Hi, I’m Killrina and I just have to make dubstep.
So, I saw many people use iZotope Ozone on master channel.
Is it really necessary?
I understand how powerful of this item is.
I like the EQ and stereo imager, these are so cool
But every time I use this on master, it ruins the crunchy? part of bass I guess.
Also, there are some cool video tutorials by cool producers like Barely Alive, MUST DIE! or Bar9 doing and explains their bass and post-processing.
These professionals like MUST DIE! and Bar9 shows they process channels individually and they send sidechain bus > low cut EQ send to master.
But, Barely mixdown tutorial was like they make pre-master bus to “heavy compress” their drum and bass then send it to master then limiter.
I thought this tutorial on youtube doesn’t make sense for me, because kick drum should be picking at 0 db but they turn up volume like another 6 db.
I dont understand the necessity when you have pre-master bus and heavy compressed pre-mix chann el then you put ozone on the master to compress and maximise it again.
I think that’ll be the result of ruining bass/drum and it makes the mix complicated while you have bus channel.
I JUST DONT UNDERSTAND THE MIX CONTRADICTS TO EVERYTHING, FUCK OTT! just kidding i love you OTT.
So, should I have ozone on master?
Sorry for my english grammar bad sucks fck i kno pls im doin my best bros
I think its more down to personal preference, if it sounds good then do it etc. I haven’t seen the tutorial’s you are referring to but to me it sounds like they are doing far too much compressing/limiting. Loudness isn’t everything, and if you have a brick-walled master it will sound shit to anyone with a good ear, you need to let your transients breathe. Personally I tend to leave mastering to the professionals. But with mixing I tend to do light compression on individual channels if necessary. I work with a drum bus that I limit (again lightly, -2 to -6 threshold). Have your drums sending to the master at about -8db. And your master channel outputting at -6db, this will leave more headroom for your master to be louder. Never attempt mastering until you are 100% happy with your mix.
Oh sorry, I forgot reference of the video i was talkin about.,
Barely Alive Mixdown tutorial:
(These guys arent thinkin about headroom??)
MUST DIE!'s live session recorded: [7:46~]
1day album challenge by must die! and boyinaband
(MUST DIE! is using OTT for any presets he makes in massive, so im doing it too… but it sounds nothing like MUST DIE! without any eq or distortion when i try it.)
Bar9’s was Breaking Down DAVE something like that and this I cant really put link in here cuz it should be paid.
but it was nothing can see what’s on the master channel, just bunch of sound making tutorials. Pretty sick tho.
I’m really being so frustrated for doing mixdown, cuz when I think i made pretty unique and sick preset of FMsynth and the channel, it turns to shitmix.
It is just loud, but compared to like GETTER’s songs or MUST DIE! their growls are like crunchy af
yeah unnecessary, your overall mix is much more important to the sound
recently i’ve had decent success just using ableton’s limiter on a heavy setting/ sometimes just using their mastering presets
but this has only worked once i’ve got the mix Right. before that every time i’d try and beef up the finished tune these self masters on the master channel would only make the tune sound even shitter, but when it’s right it can add a nice punch to your final mix that will help it sound good in clubs/on radio
also i rarely use compression and limiting elsewhere in the tune, i’ll use it to make a kick more prominent rarely, often use a heavy compressor on a snare to make it bite/distort or after an effect to make it more prominent, if you’re already compressing every bit of your tune then heavily compress the final result you might make it LOUD AF but it’ll sound soooo boring and crushed
from what you said about it ruining the crunchy part of the bass, self mastering does fuck with the bass i found most, does ozone have a compressor? have you played with the attack/release settings on it, the dry/wet? etc, bass can be sensitive to these, i can’t remember why lol
Yea I just watched that first video, and for my personal preference its sound like they are brick-walling everything quite harsh. I guess if your making the heavier side of dubstep and that’s the sound your looking for then try it out. But to me it sounds like your problem is with your mix down. If everything is over compressed then it will be hard for your synths to shine through. Everything needs its own space in the mix otherwise you will end up with a cluttered mess. Try using spectrum analyzing, panning and reverb to let things breathe. Then when your happy with your mixes, look into mastering. I think “You cant polish a turd” is quite relevant here
But, Barely mixdown tutorial was like they make pre-master bus to “heavy compress” their drum and bass then send it to master then limiter.
I thought this tutorial on youtube doesn’t make sense for me, because kick drum should be picking at 0 db but they turn up volume like another 6 db.
Sometimes you can push your shit to +6dB and then crush it back to 0dB on the master while still keeping it sounding relatively clean. It depends on your mix.
I recently downloaded stems (from Splice) for a track “Dear New York”, by Firebeatz. It’s a typical bigroom/electro-house tune. Not my favourite type of music (I like that acid-style lead tho), but it was for learning purposes, track has like 6 million+ views on Youtube anyway. I loaded all audio files into Logic, everything was already mixed. You wouldn’t believe how many tracks were hitting 0dB at the same time. Mix isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s “good enough”. I sticked soft clipper to a master to see if it distorts, but surprisingly enough, track still sounded good, despite that I just clipped it by 5dB or something.
You don’t need Ozone at all. You need to learn your basic tools before you need anything like Ozone. You should be able to get a full, final, pro sound with just a plane Jane limiter on the master because the traditional mixing and mastering doesn’t really apply to us…we have the power to master each sound individually. This is really what you should go for.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that magical stuff happens on he master channel…shit in = shit out in this game. Things like Ozone can be really distracting from the fact that you just need to learn the basic tools really really well because by time you send something to the master, it is prob fd up and can’t be fixed because you didn’t set up compressors right, or didn’t EQ well, or added too much distortion…ect…ect… I am speaking from experience…not about anything you do.
That being said…Ozone does have some great features but they should be used to enhance a mix that is already great.
Ozone isn’t very good imo, if you have to whack a plugin on your master make it simple like RKM says, basic limiter, maybe MB Comp. Even higher-end plugs like Satin do more bad than good on a master channel, let alone cheap, plasticky sounding plugs like Ozone
