iZotope Mix & Master Bundle Advanced – Software for Pro Audio Applications (Download)

Neutron 3 Advanced represents the next step forward in iZotope‘s channel-strip plug-ins, giving you the ability to balance your entire session in three clicks with the new Mix Assistant. As with previous iterations, you get an equalizer, a compressor, a transient shaper, an exciter, and other goodies from Neutron 2. But iZotope has brought a new module into the mix as well—a sweetening, tone-shaping module called Sculptor.

The modules offered in version 2 have been optimized to take as little CPU as possible. The GUI has seen an overhaul with a resizeable window as well as better control of the sliders than Version 2. The Masking Meter, which helps you identify and fix competing frequencies between two tracks, is now elegantly compacted into one, easy-to-understand window, with essential parameters like inverse link more readily available.

The most prominent additions to the Neutron platform are Mix Assistant and Sculptor. Through plug-in communication, the Mix Assistant can listen to all of the tracks in your mix and give you a static starting point. Use it at the beginning of the process: Simply place Neutron 3 or Relay on every track of your mix, run the Mix Assistant, choose the most prominent tracks when prompted (i.e., the vocal in a pop tune), and let Neutron handle all the busywork so you can get to the fun stuff.

Sculptor, on the other hand, is a sweetening, finalizing module that applies a comprehensive EQ, one that fluctuates in real-time, reacting to the track as it plays. It makes multiple dynamic choices per second. Use it to add both final polish and a creative emphasis to any track.

Neutron 3 Advanced is compatible with Mac and Windows computers and is available for download. It works in AU, AAX, and VST formats.

Available for download, iZotope Ozone 8 Advanced is software designed for mastering music, providing many modules for the task. The software builds upon the offerings of previous iterations with visual improvements, tweaks to algorithms under the hood, a handy Master Assistant control, and much more. Aside from workflow improvements, the creative elements of mastering continue to be pushed front and center in this version, allowing you to create masters of your music in an intuitive, user-friendly manner.

Take the new Master Assistant, for instance. After you select this task, a window will pop up asking you “what are you going for?” From here, you’re offered a choice of targets: Streaming, for online platforms as such as Spotify and iTunes Radio, CD for louder masters optimized for the compact disc, and References, which allows you to target a specific example of your own selection and match it for tonal consistency and level. Next, a window asks you for your desired intensity, with each choice dictating a different framework for compression, EQ, and ultimate loudness. After the algorithm listens to a portion of your song (iZotope playing the loudness portion of your song), intelligent settings for equalization, compression, loudness, and dynamic EQ are dialed in. These aren’t cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all presets—instead, you’ll notice subtler implementations, such as EQ shelves applied only when needed, or dynamic equalization to reduce artifacts in the limiting stage; if the algorithm decides your mix doesn’t need compression to achieve your desired target, none will be applied.

Another useful tool is the Reference Section, which allows you to import up to ten reference tracks and compare your master against them equally, giving you the ability to create markers within the reference to use as looping points. A gain slider lets you lever match your master with the reference track right inside the plug-in. Such features render many third-party referencing plug-ins gratuitous or redundant, as they are incorporated within Ozone 8 itself. They are also useful for creating cohesive albums, as you can master one track to taste, and then use that track as a master for level and frequency comparison.

A new module has been introduced into the Ozone ecosystem. Called Spectral Shaper, this module is designed to tame, smoothen, and otherwise sculpt particularly harsh bands of a mix. This module is useful for taming harsh hi-hats in a mix, de-essing a sibilant vocal within the context of a stereo track, smooth out the attack of an acoustic guitar in a folk tune, and more. The module utilizes three sliders to control tone, attack, and release, as well as a threshold control, a frequency-band selector, intensity selectors, the ability to solo the frequency band in question, and to listen/home in on the spectral shaping effect apart from the mix.

Included with Ozone 8 Advanced is a Tonal Balance Control plug-in that provides an intuitive and adjustable frequency analysis over your whole master. It’s designed to help you balance the frequencies of your track, ensuring it’s commensurate with tonal profiles of modern, vintage, or orchestral music. You can also upload your own reference tracks into Tonal Balance Control and aim to match those. On the low end, a crest factor meter is provided to make sure you don’t over-compress the bass frequencies. Within the plug-in, you can call up and tweak equalizers in any instance of Ozone 8 or Neutron 2 across your mix. This gives you a new level of control and inter-connectivity across the iZotope ecosystem.

Changes have been made to Ozone’s popular IRC IV algorithm in the maximizer module to promote low-latency implementation, as well as to improve the low-end response to the limiter, which results in a smoother limiting with fewer artifacts. Also within the maximizer is a stereo independence section with separate sliders for transients and sustain, so you can tweak how the maximizer reacts to stereo information in a more precise manner. All of the vintage modules from Ozone 7 are included, with improvements made to the compressor under the hood.

Usable both as a standalone application and as a plug-in with a supported host, this software is compatible with Windows and Mac platforms. It can operate in AAX, RTAS, VST 3, VST 3, and AudioUnit formats.