Comments

trock wrote on 10/11/2005, 5:34 PM
Ozone is very powerful and was designed primarily as a mastering tool for music projects (I was on the beta team for versions 1 and 2) and IMHO is somewhat overkill for audio for video but certainly can be used for that. I also have Ultima 2 and there's some nice audio for video-specific usages of Ozone in there.

Occasionally I'll use Ozone in mastering projects (SpectraLive is my current favorite mastering tool and the Voxengo tools are also exceptional) but I haven't found a need for Ozone on video projects yet. YMMV. Because it was designed as a music mastering tool it can also be somewhat of a CPU hog..

Sound Forge, which I also have but don't use, is OK for correcting/enhancing audio. Again not my personal choice but a fairly good workhorse program. To my taste (but not so to many others) Sonic Foundry effects have always been their weak spot when compared to other packages out there, kind of like the native Cakewalk effects were weak until they started adding in third-party effects as they developed the program into Sonar. Functional but lacking the "aaahhhh" quality of a number of other effects. Sound Forge's noise reduction is OK, though.

Ozone has a demo so you can always try it and see how you like it. Unless you're already familiar with mastering techniques you might find its learning curve a bit daunting but if you have specific questions about it, feel free to ask.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/11/2005, 5:35 PM
Joran,

While some of the modules in Ozone are similar to the FX in Vegas, they have a different character and quality to them. It also has some great FX like Multiband Harmonic Exciter and Multiband Stereo Imaging that really add to the overall quality of your audio. Just a great set of finishing tools. The best way to answer your question is to download the demo and hear for yourself. It has a large variety of presets for processing vocals, instruments, and mastering audio mixes that just have to be heard. Each preset applies multiple modules.

The iZotope plug-in that comes with Ultimate S2 is a special version with three of the six modules but you don’t get an interface. You only have the Ultimate S presets but they do target common problems with audio for video. It gives you a taste for the quality of the Ozone FX but download the demo and hear the rest for yourself. I was amazed at the difference it makes in the final mix.

~jr
busterkeaton wrote on 10/11/2005, 5:45 PM
DSE (and the other audio guys who responded before I posted) know this better, but I would say the reason to use Izotope is for the quality of its tools. For example they all have compression, but you might like the sound of Izotope's compression better. Izotope has a trial download available, so you can try it out and see how you like that sound.

Vegas, Sound Forge and Ozone are not necessarily competing products. You could have a workflow that employs all three. Sound Forge for wav editing, repair, cleaning. Vegas for mixing. Ozone for mastering.

Some of Izotope's tools are included with Ultimate S, but I believe only as presets, you don't have full control over them.

I would say don't buy Izotope unless you feel it adds something to your work. (You can get some great sounds with it, even without being an audio expert.) You can also defintely get far with the tools you have. Perhaps your best buy right now would be some audio training materials dealing with "finalizing" or "mastering." It can bit a bit overwhelming with all the tools, software and plugins available. The jargon is intimidating too, when I see this under new features on the Izotope page:

Ozone 3 introduces our proprietary MBIT+ dither algorithm that reduces quantization distortion with minimal perceived noise.

I'm not sure what that would give me.
Jøran Toresen wrote on 10/11/2005, 6:10 PM
Busterkeaton, Trock, Johnny and all others; in another post, I wrote:

“I’m looking for good books on audio for video post production. Do you have any recommendations?
(I’m especially interested in the functioning of the audio effects / tools / plug-ins in Vegas and Sound Forge; but I’m also interested in information covering the main functions / effects in Izotope Ozone.)”

Waiting for replies….

Joran
trock wrote on 10/11/2005, 6:36 PM
"Ozone 3 introduces our proprietary MBIT+ dither algorithm that reduces quantization distortion with minimal perceived noise.

I'm not sure what that would give me."

Dithering is the last stage before going to CD if you've been working in 24 or 32-bit. Since CDs are currently 16-bit you need to reduce the bits to put your 24 or 32-bit master onto CD. If you just cut off (truncate) the last 8 or 16 bits it can sound nasty so it is more usual to dither, which adds a low level noise before rounding the bits which tends to make the transition sound smoother.

M-bit is a type of dither that claims up to 14db more dynamic range than competing dither algorithms. It is indeed a very clean dither but in most cases I find the POW-r 3 dither to be pretty much as nice. Either of them give a nice 24/32 to 16 bit reduction. Audible differences between one dither and another are very subtle.