Ozone 12 is the newest iteration of the renowned mixing and mastering suite from iZotope. The bundle has been around for years now, and many swear by its use for in-the-box audio processing and mastering. The company has also been at the forefront of AI technology in the audio processing space, including in the Neutron mixing and RX audio restoration bundles. In this article, we’ll have a look at a couple of new additions and features available in the newest iteration—Ozone 12.
OZONE 12 NEW FEATURES
As with past versions, Ozone 12 comes in three flavors—Elements, Standard, and Advanced. We’ll be focusing on the Advanced version, but you can visit the version comparison page to learn about the differences between the bundles as well as general advancements from prior versions. Ozone 12 Advanced includes everything in Ozone 11 Advanced, plus additional functions below:
Stem EQ
This feature allows you to apply EQ to separate elements of your mix (vocals, bass, drums, etc.) by using intelligent stem separation from a stereo mix. You can audition the effect on each stem by clicking the Delta button and take advantage of all the functionality found in the Ozone Equalizer module, including standard filter shapes, mid/side processing, and analog or digital algorithms to deal with phase issues. See full feature list here. iZotope’s improved neural net technology promises better stem separation with fewer audio artifacts.
Bass Control
This module isolates the bass and provides several controls for tweaking the low end. These include balance, punch, sustain, and peak control. While you can do similar things with other modules, Bass Control allows you to be more surgical and comes optimized for the low end. You can manually adjust what is considered low using the cutoff frequency control.
Unlimiter
If you want to recover lost dynamics in an overly compressed mix, Unlimiter is a natural choice. The device uses machine learning to reconstruct lost transients, a process otherwise not possible without returning to the original mix.
Custom Master Assistant
Master Assistant has been around a while now. It is an AI-powered process that listens to your music and suggests a mastering device chain derived from a number of genre-based target presets. It can do magic for a novice and accelerate the workflow for advanced users. In the Ozone 12 version, a customization page has been added in which you can enable or disable particular devices that will be used, adjust the aggressiveness of the process, set loudness targets, and more.
IRC 5 Limiting Algorithm
IRC 5 limiting has been added to the Maximizer plugin, which, according to the developer, “Provides the first multiband limiter design in Ozone. Unlike previous single-band IRC modes, IRC 5 splits the signal into four frequency bands, each with its own optimized attack and release times. This reduces pumping and intermodulation distortion caused by heavy low-frequency content affecting higher frequencies. The result is a louder, cleaner master with improved transparency.”
PRODUCT VIDEO
CONCLUSIONS
I was generally impressed with this new version of Ozone 12, particularly the Stem EQ and Bass Control features. And I was also happy to see the inclusion of the customization page for the Master Assistant. As mentioned earlier, iZotope has been developing and tweaking its AI algorithms for several years, and that gives them a distinct competitive advantage in the audio processing space. In general, there seems to be much less pushback regarding AI in audio processing as opposed to content generation. iZotope refers to their AI tools as assistants, not replacements, recognizing the trepidation of creatives throughout the industry. It will be fascinating to watch and listen to what unfolds in the years (or months) to come.
EXTRAS
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