Super thorough review, love it! I haven't been saying this on any comments, but I'm the PM for the Ozone release. You clearly have a great grasp of the product, so I'd love to get in touch if you'd be interested in maybe beta testing with us so we can get your opinion on future developments! Had a couple thoughts watching this: I wonder if master assistant on that second song might have been better if it targeted Folk instead of Rock. There's a bug in pro tools with the Recover Sides amount getting "stuck" at 1dB, that'll be fixed in our patch update. Also you could try the "solo" button on Recover Sides to hear what it's doing. 48:30 feature request: in the general settings, you can uncheck "dim controls when bypassed". Unfortunately it looks like that setting broke between Ozone 8 and 9. Going to try and fix that for the patch update as well. On null testing - we definitely don't want to be changing the sound of any of the algorithms. I was trying to look closely and see if maybe anything was mismatched on those null tests, but the UI wasn't open enough. If Ozone 9 and 10 do have the exact same settings, they should null, if they don't that's a bug. If we connect, I'd definitely love to get to the bottom of that. Cheers! Really appreciate such a comprehensive review
Thanks for the review, it was nice to see you put it through the paces with Ashes to Fire. Using Ozone on and off from version 5, 2012 on up to 10, it's been a great software evolution.
Great review! I have to admit with my quick demo yesterday on a mix I wasn’t blown away but after watching this there are about 5 features I want to explore again. Thank you sir!
Spent the whole day researching whether to take advantage of the sales, and upgrade from 9 adv. to 10 adv. Had pretty much convinced myself to skip 10, until I watched this video. Within the first 15 minutes I knew I'd have to upgrade. Excellent presentation, with none of the hype, abrasiveness and fatigue so common in YT videos these days. Cheers!
Thank you! I'm pumped to hear you dig the video and the delivery! In my opinion, 10 is worth the upgrade. The new modules and features are great and I'm using them everyday. If you dig using assistant, I'd recommend checking out the Audiolens app, too. If you haven't already! Let me know how you find the upgrade after you've been on it a bit! Cheers.
@@mr_bradsmith Thanks! To be fair, I've only really used Ozone 9 for very quick 'n' dirty masters, via the assistant (plus occasional tweaks. Just seem to luck out and get to the point where the assistant needs to do no more than make it louder. But listening to the different examples here, even if I continued to rely totally on the assistant, the results seem much more clear and open, while being more punchy and authoritative. Not intending to rely on the assistant so much, going forward But it's good to know that if did, it would likely do a stellar job. Will update when I've got some opinions worthy of printing ;) Thanks, again.
Thanks for another great video! One thing that struck me was that I too have noticed a problem with the highs when using the Rock preset after having the Master Assistant do its thing as you mention around 11:18 in the video. As most of my stuff is pretty hard rock I love the punch, etc. of that preset but I always have to play with the high freqs when using it. To my ears they noticeably stick out and sound rather harsh on any system I play them on.
Thanks Mike! I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews! Yeah I do find that Rock preset pretty harsh. The clipper seems to be pretty heavy handed and the High end on the stabilizer is a bit aggressive. I find I end up taking the clipper out and backing off the stabilizer or just swapping to a different preset. Have you tried jumping to the country preset? The Audiolens app they just released is pretty great as well. Well worth checking out!
@@mr_bradsmith I've been trying to tame it using EQ into, inside of, and out of, Ozone 10. And while it tames the harshness, the cymbals/hats still don't sound right. The EQ, the stabilizer, and the Impact module all seem have an effect on this when using the Rock preset after using the Master Assistant. Turning down the percentage of EQ (like to 25%) seems to help a lot. And it seems more balanced than just trying to reduce the highs. And there is a relationship within the dynamic modules of Ozone 10. If you change one, the others seem to be affected as well. (which makes total sense) However, one thing I have not tried is using a different stabilizer preset!!! Damn! That's a great idea! And I never even thought of doing it! Amazing how sometimes the simplest solution does not pop into your mind. I'm going to give that a try tonight! Thanks!
@@mikemccormick1624 No problem! If you change the preset in the Master Assistant menu it actually changes the entire mastering chain for you, not just the stabilizer. Essentially Master Assistant builds you chains for each genre, which is cool! Let me know how it goes!
@@mr_bradsmith Yeah, I totally get that changing the overall preset on Ozone 10 reconfigures the entire mastering chain. In my case the overall master was close to what I was looking for except for the high end. I like the punch and power of the Rock preset. So, unless I misunderstood your response, I thought you were suggesting just changing the preset on the Stabilizer module itself which I thought was a great idea. So (as promised) I worked on that last night and, WOW! It really gave me a lot of options that were close to solving the problem. Then, a little tweak here and there worked wonders. What it all boils down to is that, whatever you meant, the idea gave me a real solution to the problem. So either way, Thanks!!!😀
@@mikemccormick1624 That's awesome! I'm glad to hear that swapping the stabilizer did the trick! I kind of wish that stabilizer was broken into 4 bands. I'd like to be able to control the the upper mids and top end independently. I seem to be finding that I like what the stabilizer is doing to one or the other, but rarely both haha!
Definitely unusual! I'm looking to trying it out a bit further. I didn't realize while doing the review that there was a solo function available. That will certainly help to hear what's going on haha!
I find most masters are still living at -0.1. That's generally what I work to unless otherwise directed. I've even received some masters back on projects I've mixed that are purposefully clipped with no ceiling.
Really enjoyed this comparison! I'm listening through a pair Adams A7X. I didn not hear much of a difference in the 1s tune. As you pointed out, the 2nd tune showed dramatic differences between 9 and 10. To my ears, 9 sounded more rounder than 10, which had a deeper compression, sunstantually more 2k> and a louder maximizer. Adding those freqs during mastering is kinda perplexing to me and I'm not sure what the logioc behind that is. I use 9 a lot and those higher freqs come up a lot in my assistant. I've heard it described as "making the mix come alive" but I'm on the fence about that. Over all, the difference I hear between 9 and 10 in your video is that the mixes get fatter but not necsssarily better qualily, other than the wider width which is more noticible in 10. At a glance, Izotope seems have made 10 more dummy proof. I wish that 10 had kept the low/med/high. I find that extremely useful feature.
I'm glad you enjoyed the comparison! Thanks for checking it out! 10 definitely is a bit more heavy handed on the assistant feature. I agree with you, I do wish the low/med/high was still an option. That said, I do love that it builds chains for each genre to quickly hop around and audition. And I like how the assistant page is setup to make quick broad stroke adjustments. Have you tried out the Audiolens app yet?
@@mr_bradsmith I'm about to pull the trigger on the juicy "The Everything Bundle" which will upgrade me to OZ10, Neutron 4 and other goodies like Audiolens. The first song I'll run through it: Sledgehammer 🤪
I am glad I found this video... I have been really struggling with the differences between 9 and 10. I do Americana Folkish stuff, and 10 has been doing exactly what it did to you on the roots rock track. Getting way too much top end, and also distortion on kick drums etc.... on some tracks its completely unusable.... glad its not just me LOL..... on faster tracks, more dense mixes its better... the impact module is fantastic as is the imager.....at this point I am using 9 for the songs that are having problems... and adding the impact module and imager from 10 after 9 in the plug in chain... I hope they improve this...
I'm glad you enjoyed the review! I've been finding 10 a bit harder to use on more organic material as well. Especially anything mid or slow tempo. It is pretty great though that you can quickly swap the genre and get a whole new chain instantly. Cycle through a bunch of options quickly. The jazz preset, not surprisingly, seems to suit organic material the best I've been finding.
It should be in the loyalty offers section on your Izotope account. And this what I was able to find on Plugin Boutique: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/50-Mastering-/9616-Ozone-10-Advanced-Upgrade-from-any-Ozone-Standard
I must make more tests this week with the 10 version, but I’m sorry to disagree. 9 sounds better than 10 on my first test. 10 just sounds louder. Actually, from the second track, you have not matched the volume between both versions, and that’s not fair for 9. Besides, on your testing, 10 uses 6 modules, including stabilizer, impact, and imager, while 9 uses only 3 modules. So, for me, this video does not help at all deciding which sounds better, and it’s not fair. Said this, 10 has introduced some cool features that on the paper look promising.
Do you think an end listener listening to this on Spotify with 9.99 headphones will notice this difference? How they waste time on subtleties that matter little in the end, instead of spending more time making better music, which is what today is lacking...I'm just saying....
Hey Axel! The subtleties certainly don’t matter without a great song and a great performance. No one is listening without those for sure! But when those are in place, having great tools that can help capture and translate emotion in subtle ways, I feel, can make a lot of difference!
Oh no, I understand your point. I understand the average listener doesn’t hear or care about the subtle differences in equipment. And that’s quite ok with me. Hopefully the average listener is going to listen to the projects I work on, ultimately though, I’m interested in recording and producing to help artists capture and translate the emotion of their songs. And I’m interested in all of the subtleties of that process. So while the subtleties don’t matter to the average listener, they matter to me :)
@@mr_bradsmith I share your criteria, don't get me wrong, the OZONE 10 is an incredibly professional tool with a final sound of excellence for mastering enthusiasts, I was just putting my finger on the frame, from the auditory perspective of 90% of end users, from our ears as sound perfectionists, I agree with you with those subtle differences, have we become too perfectionist? Greetings and thanks for the video shared
Definitely a useful frame, Axel! I know I ask myself that question a lot when I'm trying to finish something or looking for perspective. Thanks for checking out the video and the conversation!
Super thorough review, love it! I haven't been saying this on any comments, but I'm the PM for the Ozone release. You clearly have a great grasp of the product, so I'd love to get in touch if you'd be interested in maybe beta testing with us so we can get your opinion on future developments!
Had a couple thoughts watching this: I wonder if master assistant on that second song might have been better if it targeted Folk instead of Rock.
There's a bug in pro tools with the Recover Sides amount getting "stuck" at 1dB, that'll be fixed in our patch update. Also you could try the "solo" button on Recover Sides to hear what it's doing.
48:30 feature request: in the general settings, you can uncheck "dim controls when bypassed". Unfortunately it looks like that setting broke between Ozone 8 and 9. Going to try and fix that for the patch update as well.
On null testing - we definitely don't want to be changing the sound of any of the algorithms. I was trying to look closely and see if maybe anything was mismatched on those null tests, but the UI wasn't open enough. If Ozone 9 and 10 do have the exact same settings, they should null, if they don't that's a bug. If we connect, I'd definitely love to get to the bottom of that.
Cheers! Really appreciate such a comprehensive review
Thanks for the review, it was nice to see you put it through the paces with Ashes to Fire. Using Ozone on and off from version 5, 2012 on up to 10, it's been a great software evolution.
I'm glad you dig the review, Eric! Thank you! I agree, Izotope has done incredible job evolving their software!
Great review! I have to admit with my quick demo yesterday on a mix I wasn’t blown away but after watching this there are about 5 features I want to explore again. Thank you sir!
Spent the whole day researching whether to take advantage of the sales, and upgrade from 9 adv. to 10 adv. Had pretty much convinced myself to skip 10, until I watched this video. Within the first 15 minutes I knew I'd have to upgrade.
Excellent presentation, with none of the hype, abrasiveness and fatigue so common in YT videos these days.
Cheers!
Thank you! I'm pumped to hear you dig the video and the delivery! In my opinion, 10 is worth the upgrade. The new modules and features are great and I'm using them everyday. If you dig using assistant, I'd recommend checking out the Audiolens app, too. If you haven't already! Let me know how you find the upgrade after you've been on it a bit! Cheers.
@@mr_bradsmith Thanks!
To be fair, I've only really used Ozone 9 for very quick 'n' dirty masters, via the assistant (plus occasional tweaks. Just seem to luck out and get to the point where the assistant needs to do no more than make it louder.
But listening to the different examples here, even if I continued to rely totally on the assistant, the results seem much more clear and open, while being more punchy and authoritative.
Not intending to rely on the assistant so much, going forward But it's good to know that if did, it would likely do a stellar job.
Will update when I've got some opinions worthy of printing ;)
Thanks, again.
Thanks for another great video! One thing that struck me was that I too have noticed a problem with the highs when using the Rock preset after having the Master Assistant do its thing as you mention around 11:18 in the video. As most of my stuff is pretty hard rock I love the punch, etc. of that preset but I always have to play with the high freqs when using it. To my ears they noticeably stick out and sound rather harsh on any system I play them on.
Thanks Mike! I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews! Yeah I do find that Rock preset pretty harsh. The clipper seems to be pretty heavy handed and the High end on the stabilizer is a bit aggressive. I find I end up taking the clipper out and backing off the stabilizer or just swapping to a different preset. Have you tried jumping to the country preset? The Audiolens app they just released is pretty great as well. Well worth checking out!
@@mr_bradsmith I've been trying to tame it using EQ into, inside of, and out of, Ozone 10. And while it tames the harshness, the cymbals/hats still don't sound right. The EQ, the stabilizer, and the Impact module all seem have an effect on this when using the Rock preset after using the Master Assistant. Turning down the percentage of EQ (like to 25%) seems to help a lot. And it seems more balanced than just trying to reduce the highs. And there is a relationship within the dynamic modules of Ozone 10. If you change one, the others seem to be affected as well. (which makes total sense)
However, one thing I have not tried is using a different stabilizer preset!!! Damn! That's a great idea! And I never even thought of doing it! Amazing how sometimes the simplest solution does not pop into your mind. I'm going to give that a try tonight!
Thanks!
@@mikemccormick1624 No problem! If you change the preset in the Master Assistant menu it actually changes the entire mastering chain for you, not just the stabilizer. Essentially Master Assistant builds you chains for each genre, which is cool! Let me know how it goes!
@@mr_bradsmith Yeah, I totally get that changing the overall preset on Ozone 10 reconfigures the entire mastering chain. In my case the overall master was close to what I was looking for except for the high end. I like the punch and power of the Rock preset. So, unless I misunderstood your response, I thought you were suggesting just changing the preset on the Stabilizer module itself which I thought was a great idea. So (as promised) I worked on that last night and, WOW! It really gave me a lot of options that were close to solving the problem. Then, a little tweak here and there worked wonders.
What it all boils down to is that, whatever you meant, the idea gave me a real solution to the problem. So either way, Thanks!!!😀
@@mikemccormick1624 That's awesome! I'm glad to hear that swapping the stabilizer did the trick! I kind of wish that stabilizer was broken into 4 bands. I'd like to be able to control the the upper mids and top end independently. I seem to be finding that I like what the stabilizer is doing to one or the other, but rarely both haha!
AFAIK Reduce Sides just sums side information and adds it in mid channel. Pretty cool to be honest. Unusual
Definitely unusual! I'm looking to trying it out a bit further. I didn't realize while doing the review that there was a solo function available. That will certainly help to hear what's going on haha!
Nice! Love to hear you're an Izotope fan, too. :) Too bad my system is so old. I'm still on Ozone 7 and RX 2 & 5.
What rig are you running? The yearly subscription is actually something worth considering.
@@mr_bradsmith I believe it's worth it, but my 2010 Mac Pro can't run it. :)
Great video!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Should I use a -1db ceiling or a -0.1 ceiling for streaming?
I find most masters are still living at -0.1. That's generally what I work to unless otherwise directed. I've even received some masters back on projects I've mixed that are purposefully clipped with no ceiling.
@@mr_bradsmith thank you! Subscribed!
@@whome806 No problem! Thank you!
Really enjoyed this comparison! I'm listening through a pair Adams A7X. I didn not hear much of a difference in the 1s tune. As you pointed out, the 2nd tune showed dramatic differences between 9 and 10. To my ears, 9 sounded more rounder than 10, which had a deeper compression, sunstantually more 2k> and a louder maximizer. Adding those freqs during mastering is kinda perplexing to me and I'm not sure what the logioc behind that is. I use 9 a lot and those higher freqs come up a lot in my assistant. I've heard it described as "making the mix come alive" but I'm on the fence about that. Over all, the difference I hear between 9 and 10 in your video is that the mixes get fatter but not necsssarily better qualily, other than the wider width which is more noticible in 10. At a glance, Izotope seems have made 10 more dummy proof. I wish that 10 had kept the low/med/high. I find that extremely useful feature.
I'm glad you enjoyed the comparison! Thanks for checking it out! 10 definitely is a bit more heavy handed on the assistant feature. I agree with you, I do wish the low/med/high was still an option. That said, I do love that it builds chains for each genre to quickly hop around and audition. And I like how the assistant page is setup to make quick broad stroke adjustments. Have you tried out the Audiolens app yet?
@@mr_bradsmith I'm about to pull the trigger on the juicy "The Everything Bundle" which will upgrade me to OZ10, Neutron 4 and other goodies like Audiolens. The first song I'll run through it: Sledgehammer 🤪
@@gisjohannsson Amazing! Enjoy the new toys! Happy New Year!
I am glad I found this video... I have been really struggling with the differences between 9 and 10. I do Americana Folkish stuff, and 10 has been doing exactly what it did to you on the roots rock track. Getting way too much top end, and also distortion on kick drums etc.... on some tracks its completely unusable.... glad its not just me LOL..... on faster tracks, more dense mixes its better... the impact module is fantastic as is the imager.....at this point I am using 9 for the songs that are having problems... and adding the impact module and imager from 10 after 9 in the plug in chain... I hope they improve this...
I'm glad you enjoyed the review! I've been finding 10 a bit harder to use on more organic material as well. Especially anything mid or slow tempo. It is pretty great though that you can quickly swap the genre and get a whole new chain instantly. Cycle through a bunch of options quickly. The jazz preset, not surprisingly, seems to suit organic material the best I've been finding.
@@mr_bradsmith Until I read the comment about changing genres ... I didn't realise it worked like that...thank you
No problem!
Thanks for your very nice video. 😎👍
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you dig it! Cheers.
Do you onow hpw much would it cost to upgrade from ozone standard 10 to advanced 10?
Could not find the information anywhere.
It should be in the loyalty offers section on your Izotope account. And this what I was able to find on Plugin Boutique: www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/50-Mastering-/9616-Ozone-10-Advanced-Upgrade-from-any-Ozone-Standard
I'm sure Izotope would get back to you quick with any upgrade questions as well. Those new modules are definitely innovative and a lot of fun!
@@mr_bradsmith thanks for answering. Highly apreciated.
Not sure ,if can spend $100 at the moment.
I'll check on izotope then,maybe it'd be cheaper.
Definitely might be a bit of a better deal on Izotope as they take into consideration any other software you might own from them. Cheers!
@@mr_bradsmithchecked the izotope page n do not see any deal this specific upgrade.
Thanx
I must make more tests this week with the 10 version, but I’m sorry to disagree. 9 sounds better than 10 on my first test. 10 just sounds louder. Actually, from the second track, you have not matched the volume between both versions, and that’s not fair for 9. Besides, on your testing, 10 uses 6 modules, including stabilizer, impact, and imager, while 9 uses only 3 modules. So, for me, this video does not help at all deciding which sounds better, and it’s not fair. Said this, 10 has introduced some cool features that on the paper look promising.
strange the opposite as features comparing Elements version, 9 is better than 10 !!! why Izotope ? native fusion companies effect ?
Do you think an end listener listening to this on Spotify with 9.99 headphones will notice this difference? How they waste time on subtleties that matter little in the end, instead of spending more time making better music, which is what today is lacking...I'm just saying....
Hey Axel! The subtleties certainly don’t matter without a great song and a great performance. No one is listening without those for sure! But when those are in place, having great tools that can help capture and translate emotion in subtle ways, I feel, can make a lot of difference!
@@mr_bradsmith For you it may be the "lot of difference", but you are still missing the point, the final listener is not even aware of that...
Oh no, I understand your point. I understand the average listener doesn’t hear or care about the subtle differences in equipment. And that’s quite ok with me. Hopefully the average listener is going to listen to the projects I work on, ultimately though, I’m interested in recording and producing to help artists capture and translate the emotion of their songs. And I’m interested in all of the subtleties of that process. So while the subtleties don’t matter to the average listener, they matter to me :)
@@mr_bradsmith I share your criteria, don't get me wrong, the OZONE 10 is an incredibly professional tool with a final sound of excellence for mastering enthusiasts, I was just putting my finger on the frame, from the auditory perspective of 90% of end users, from our ears as sound perfectionists, I agree with you with those subtle differences, have we become too perfectionist? Greetings and thanks for the video shared
Definitely a useful frame, Axel! I know I ask myself that question a lot when I'm trying to finish something or looking for perspective. Thanks for checking out the video and the conversation!