iZotope Tonal Balance : Alternatives?

[martinjuenke]

I'm wondering if there are alternatives for iZotope's Tonal Balance plugin, which I find quite helpful as a visual mix checker.

Some guesses or proposals?

[ralfrobert]

Just to understand what you are searching for: What do you like about Tonal Balance, what do you dislike?

[TheSweetSpot]

I know of no alternative in terms of the visual display and more specifically the database of thousands of EQ curves it has from commercial tracks. It's a really useful tool. I'm surprised nobody has come out with a cheaper alternative (it's part of Ozone Advanced and usually over $100 to buy standalone).

[martinjuenke]

@ralfrobert
With Tonal Balance (fine view) I see which frequency areas are out of reasonable (at least by definition of the specific curves provided) range. For electronic music there are (for example) the curves EDM, Modern and BassHeavy, which deliver a (at least for me) good guidance where I have to adjust my EQ.

[ralfrobert]

Back to martinjuenke:

Well, this tool seems to do something for you that is useful. So the question is: Why look for alternatives? I know iZotope gets some hate at the moment, and I am also involved into these discussions, as some planning has to be made for my small working environment which (a) consists of more than one computer and (b) relies on collaboration and some sort of compatibility.

As for a tool that helps you with your adjustments / content-related decisions making, this has no impact, as you can discard it at any time and replace it with something else. As far as I can see, this will not affect your past projects at all. But perhaps this is another story.

What you probably know: Many manufacturers offer solutions based on reference tracks (MetricAB, something from IK, Melda, too, MTM ...). This is another workflow, but mainly dependent on a collection of references that you can collect anyway. The advantage here: You have your track collection in a hi-def format available and can switch the software solution at any time. It is a more individual thing, too. This is something I have been doing for the last few months, and it can really be fun. To listen to Sting and Peter Gabriel etc. again and enjoy music while selecting what I consider an asset.

But direct competition: not really. I would take a look at IKM MasterMatch:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trmastermatch/

I kind of like to use this one, but this is a matter of personal taste really.

[mgw38]

I have quite a few of tools in that arena and have to say that I have not yet come across anything that is as useful as Tonal Balance. I'm not quite sure how they do that but the information it presents to you is something you can actually trust. Most other tools are a bit hit and miss.

[teacue]

I'm wondering if there are alternatives for iZotope's Tonal Balance plugin, which I find quite helpful as a visual mix checker.

Some guesses or proposals?

Mixroom and Bassroom from Mastering the Mix
Smart:EQ 2 from Sonible

[neverbeeninariot]

I'm wondering if there are alternatives for iZotope's Tonal Balance plugin, which I find quite helpful as a visual mix checker.

Some guesses or proposals?

Mixroom and Bassroom from Mastering the Mix
Smart:EQ 2 from Sonible

MTM Reference is the closer in functionality to Tonal Balance. I have both but find myself reaching for TB most of the time unless I'm trying to reference particular tracks.

As far as smart EQs go, the above can give you a good start point for further tweaking.

[martinjuenke]

Thanks for your suggestions!
For the time being I'll work further on with Tonal Balance as long as it's reasonable to do given the development of iZotope.
PS: How about Voxengo Teote, that looks pretty cool for balancing tracks...

[neverbeeninariot]

Thanks for your suggestions!
For the time being I'll work further on with Tonal Balance as long as it's reasonable to do given the development of iZotope.
PS: How about Voxengo Teote, that looks pretty cool for balancing tracks...

Teote is a really great tool - a 64 band (variable) dynamic EQ/processor, that gives similar (better imo) results to Gullfoss but without the latency I'd recommend to demo if you're looking for something like that. Gets a lot of use here on drum buses, vocals, etc - Very cool plugin

[discogsaddict]

You know you can feed tonal balance 2 wav files and create your own curves? No need for anything different

[MogwaiBoy]

Mastering the Mix REFERENCE gives me more accurate results.

[kPere]

ADPTR Metric AB is a powerfull tool. Gives me all the insight I might actually need. Totally can recommend it. Only thing is that it requires your own reference tracks. But the amount of options it has is sweet. Too many to name, worth checking out.

[sonicpowa]

If one have Voxengo SPAN Plus or CurveEQ, for a little $9 compensation I can send you a file for a static balancing curve - very similar to a basic Tonal Balance curve. From there it´s easy to go towards any genre with small EQ adjustments.

[martinjuenke]

You know you can feed tonal balance 2 wav files and create your own curves? No need for anything different

Oops, I've missed that. Will have a look as soon as my cat allows me to use my working space...