iZotope Music Production Suite 3 Creative, Mixing & Mastering Software for Pro Audio (Upgrade, Download)

Available for download, iZotope Ozone 9 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, CPU optimizing, new modules, and new assistive options. The software allows you to create masters of your music in an intuitive, user-friendly manner.

Take the Master Rebalance Module, for instance. With tech borrowed from RX 7, this module intelligently grabs your bass, drums, or vocal parts and brings them up and down in level, depending on your settings. Now, you may not need to contact the mixing engineer when the bass part isn’t loud enough—you can simply raise it up yourself.

Another new offering is the Low End Focus module, which uses proprietary processes to help you secure impact, translation, and a distinct absence of mud in the low end of your masters. Use this module to help the kick and bass play nicely together in a stereo track.

You’ll note that Match EQ has been broken out into its own module. It now sports more controls to help you get the most out of this process in every part of the frequency spectrum.

You’ll find the Vintage mode in the Master Assistant useful, as it applies colorful strokes in the mastering process. Use the traditional Master Assistant to get you to the level you wish as transparently as possible, or choose the Vintage mode if the mix needs some more weight, vibe, or color. Then, tweak from there.

Included with Ozone 9 Advanced is an upgrade to the Tonal Balance Control plug-in. Tonal Balance Control 2 now comes with a far greater number of presets than the first version. It also lets you solo each individual band to home in on frequency issues.

As with the previous version, you’ll find a reference section to load in your favorite referencing tracks. You’ll also find dither options and be able to audition how the master sounds through various lossy codecs.

Other tweaks have been made to existing modules under the hood, including performance enhancements, and, in the case of the Imager module, increased sonic transparency. You can now resize the GUI at will. This being the advanced version, you can break out any module you wish into its own plug-in, so if you only want to use the Master Rebalance function, you needn’t load the whole suite.

The software is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms in AU, VST2, VST3, and AAX formats. It’s now compatible with NKS supported environments as well.

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 Nectar 3 is a channel strip plug-in developed for vocal mixing and polishing. Compression, equalization, saturation, vocal harmonies, and more are provided in the channel strip.

Nectar 3 takes many features available in version 2 of Nectar and expands upon them, updating them both in aesthetics and processing. Many new features are offered in Nectar 3, such as a Vocal Assistant, which creates a custom preset for your specific vocal after analyzing it.

You’ll also note the unmask feature, which carves out of the way any competing instruments, letting the vocal shine through the mix. A dynamic EQ has been added that can follow unwelcome resonances as they move up and down the frequency range, intelligently curtailing nasty blooms of sound so you don’t have to automate them yourself, or split them onto different tracks.

The new Dimension module provides chorus, flanging, and more, while Reverb and Delay modules have been redesigned to give you new and exciting kinds of delay. The Harmony section has been updated. Automatic Level Mode, on the input fader, quickly adjusts the levels of your vocals in a transparent manner, mitigating the need for corrective dynamics processing. A limiter, at the end of the chain, can ensure you don’t go over your desired level and can also impart a meaty feeling upon the sound.

Included with Nectar 3 are several other plug-ins that are quite helpful. Melodyne is world-renowned pitch-correction software, and Nectar 3 comes with Melodyne 4 Essential. RX 7 Breath Control is on hand for taking out unwanted breaths. Relay ensures inter-plug-in communication: put Relay on a guitar track that competes with the vocal’s midrange, and the Vocal Assistant can now target that guitar, changing its EQ to keep it out of the vocal’s way.

This software is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms. It is included in AU, AAX, VST, and RTAS formats.

Available for download, iZotope RX 7 Standard is the latest update to iZotope’s audio repair software, which is considered a staple for recording, mastering, and audio-for-video post-processing. The software can operate either as a standalone application or as a plug-in for both Mac- and Windows-based DAWs and NLEs. From fixing common audio problems like noises, distortions, and inconsistent recordings, to repairing severely damaged audio using Spectral Repair, RX can transform previously unusable audio into something usable.

The standard edition of RX 7 takes nearly all the modules provided in RX 6 Standard and implements a graphic overhaul more in line with iZotope’s current aesthetic. You’ll also find several new processes sure to help out in audio-restoration contexts including Variable Time, Variable Pitch, Music Rebalance, and the Repair Assistant.

Variable Time lets you change the time stretch of an audio selection without affecting its pitch. Variable Pitch does the opposite, allowing you to adjust the pitch of an audio selection without negatively impacting its duration. Previously, these processes were combined into one module.

Music Rebalance analyzes a full mix of music and allows you to rebalance the levels of its bass, vocals, drums, and harmonic content, doing so with four dedicated sliders. Do you have a bit of background music whose vocal line interferes with the dialogue? Use the Music Rebalance module to lower the offending vocal. Need to beef up the bass in an anemic mix that came your way? Use this tool to emphasize the bass with the bass slider.

Repair Assistant takes the concept behind iZotope’s Mixing and Mastering Assistants and applies them to the restoration of audio. Simply select the audio you need to process, click on the Repair Assistant button, and let the program analyze your audio. It will offer you three options for processing (light, medium, and aggressive), and you can choose among them after auditioning each one. Next, hit render, and the Repair Assistant will automatically fix the issue.

All the tools work as they did in earlier versions of RX, allowing you to paint away audio problems on the spectrogram, as does the Module Chain, which reduces the number of mouse clicks required for using a series of processes. Many algorithms which did not provide real-time preview now do, which makes working a bit faster.

High-quality resampling and dithering are once again provided along with batch processing. A detailed spectrum analyzer detects peaks automatically, and a suite of automatic, intelligent modules reduces manual tasks in the audio production workflow. RX 7 can be used as a standalone audio editor (including standalone but connected to your host via RX Connect, or as your DAW’s audio editor, in the case of Logic Pro), and much of it can be used as a suite of plug-ins.

Featuring a complete graphical redesign and a whole new voice-modeling module, iZotope VocalSynth 2 is a tool designed to transform an input signal—usually a vocal—into a creative, synthetic sound. An instance of this plug-in provides access to five separate vocal engines. You get the four modules from the original Vocalsynth (Vocoder, Talkbox, Polyvox, & Compuvox), and a whole new one called Biovox.

Biovox utilizes scientific modeling of the human vocal tract, allowing you to change aspects like formants, vowel shapes, and nasality in a smooth manner. Use Biovox for subtly-changed vocal doubles when you’ve only got a single vocal track, or utilize this module as an eccentric sound-design tool.

The effects section has been updated to provide better sound quality, and two new stompbox-style modules have been added to the mix: Chorus and Ring Mod, the latter also serving as an idiosyncratic tremolo effect. As with the previous version of VocalSynth, you can use the plug-in in various modes, including Auto Mode (requiring no MIDI or sidechaining), MIDI Mode (imparting the consonants, formants, and vowels of a sidechain inpun upon the MIDI synth); and Sidechain Mode (applying the quality of the vocal to an audio source, say a guitar for example).

This plug-in also allows for inter-communication between iZotope plug-ins, meaning you can seamlessly integrate VocalSynth 2 with Neutron 2, Ozone 8, and Tonal Balance Control. VocalSynth 2 can be seen and manipulated within Neutron 2’s Visual Mixer and Masking Meter as well. This software is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms, and supports AU, VST, and AAX formats.

Available for download, iZotope Insight 2 is an update to their renowned metering software and comprises a set of tools designed for post-production and broadcast applications. Insight 2 provides an extensive set of audio analysis and metering tools that can help you visualize the changes made during mixing and mastering. These meters can be essential for troubleshooting problematic mixes, as well as ensuring compliance with broadcast loudness standards.

Fully customizable and scalable, Insight 2 allows you to visually monitor all the relevant information from your mono, stereo, or multichannel mix in a convenient floating window. This window has been redesigned and updated to provide a sleek look more in concert with iZotope’s current design scheme. Also, the GUI is now resizable: it can encompass a full screen or just one tiny meter floating in the corner of your DAW. Thus, the metering can be adapted to suit your workflow as it changes.

Insight 2 visually guides you throughout the mixing process, empowering you to look deeper into your audio with intelligent analysis tools and real-time monitoring capabilities. Loudness meters are clearly visible with color-coded readouts for short-term, momentary, and integrated values. Multichannel RMS metering is on hand, as is sound-field monitoring, a loudness history graph, a spectrum analyzer (for frequency content), a customizable spectrogram, and a new addition to the family: the Intelligibility Meter.

This tool works in conjunction with iZotope’s new Relay module to help you see, at a glance, whether or not dialogue is intelligible over the rest of the mix. Simply put Relay on your mix, and track the results in the meter. With an easy-to-read scale, you will discover if your dialogue’s intelligibility will translate to other listening environments. You can even choose listening environments to check if the dialogue will read well over moderately noisy or severely noisy confines.

The included Relay module facilitates intercommunication with compatible iZotope products as well as the ability to monitor the output of audio affected by third-party plug-ins; the latter function is accomplished by instantiating Relay as the last plug-in in your chain. The module itself has multiple useful features, including delay offset, phase invert, sum-to-mono, L/R swap, and high-pass filtering.

Fully compliant with EBU R128, ITU-R BS.1770-1/2/3/4, ATSC A/85, OP-59, and other current standards, Insight 2 provides the tools you need to be confident that your audio meets regulations. It is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms, and operates in AU, AAX, AAX-AS, RTAS, DPM-AS, VST2, and VST3.

Available for download, Exponential Audio R4 from iZotope is an algorithmic reverb that provides a colorful sound, one suitable for music production and mixing. This reverb traces its lineage back to the classic Lexicon units of earlier ages, and you can hear that heritage in the reverb’s sound.

You’ll also note the tweakable interface, with many different parameters in the Early Reflection, Reverb Attack, and Reverb Tail tabs. Use these sections to tailor the reverb perfectly for any given situation.

A Chorus section adds modulation, and you can separately dictate how the modulation effects the tails or early reflections on an individual bases. A Warp tab offers compression, overdrive, bit-reduction, and more. Use the Gate tab to create classic, gated reverb sounds, or automate the Freeze button to achieve momentary experimental sounds.

Whether you’re looking for halls, chambers, rooms, or plates, R4 has an algorithm for you. Browse through them all by keyword, or click the magnifying glass in the top right of the GUI to enter terms for the search. Over 1200 presets are provided in total.

This product is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms. It operates in AU, VST, and AAX formats. An iLok account is required for authorizing the plug-in, though an iLok key is not strictly necessary.

Available for download, Exponential Audio NIMBUS from iZotope is an algorithmic reverb that provides an inherently musical sound, one that can be tweaked surgically or mangled colorfully to suit the needs of your mix. This reverb provides dedicated and comprehensive controls over both early reflections and reverb tails, so that you can tailor each time-based effect for your exact mix.

Note the Keyword and Preset section in the top right of the GUI; here you can find over 1200 presets categorized by type. Click on the magnifying glass above this section, and you can search for verb presets by typing in your own terms. So, whether you’re a post-production engineer looking for a canyon—or a music mixer looking for a vocal plate—the reverb can be equally useful.

Tabs are provided for the verb’s Attack, Tail, Early Reflections, and Warp parameters. Each tab reveals a page full of parameters. Whether you need to temper early reflections, or add overdrive and compression for character via the warp page, Nimbus will nimbly let you accomplish the task at hand.

This product is compatible with Mac and Windows platforms. It operates in AU, VST, and AAX formats. An iLok account is required for authorizing the plug-in, though an iLok key is not strictly necessary.