iZotope Ozone for DirectX - Pro results?

[misterx]

Spent the afternoon looking at mastering tools. This Ozone product seems too good to be true. For only a small amount of money you (according to the documentation) can produce professional quality mixes. My question is this, is this thing for real? Their online mastering guide really made the whole process of mastering seem alot more "doable" for the do-it-your-selfer. Anybody here use this tool? And more importantly, how about some before and after mp3 files of your work? That would be great! So, let's hear about Ozone! Thanks for your time.

[Sonic Misfit]

I use Ozone for mastering along with a lot of other plugins and hardware. Overall I think that it is a good plugin for a lot of mixes. When I first bought it, I tried using it on everything. (Notice the "New Gear Syndrome.") However I soon came to realize that it is just another tool with some nice qualities. The limiter is good, the EQ is well designed and easy to use, I don't like the reverb except for individual instrument tracks that you might use for samples, the multiband compressor is usable. The other tools such as stereo widening and the multiband exciter are useful in certain circumstances.

I did some comparisons to the VST plugins found in Wavelab and Ozone does give a nice "analog" sound to the mix. However using Magneto gives a much closer analog sound.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Ozone is just another tool. No single tool is going to give you a great master on every mix. If you've got $200 to spend on some plugins, I would recommend that you check out Freefilter and Magneto, these have both been on clearance lately at Guitar Center and Mars. If you already have plugins for compression, limiting, and reverb then these would expand your capabilities rather than duplicating them.

Just my two cents...

[Uladine]

i love ozone. Not really for "mastering" but just as a useful tool like misfit said. The exciter sucks though in my opinion. It adds a bit of unwanted distortion.

[Teacher]

FYI...there's almost NO plug-in that'll give u "PRO" results besides prolly the bombfactory plug- and few other PT xclusive plugs and maybe some of the DSP cards as well

[Sonic Misfit]

Uladine,

To keep the exciter from distorting in Ozone, I have had to back off on the multiband compression for the bands that are distorting. It's not perfect, but it does help. It seems that Ozone doesn't like to run compression and exciter on the same frequencies.

Another thing is to change the order of the operations. Ozone permits you to do this.

Nothing will be the same for each mix, but it could help if you really want to use the exciter.

[misterx]

Hi,
I would REALLY REALLY love to hear some before and after demos using Ozone. Especially the exciter and multiband stuff. PLEASE oh PLEASE! Must I beg further?