User reviews: iZotope Ozone 4

07/28/12

JeffTadashi's review "Great mastering!"

The iZotope Ozone 4 is a VST-based mastering suite that contains all the effects and plugins necessary for basic, home-studio mastering. It has six different sections, including paragraphic eq, mastering reverb, multi band harmonic exciter, multi band dynamics, loudness maximizer, and multi band stereo imaging. If you've never ventured into mastering before, some of these processes may seem familiar, but others can be a bit complicated. No matter, iZotope comes with plenty of presets for a variety of genres, and they are great starting points for your mastering needs.

Suitability/Performance

I find myself using the loudness maximizer the most, which is the main effect that pushes the volume of the audio track as loud as possible. This is what most people think of when it comes to mastering, although there are other elements as well. But tonally, you can always adjust things in the recording mix, but the loudness maximizer is always the biggest missing piece that turns a recorded piece into a finished one. Many companies offer loudness maximizers, but the key is finding one with a great transparent algorithm, which can maximize the volume and reduce the audible artifacts. iZotope Ozone comes with multiple algorithms for different genres, from smooth to fast responses, and they all sound pretty good, as long as you don't push it too far. You can also use the multi band compressor to help level out the sound, which reduces the pressure on the maximizer/limiter.

When I do quick song releases to show my friends, I usually just run it through the loudness maximizer, just until the limiter starts to kick in slightly, and it gives me a full-volume release that is void of any limiting artifacts, and it is quick and easy to do. That is one of the reasons I really like this software: it's easy to quickly dial in anything.

Overall Opinion

Overall, I would recommend this product to any home studio that is in need for an in-house mastering solution. Be sure to try it out!

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09/24/11

ericthegreat's review

Getting Started

I have been using ozone 4 for a few months now, it’s a great program. Even when I was new to mixing and mastering I could still work this program to its fullest. Its really easy to understand and runs great with my Toshiba laptop. The manual is very easy to understand as well, I downloaded the manual it didn’t come with a hard copy for me.

Suitability/Performance

The preset are great in Ozone 4 and easy to use. The software over all is easy to use for the beginner to the pro. As a beginner always ask for help from someone who knows what there doing and my friend is getting Ozone 4 to teach me how to mix and master with it. This program is very stable, I have never had a crash yet and hope that I never will. I need this program to stay stable for me. I plan on using this for many years to come.

Overall Opinion

Overall its great!, Ozone 4 can help you with your mastering as well as mixing. There is a demo for Ozone 4 and I say try it before you by it.... It may not be for everyone yet for me it is a great software. I get better with this program the more I use it. The best thing about this tool is the price. You can get this sound (known to every aspiring engineer in the world as "That Sound") by dropping a few grand on hardware, or you can get it for a couple hundred bucks. Yeah, it really is that good. It should be in every project studio's rig. Right off the bat, the presets add body and girth to your mixes. EQ, Compression, Loudness and Maximization are just the beginning!

I even use it as an insert on my synths and vocals.

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09/24/11

DJ Henny's review "Brilliant mastering plugin."

Getting Started

This VST installed well on both my home and college computers and works brilliantly on both systems. The college computer is a smaller laptop with a single core pentium processor, so it really does work well on slow computers.. I have also used it on an old desktop low end computer (1.8GHZ pentium and 1gb ram) as well as my current (2.5GHZ Core2Quad & 4GB ram) and it runs great on both systems. There is no real major cpu usage from this plugin. There is a lot of presets available if you do not want to spend so much time tinkering with settings or are new to mastering. All of the presets are nicely organised into genres and specifications. This plugin works brilliantly in both of the DAWs I have tested it in (Ableton and FL Studio).

Suitability/Performance

The Izotope Ozone plugin works well in FL Studio with no lag or delay, however in Ableton Live i have to run in administrator mode for it to pick up as an effect plugin. This could be because of Windows 7 64 bit that I use and the plugin not supporting it properly. If not ran in administrator mode, Ableton displays an error saying that it is not a supported VST. The presets that come with it are well made and do give you a real quick way of getting a great sound. The memory usage is also low for a VST of the nature that it is, and it is small for the hard drive even though there are a lot of presets. I have encountered very little problems at all with this software.

Overall Opinion

A lot of the presets that this plugin comes with are very well made and give a real warmth to the master sound. They are all genre based so you can pick and chose presets based on how you want the overall track to sound. The plugin allows great customization too as you can completely ignore presets and go with your own modules from the plugin. I would recommend this plugin to anybody as it is the only mastering plugin I have ever really encountered that doesn't completely mess up the mix.

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08/04/11

James...'s review "Decent mastering for advanced users"

Getting Started

Izotope makes good products and install isn't a mess. You are pretty much up and running in a few minutes. Just load up your daw, record and start. It comes ready to use no matter what your skill level. Ozone is really a mastering plugin for individual tracks or your entire mix. It comes with presets for all these applications. All the various effects are laid out sensibly. Ozone has a great many tools to utilize. You have the usual suspects of compressors and eq, but you also get a loudness maximizer and a dynamics processor. They even throw in a harmonic exciter.

Suitability/Performance

I got this to use strictly for mix mastering. I did try it on individual tracks though. The presets, for the most part sound overdone. The use of the dynamics and the harmonics settings can be dangerous if you don't know what you're going. Tracks can get bloated very fast. To the untrained ear, it would appear that this is a great plugin but in reality most of the single track presets are really just overkill.

In a mix setting I liked it better, when used in moderation. Again, you have to take it easy with some of the more exotic functions. You can really choke out a good mix with this plugin if you aren't careful. Generally all I need is eq, compression, and some loudness maximization. The performance is decent. It isn't the lightest plug out there. I eventually got rid of it because I was only using it for one function and it didn't even do that very well. It was hogging cpu at that... I've since moved to using Waves plugs for mastering.

Overall Opinion

The presets are nice, especially for beginners. I would almost say this is a good learning all in one mastering plugin. After a while though, it starts to sound gimmicky on all but the most meager settings. But for the price, it's not a bad vst at all. If you take the time to learn it, you can get a lot of use. Don't expect it to "improve" your mixes by leaps and bounds. It's meant to be used as supplemental mastering. Not a sonic boob job. Still, I recommend it if you're on a budget.

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07/10/11

picturethis's review "...Perfect."

Getting Started

Izotope!

There is nothing bad anyone could ever say about this plugin/mastersuite!

I have had not one problem with it and i don't expect to, it is my "holy grail" in my studio setup.

Absolutely easy to use and understand and if you do get stuck the manual is one of the best compared to most vsts...

As soon as you open this vst you will understand the basics straight up. master EQ, reverb, loudness maximiser, multiband compression, width enhancer and a harmonic exciter!

and if your a do it yourself kinda person you can easily hear what each setting does just by fiddling with knobs haha.

Suitability/Performance

This software has been well made and thought out. compatible with all daws that i have used so far including ableton, protools, logic etc.

As i said earlier this plugin is my holy grail! It amazes me how much better it can make a mix, you can get a really super live sound or a perfect studio sound just byt he touch of a button or rather move of a slider.

I have only been using this version for a bit over a month but have already fallen in love haha.

Just be careful because of the amazing power, it is quite easy to get carried away and come close to destroying your mix.

Overall Opinion

The BEST (and worst) feature of this program in my opinion is the snapshots button in the parametric EQ. Tis feature literally allows you to "copy" the EQ of an other song/sound source. As i say this can also be a bad thing in the wrong hands when used as an imitation device rather then a tool.

I plan on continuing using this program for as long as I can before the world throws a whole new world of plugin greatness at me!

Sound quality is just amazing! the live feel you can get out of just turning up a master reverb slider is unmatched by anything i have used.

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07/02/11

Hatsubai's review "Best mastering plugin, bar none"

Getting Started

This is probably one of the best and most well known finalizing plugins in the music world, and for good reason. The plugin contains a powerful parametric EQ, harmonic exciter, loudness maximizer, multiband dynamics, stereo imaging, mastering reverb and dither. To start using it, you simply enable it on your master buss in your DAW. You can also enable it on separate tracks, but I find it's usually only needed on the master buss. I never experienced any compatibility issues while using this program. The manual for this is very clear, and you can download it on iZotope's website if you'd like. They clearly explain how everything works and what everything does. Personally, I usually mess around with the sliders to figure out exactly how things work.

Suitability/Performance

iZotope's plugins are similar to Waves in that they're fairly solid when it comes to stability. I never experienced a direct crash related to iZotope's Ozone 4. One thing I will say, however, is that it does take a bit of memory. While this isn't usually a big deal, it's very noticeable if you try to record while this is enabled on your master buss. You might notice some latency, even with Firewire. The cause is usually this plugin, so don't enable it during the recording process. The plugin is also 32 bit instead of 64 bit. It's not a huge deal as there are bridges in most DAWs that'll still allow you to run this in a 64 bit environment, but I'd like to see the next version be fully 64 bit compatible if possible. I've been using iZotope's Ozone for years now, and I've had version 4 since it first came out.

Overall Opinion

This is something I always find myself using as it's just so versatile. The plugin is extremely powerful, but it's also extremely easy to overuse. I've been guilty of this very thing multiple times. Don't base everything off the presets in the program. Instead, try creating your own mix by mix. That'll help prevent you from enabling tons of unnecessary things such as stereo imaging on a death metal mix or something that really shouldn't have it.

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05/31/11

songboy's review "Pretty sweet all in one"

Getting Started

I use this in Logic 9 and I have had no problems whatsoever. The manual and the other documents about mastering in general and with this plugin that Izotope provided were very clear and helpful. They also released a few videos on the web that are even more helpful.

The general configuration is fairly complicated. You have several devices setup in a chain that all control different aspects of the mastering process. Each device gets it's own window and all of the controls for each device are accessed that way. Overall, there are a lot of "knobs," "sliders" and parameters in general to be very intimidating but a solid workflow is attainable with practice.

The plugin is set up well so most of the functions are easily accessed through the device selector window.

Suitability/Performance

I run this on a Macbook Pro i7 core, with a Fireface 800 mainly in Logic 9 but I do use it in Ableton 8 occasionally too. It functions perfectly in both software and uses less CPU than I would have thought.

So far I have never had a crash that I could attribute to this plugin. No glitches or sound artifacts either. I give this unit a 10 out of 10 because my personal mastering ability has increased ten fold since owning this unit.

I have been using this for two months now and I find it much better than the built in mastering units in Logic 9.

Overall Opinion

What I like most about this unit is the device chain window. It displays all the devices used in mastering (Limiter, compressor, reverb, etc....) in a chain showing the audio flow. The great thing about this window is you can quickly and easily swap the order of the devices. This gives you some really interesting A/B results that can inspire some cool, interesting masters (like running the reverb into a tight compressor and then switching those two to change the whole feel of the song).

The only complaint I have is that the color and the plethora of parameters makes the unit a little harder to read, and I can't seem to stretch the window of the plugin like I can with the built in plugins in Logic.

The price was around $200. This plugin is quite a powerhouse so I think that is a pretty fair price.

I give is a 10 out of 10 for precision and quality of sound for Digital Plugin Mastering. It isn't nearly the quality of a high end analog mastering suite, but in the digital realm, it is pretty sweet. I used the built in Logic plugs and also worked in a studio using TRacks. I know its better than logic and at least at the same level as TRacks but I haven't had enough experience with that one yet.

Yes, I would definitely make the same choice again. Good bang for the Buck.

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04/01/11

whycomeimsocool's review

Getting Started

Ozone 4 a very well-designed, good looking plugin. It is very intuitive to navigate between functions, and the presets it comes with sound great as well.

Suitability/Performance

My system includes:

- Mac Pro 8-core (2 x 3.0 gHz Quad-core Intel Xeon)

- OS 10.6.7 OSX, 2.6 Tb of hard drive space, and 10 Gb of RAM

- Apple Logic Pro 9.1.3

- Mbox 2 Pro

This configuration is very stable and reliable, and everything works properly. I've been running this setup for almost 3 years.

iZotope uses a lot of CPU, so if you have a less powerful setup, I would be careful running more than one, especially on a huge session.

Overall Opinion

iZotope, a small company based in Cambridge MA, is an obvious leader in the music production industry. They produce very high-quality plugins and effects.

Ozone 4 is a very flexible plugin, and you can use it to effect/master anywhere from an individual track, to the entire 2-mix. Because of its powerful versatility, it can also be a very tricky plugin to get a handle on.

You need a well-trained ear and a certain level of production expertise to get the exact sound you want from Ozone. It is easy to get carried away and end up with undesirable artifacts such as harmonic distortion, aliasing, mud, etc. That said, it can make a great learning tool, because it is very easy to single out each function and see how it effects the sound.

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03/23/11

BadApple's review "Great Piece of Kit"

Getting Started

With setting this up, there was no problems at all. Just downloaded it. Clicked install and it basically did all the hard work for me.

It comes with a lot of great presets that you can tweak to get a really good finish product on all of your production.

All the functions are very easy to use and it does not take long to fully figure out the whole inside out of this product.

The manual is pretty good. I have read through it a few times and I may have to read it up again to fully master it myself.

No compatibility issues on my windows 7 64bit computer.

Suitability/Performance

With this plug in, it really does like to eat your cpu. If you were to open it in a blank document with no other things running it would be at aroun 30-40 on the cpu meter which is quite a lot if you ask me.

Best way to use it without this crazy amount of cpu blowing up your project is to finish and eq all of you project and then export it as wav and then master it in another file. This works the best for me even though it still uses a lot of cpu.

I have used this plugin for around 5 months now or something close to that.

Its one of the best mastering plugins I have used to date.

Overall Opinion

I like the presets to be honest, they are all very handy for whatever project you want to do.

Making presets for each genre is very nice also and you can save them in a bank.

What you get for your money is great, a little cheaper would be nice though.

I have tried a couple of other mastering vsts before this but this has to be my favourite, I have also tried ozone3 which I will also review.

I would use this again and again definitely.

I always recommend people to get this as it is a great piece of kit.

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12/08/09

moosers's review

Getting Started

I wasn't involved at all with installing iZotope Ozone 4 as the system that I have used it on already had it installed when I started using it. As far as I know there haven't been any real issues with this plug-in in terms of compatibility or anything like that, but I can't say so for sure as I have only been using this plug-in for a short while. In terms of the interface of the software, I found it to be user friendly for the most part. I should say that I had used Ozone 3 extensively in the past before using this, so I did have some prior knowledge of the general interface. However, even if you don't have experience with previous versions of Ozone, I think that most users will find the interface easy to pick up on. I haven't seen a manual for this plug-in, but unless you are having technical problems I don't think that you need it.

Suitability/Performance

The system that I have run iZotope Ozone 4 on is a Pro Tools HD system that runs with a Digidesign 192 I/O audio interface and on an Apple G5 computer. I've never had a need to run more than one of these at a time within a single session as I have only used this for mastering, so I can't say how well it would run if you wanted to run a bunch of them. Although I don't see why this would be necessary unless you wanted to use this to mix, but I wouldn't recommend this because it is a plug-in that takes up a lot of processing power and isn't really meant for this kind of use.

Overall Opinion

When compared to Ozone 3, I think that iZotope Ozone 4 is definitely a major upgrade. It has a cleaner overall tone and has more features as well. It has a similar interface but it did take me a few minutes to get used to everything even while having experience with Ozone 3. The price of the plug-in is very reasonable and makes it perfect for home studio owner looking for an all in one mastering plug-in. I would recommend shopping around and to look at similar software like T-Racks 3 Mastering Suite to see what will work best for you, but overall iZotope Ozone is a great value.

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iZotope Ozone 4

iZotope Ozone 4 user reviews ( 8/10) - 15 user reviews