Hey all -

Been demoing two mastering suites - Izotope Ozone 2 and Voxengo Soniformer+Elephant (package deal). First off, let me say in my comparisons, both are darn fine products, and have brought layers in some of my music that I didn't even know was there. Definitely got the nice sheen on it.
Interested to hear anyones opinions as well. Obviously, surface level, Ozone has many more options with the exciter, widener, eq, etc. It is also $100 more. I am trying to weigh out whether there is $100 value added in those options over Voxengos stuff, which sounds GREAT as well, but may not give as much control (again, no knock, just calling it how I see it as those extras have a nice effect on the sound). If you can get very similar results between the two, I'll spend the extra $100 on Rhino or something!!
Has anyone else pitted these two beasts against one another?
Again, great plugins the both of them...
BTW I do mostly prog/breaks/electro stuff...
Thanks
JB

I'd say Voxengo, and stick curveEQ in there too.
Or you could buy my Ozone license from me, thought it's for version 1. PM me if you're interested.

I have both the Voxengo plugs and Izotope 2. I'd say go for the 2 Voxengo plugs you mention and add $60 and spend it on Voxengo's LampThruster (vintage EQ and tube harmonics). Voxengo also has a free widener called Stereo Touch and for good free exciters, there's ElogoXa's X-Citer and RGC's Hi Freq Stimulator.

trock

Hi Jjb13,

i think these 2 threads can help you:

http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24802
http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25697

Best Regards.

Aarrgghh ... a mastering thread ... but here's a thought from a non-engineer semi-pro writer who likes Ozone, and a lot of other plugs too.

A lot of people, including me, may write a different band for almost every track they do.

But the idea is to try and bring it all together, whether for an EP or album or suite of common soundtracks (jingle, underscore, theme, soft and loud versions)

Oz gives me a single environment for this, a method that I've been able to get to know and work with ... and understand.

This avoids buggering about between lots of different plugs, and losing my "ear" for the whole thing (gawd knows, my ears aren't that good anyway)

Oz's Dither function is something to look at as well.

To bring a few tracks together with a common sound values, like eq feel (eg warmth, sparkle) or width or excite or presence ... or getting common levels at the final limiting stage ... Oz makes it easier for a non-mastering professional to find and set their own standard.

Why not buy chagzuki's licence from him

Final thought:

Try downloading some tunes from the cafe.

Look at them in a wav editor.

Quite often you'll see a big black bar of shite, and hear an over-maximised almost hurtful top end.

Go figure.

kevvvvv wrote:

Quite often you'll see a big black bar of shite, and hear an over-maximised almost hurtful top end. Go figure.

Must.... make.... BIG..... SQUARE..... WAVE......

Devon

The upgrade from Ozone 1 to 2 is 49 dollars.
Ozone 2 costs $199.

So long as the licence, wait a minute, how do you spell that? S's and C's.
Anyway, if it's transferrable, I'll do a decent price.

devon

Quote:

Must.... make.... BIG..... SQUARE..... WAVE......

you crack me up

In my experience (35 years) I don't think I've ever used the exact same mastering chain or settings twice. I find every mix needs its own mastering approach and that's why I like a broad palette of tools available. I've been using various of the Voxengo tools most recently because they enable well-mastered tracks that don't look - or sound - like a "big black bar of shite".

I was a beta tester and contributor to Ozone so I'm also familiar with how good it is and on some mixes I use it or one or two of its tools.

There's a lot of good tools out there. And most have demos that you can try and see what works best for the way that you work.

kevvvvv wrote:

Try downloading some tunes from the cafe. Look at them in a wav editor. Quite often you'll see a big black bar of shite, and hear an over-maximised almost hurtful top end. Go figure.

Remember, you dont hear the white bits, go fill that baby up...

chagzuki wrote:

So long as the licence, wait a minute, how do you spell that? S's and C's.

I stuble on that one every time too. License.

Devon

Kriminal wrote:

kevvvvv wrote: Try downloading some tunes from the cafe. Look at them in a wav editor. Quite often you'll see a big black bar of shite, and hear an over-maximised almost hurtful top end. Go figure. Remember, you dont hear the white bits, go fill that baby up...

Ah yes, but to leave it all black is simply... well... kriminal! Least on your ears it is.

Devon

DevonB wrote:

chagzuki wrote: So long as the licence, wait a minute, how do you spell that? S's and C's. I stuble on that one every time too. License. Devon

The American spelling is with an 's' the English spelling is with a 'c'; seeing as chagzuki is London based, he should use the English version

xylyx wrote:

DevonB wrote: chagzuki wrote: So long as the licence, wait a minute, how do you spell that? S's and C's. I stuble on that one every time too. License. Devon The American spelling is with an 's' the English spelling is with a 'c'; seeing as chagzuki is London based, he should use the English version

Hmm, is it not one of those words like practice/practise, where the noun and verb versions of the word are spelt differently? Feck knows, I'm only guessing, I'm northern scum me!

Thanks for the responses everyone! I appreciate the feedback. I was originally leaning ever so slightly towards Ozone, but some of the responses have me reconsidering.

Although Chagzuki, your offer is weighing heavy as well. How would we find out if the license is transferrable? I would hate to pay you for it and wind up with an unusable product or no support. If you are serious about selling it, I would consider...

Of course, if I ever do a production worthy of release, (and based on some comments I've gotten in the music cafe I don't think I need to worry about that anytime soon) I would pay to have it professsionally done. However, as an already too expensive hobby - the software mastering is the route I am looking to currently.
Well, off to do some more A/B's with the two. Still interested in anyone else's feedback. The more the merrier...
Thanks everyone
JB

And just to throw a spanner in the works, here's some other options to consider.....

T-Racks.... initially I really didn't like this, but I keep going back to it, and it gives some really good results with the tape saturation settings. I now like it alot....BUT only as a master limiter/ saturator. I tend to avoid the Eq (which I find harsh at the top, and too colourful elsewhere) and there isn't enough control on the compressor - there is almost no way of having very little compression when it's on - it's either off or compressing heavily! But the limiter and saturator do sound good, with no clipping/ noise at usual levels (even very high levels).
So T-Racks narrows it down, as you probably won't want the Eq and compressor...... but I often use only very little Eq for mastering - if it's mixed well, you shouldn't need much, so it applies to almost any mastering tool. But if you use T-Racks you'll probably want a decent Eq as well.

PSP - You really can't ignore Vintage Warmer and even Mixsat (which is meant for mixing/ submixing really, but I find it's plenty good enough for mastering as well) - Again, you might need a decent Eq, but with something like VW and Mixsat, you often don't need Eq because of the colour that it introduces with the valve simulation. And it does produce a lovely cuddly warm sound (not necessarily what you want on all tracks, but it will work on all tracks).

I've started using the Triplecomp from Sinusweb (who make MultiLens). It's a 3 band comp with a brickwall limiter at the end. From the presets, you might not like it too much at first, but this thing really is the dog's bollocks for a freebie (well... shareware actually...I really must give the man some money, as I'm still on the demo at the moment). When you start to use it a bit more subtly, it gives wonderful results - you can use just the limiter or just the comps if you set it right, or both and it's very clean sounding. The limiter is as good as the Endorphin one (which to my mind is the absolute best one on the market...and it's free - so I compare even the commercial limiters to Endorphin as a benchmark). Also is the bonus of probably the best GUI out there - even if you're not too sure what you're doing with mastering, Triplecomp shows you in a very intuitive way what you are doing to all the peaks in the different bands, and at the limiting stage.... If only all comps had that kind of interface!
No Eq, but it's so cheap that you'll have plenty of dosh spare to buy a real good Eq.


So with any of those you will probably need a good Eq - personally I like TC Native for some reason, but there's a goodish choice out there. Paris Eq sounds good from first tastings - I haven't properly tested it out yet, but it's certainly promising.

And don't forget Endorphin - it's not as flexible as some others (i.e it's only dual band, with no control over the x-over point), but if you have a good final mix, it can be good enough on its own without Eq etc simply because it has the best limiter, and a really good sounding but subtle saturation circuit inside - it won't overcolour your mix, but it will add a certain warmth that is extremely good to the ears, even at high settings. And I find it actually produces the clearest sound of most other setups (which sounds odd when I've already said that it colours the mix - but it does both somehow - extreme clarity with warmth - I've no idea how Sascha did it...but it's several years old and still beats most of the new gadgets that promise more).

Some of those mentioned above may be more up your street if you're new to mastering.......they won't break the bank, but are quite intuitive to use. If you spend alot on a huge mastering tool it can be very daunting and could take a long while to get the best out of them - but these others will improve your overall quality drastically but at the skill point that is at home-production.

Just a few thoughts to try out before you dash out and spend wads of cash.

And that really goes to show how much is available and how much there is to learn. Personally I've never gotten on with Vintage Warmer and Endorphin too well. I quite like Endorphin but have never got results as good as with Waves C4 and Voxengo stuff.
T-Racks? I like the compressor. The saturation is very smooth and subtle but I don't like the other modules.

kritkon -

Good post, chief. TRacks I have looked at but it is a little more than I was looking to spend right now, but the sinusweb stuff I am looking at. I have had endorphin for a while but it kind of got put on the back burner when I got the digitalfishphones filets and blockfish. However, I never really attempted to use it as a mastering compressor...
So many options!
JB

i'm just beginning my mixing/mastering education.

i just reread the endorphin description at digitalfishphones, i was surprised to read it was designed for mastering. i've been using it all this time to punch up bass lines ( and it does a great job there addding some wood hollow tone and punch to synth basses)

last night i tried the combo of Kjaerhus Classic Compressor w/ premaster preset and and Master Limiter. The CD I burned with that combo were as close as I've gotten to commercial quality for volume, saturation and separation (in four previous attempts)

but my ears are still in training. what i seem to be up against is pushing to get the volume/saturation/separation without bumping up against an annoyingly 'digital' sound. which i suppose is why there's tools like vintage warmer and amp simulators.

at least at my stage of education i've got plenty of free tools to play with till i have a better grasp of what i'm doing. (and there 's another thread running with another master limiter from ddrummer)