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Hatsubai « Best mastering plugin, bar none »
Published on 07/02/11 at 05:28This 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.
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.