iZotope Ozone 6

iZotope has released a newly designed version of Ozone, their flagship Mastering processor. Notice I didn’t refer to Ozone [6] as a plugin? Well I’m happy to report that Ozone [6] is now capable to run independent of a DAW as a stand-alone desktop processor.

oz6-480

Besides the stand-alone option and striking UI overhaul, Ozone’s flexibility has been greatly enhanced with the addition of support to host third party Audio Units and VST plugins. Preliminary tests here indicate that it functions very well in the stand-alone mode. More on this in moment …

I’ve been a customer and supporter of iZotope since early 2005. If I remember correctly Ozone 3 was the first version that I had access to. In fact back in the early days of Podcasting, many producers purchased an Ozone license based on my endorsement. This was an interesting scenario all due to the fact that most of the people in the community who bought it – had no idea how to use it! And so a steady flow of user support inquiries began to trickle in.

I decided the best way to bring users up to speed was to design Presets. I would distribute the underlying XML file and have the users move it to the proper location on their system’s. After doing so, the Preset would be accessible within Ozone’s Preset Manager.

The complexity of the Presets varied. Some people wanted basic Band-Pass filters. Others requested the simulation of a broadcast chain that would result in a signature sound for their recorded voice. In fact I remember one particular instance where the user requested a Preset that would make him sound like an “AM Radio DJ”. So I went to work and I think I made him happy.

As Ozone matured, it’s level of complexity increased resulting in somewhat sluggish performance (at least for me). When iZotope released Alloy 2, I bought it – and found it to be much more responsive. And so I sort of moved away from Ozone, especially Ozone 5. My guess is if my system’s were a bit more robust, poor performance would be less of an issue. Note that my personal experience with Ozone was not necessarily the general concensus. Up to this latest release, the plugin was highly regarded with widespread use in the Mastering community.

Over the past 24 hours I’ve been paying close attention to how Ozone users are reacting to this new version. Note that a few key features have been removed. The Reverb module is totally gone. Gating/Expansion has been removed from the Dynamics Module, and the Dithering options have been minimized. The good news is these particular features are not game changers for me based on how I use this tool. I will say the community reaction has been tepid. Some users are passing on the release due to the omissions that I’ve mentioned and others that I’m sure I’ve overlooked.

For me personally – the $99 upgrade was a no-brainer. In my view the stand-alone functionality and the support for third party plugins makes up for what has been removed. In stand-alone mode you can import multiple files, save your work as projects, implement processing chains in a specific order, apply head/tail cuts/fades, and export your work.

Ozone [6] will accept WAV, AIFF, or MP3 files. If you are exporting to lossless, you can convert Sample Rates and apply Dither. This all worked quite well on my 2010 MacPro. In fact the performance was quite good, with no signs of sluggish performance. I did notice some problematic issues with plugin wrappers not scaling properly. Also the Plugin Manager displayed duplicates of a few plugins. This did not hinder performance in any way. In fact all of my plugins functioned well.

And so that’s my preliminary take. My guess is this new version of Ozone is well suited for advanced New Media Producers who have a basic understanding of how to process audio dynamics and apply EQ. Of course there’s much more to it, and I’m around to answer any questions that you might have.

Look for more information in future posts …

-paul.

Podcast Loudness: Mono vs. Stereo Perception …

Consider the following scenario:

Two copies of an audio file. File 1 is Stereo, Loudness Normalized to -16.0 LUFS. File 2 is Mono, also Loudness Normalized to -16.0 LUFS.

Passing both files through a Loudness Meter confirms equal numerical Program Loudness. However the numbers do not reflect an obvious perceptual difference during playback. In fact the Mono file is perceptually louder than it’s Stereo counterpart.

Why would the channel configuration affect perceptual loudness of these equally measured files?

mono-LN-480

The Explanation

I’m going to refer to a feature that I came across in a Mackie Mixer User Manual. Mackie makes reference to the “Constant Loudness” principle used in their mixers, specifically when panning Mono channels.

On a mixer, hard-panning a Mono channel left or right results in equal apparent loudness (perceived loudness). It would then make sense to assume that if the channel was panned center, the output level would be hotter due to the combined or “mixed” level of the channel. In order to maintain consistent apparent loudness, Mackie attenuates center panned Mono channels by about 3 dB.

We can now apply this concept to the DAW …

A Mono file played back through two speakers (channels) in a DAW would be the same as passing audio through a Mono analog mixer channel panned center. In this scenario, the analog mixer (that adheres to the Constant Loudness principle) would attenuate the output by 3dB.

In order to maintain equal perception between Loudness Normalized Stereo and Mono files targeting -16.0 LUFS, we can simulate the Constant Loudness principle in the DAW by attenuating Mono files by 3 LU. This compensation would shift the targeted Program Loudness for Mono files to -19.0 LUFS.

To summarize, if you plan to Loudness Normalize to the recommend targets for internet/mobile, and Podcast distribution … Stereo files should target -16.0 LUFS Program Loudness and Mono files should target -19.0 LUFS Program Loudness.

Note that In my discussions with leading experts in the space, it has come to my attention that this approach may not be sustainable. Many pros feel it is the responsibility of the playback device and/or delivery system to apply the necessary compensation. If this support is implemented, the perceived loudness of -16.0 LUFS Mono will be equal to -16.0 LUFS Stereo. There would be no need to apply manual compensation.

-paul.