User manual IZOTOPE OZONE

[. . . ] Mastering with OzoneTM Tools, tips and techniques © 2003 iZotope, Inc. iZotope and Ozone are either registered trademarks or trademarks of iZotope, Inc. Other product or company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] Consider a large room ­ you'll only hear the first bit of reverb after the original signal has gone out to a wall, bounced off it, and come back to your ears. The length of time before you hear this initial reflection is controlled with the predelay slider. High and Low Cutoffs You may have noticed that the mastering reverb has a spectrum with two vertical lines on it. These vertical lines are not the same as the multiband controls found in the multiband 6 Not that we've actually been in a padded cell, but that's how we imagine it would sound. OzoneTM Mastering Guide Page 31 of 66 ©2003 iZotope, Inc. modules, but instead control the rolloff of the reverb signal in this module. You can drag the lines to the left or right to change the bandwidth of the reverberated signal that is returned and mixed back into your mix. Note: As you drag the handles, wait a second to let the filters fully affect the signal. The reverb in Ozone uses analog modeled cutoff filters that have a time constant. The downside is that it takes a second or two after you move a cutoff to hear the fully processed result. Well, the mastering reverb in Ozone rolls off with high frequencies by design, so you don't necessarily need to roll off the high frequencies yourself. At the same time, rolling off the highs (moving the right line to the left) can take away some of the "tinny-ness" of the reflections, and rolling of the lows (moving the left line to the right) can take away some of the rumble of the reflections. We tend to start with the low cutoff at 100 Hz and the high cutoff at 5 kHz. If we hear "sibilance" (too much "ssss's" and "shhh's") from the singer we move the high cutoff down below 2 kHz, as high frequency reverb can accentuate sibilance in an undesirable way. Hear are some tips for "keeping it real" · Bypass the mastering reverb from time to time to get a reality check on what the dry world sounds like. In most cases, reverb should be "sensed" more than it's heard, if used at all on a mix. If you want "more" reverb, keep in mind that you have multiple options. You can increase the wet amount (the level of the reverb mixed into your mix), or you can increase the room size (the length of the reverb) or you can increase the room width. Adjust each of these then use the History window (or A/B/C/D feature) to decide which adjustment was the most effective. Try putting it after the multiband module for a slightly different effect. Instead of compressing the reverb, you'll be adding some reverb to the compressed signal. You might like the sound of a compressed mix, but with some uncompressed "air" on top of it. Something like Steely Dan is pretty dry (and more of an acoustic room reverb) where something like George Michael or Phil Collins can be very lush (with more of a studio plate reverb sound). If you've got a pop ballad, you're probably going to be able to get away with a thicker coat of reverb than on a hip-hop mix. · · · OzoneTM Mastering Guide Page 32 of 66 ©2003 iZotope, Inc. · If you're applying a wide reverb (room width up between 2. 0 to 3. 0) keep an eye on the phase meters, and use the Channel Ops (especially the mono switch) to check to make sure it doesn't completely fall apart in mono. Bonus Tip: If you wrap old tennis balls in aluminum foil and bake them slightly in the oven, you can sometimes get some bounce back into them. Just checking to see if you're still paying attention. OzoneTM Mastering Guide Page 33 of 66 ©2003 iZotope, Inc. MULTIBAND EFFECTS A standard compressor or stereo widener can be a useful tool for processing your mix. [. . . ] Add comments to presets for easy reference. · To learn more about using the Preset Manager, we invite you to check out this topic in the Ozone help file (click on the "?" button on the Ozone faceplate to access the Ozone help file Shortcut Keys and Mouse Wheel Support A complete table of shortcut keys is in the Ozone help file, but here are some worth highlighting: Wheel Mouse · · · · If you have a wheel mouse, you can adjust most controls by simply positioning the mouse cursor over the control and rolling the wheel. In the Paragraphic Equalizer, you can adjust the Q of a selected band or bands with the wheel. In the Paragraphic Equalizer table (accessed with the "Show Info" button) you can adjust a value by holding the mouse over the value and rolling the wheel. In the History screen, you can use the wheel to scroll through the History list. Numeric Entry Using the mouse can be difficult for accurate slider settings. [. . . ]