just a minimum phase EQ then Ozone (EDIT) WOULD be good for mastering a song that was recorded with multi-microphone positioned instruments because of the pre-ringing from the linear phase Eq. Edit 2: reading this again...It really doesn't even matter because most of us that actually master our own songs, already own LinPh EQs.and other mastering tools.
youve got it backwards. pre-ringing is an artifact result of using linear phase eq. linear phase eq will cause the least phase shift, at the risk of introducing pre-ringing.
Ghostea You're right and I knew that when I wrote the comment. Hmmm, reading it now I think maybe my phone typed "wouldn't" instead of "would" on the last sentence because that's where I see the fault is at. Thanks for pointing that out!
TheChosenOne Also when he automatically cuts below a certain frequenty, this is not a bug. I’ve learned from some mastering engineers that they use this as a failsafe for low frequentie rumble that might occur. Doesn’t matter if we can’t hear it on a small system, it could be heard on a big club system. It’s just used as a safety (I myself do it to) 😊
Robertho Massof I see. I was actually referring to an extreme cutoff, like everything above 20Hz being cutoff, but to your point, I could also see that as part of the programming. Regardless of shortfalls it may have now, this software is a great tool and I look forward to seeing it evolve.
TheChosenOne O. My mistake. I read otherwise 🙈 Yes the detection tools are a great way to a headstart, but I don’t think we could expect a complete (decent) master by an intelligent computer very soon. Nor would I want that, to be frank 🤔
Pushing the stereo width above 15khz? Doing that is a sure fire way to destroy a mix which is going to mp3, I find I get a far nicer sound by customising the low mid and high mid bands and pushing them a tiny bit.
Do you think that the mastering assistant will make online mastering like Landr obsolete? Since you get more control over your master and you get a button to get a rough master instantly, I see no reason to turn towards online mastering.
I'd be skeptical of any completely automated mastering process. As I state in the video, the mastering assistant in OZ8 is a great starting point. You will still need to make adjustments and know what you're going for to get the best results.
this is not mastering at all u will realize it once u dive deeper into good sounding records and u learn how to listen... its like mc donalds selling u fast food but music is not about matching curves its about vision and emotional connection.
its awesome with a reference track ..... but why just equalizer and dynamic equalizer ... why not the stereo for example ? but its awesome really, i found my perfect reference track :)
Do you thing you can make a decent professional mastering only with Ozone 8 or you need some of the Plugin Alliance / Slate stuff to make things really comparable to comercial releases ? I have the Ozone 8 but considering maybe to add some of other companies plug-ins. is it worth ?
