Having Trouble Mastering With Reaper + Izotope Ozone 5 Advanced

[SamGuitar91]

Hi there,

So, I've been kind of reassessing how I've been mixing my own music, and picked up a few helpful guides on the internet through EQ cheatsheets that have been working just fine.

My mixes for my current album sound great, and the problem I have is not with the mix, but rather with the final perceived / actual volume in terms of mastering. I know the two processes are separate, but I just wanted to clarify that I'm really happy with the way it's mixed, and not the final volume.

My goal with mixing this current album is to set the gain stage to be -6db for Stage I mixing to render alll tracks to 16 bit WAV at the same volume without distortion. Then, later for Stage II mixing, I want to crank it to near 0 for the full volume so I can render 16 bit WAVs for a Bandcamp release.

My mix sounds great with studio monitor headphones, and sounds loud enough to my ears at half of the full audio interface volume. I'm using a Scarlet Solo interface, and I place it at half volume so I don't go deaf while mixing, plus I live in an apartment so getting monitors is not an option. However, all options on my computer including the actual master volume are at 100%.

Here's The Problem:

I'm applying the iZotope Ozone 5 plugin to the master bus. I am trying to hit -6 db with the "Maximizer" section, and have tried ramping it up to its full potential by setting its effect to 100%, which is shown by the first screenshot:

https://ibb.co/iwPWfy

However, when I finally output the wav, the peaks that I'm seeing are near -5.6 db at MAX, but typically in the region of near -12 db, which is shown by the two red circles in the second screenshot:

https://ibb.co/d2MzYJ

Am I not understanding what to do in this case? I tried reading the manual for iZotope Ozone 5, and thought the IRC III setting for the "Maximizer" section would be the best bet since I have the max amount of processing power needed. Should I use a brickwall limiter? OR, should I look into an actual gain stage plugin instead?

I'll admit, I abuse iZotope Ozone 5 quite alot, since its usually on any of the bus tracks and master buses on all my material because I suck at mixing. I really like how its all in one, but I feel like this might be detrimental to the mastering process since its not working.

Let me know what you guys think, thanks for reading!

[emarsk]

I never used that plugin, so I can't directly answer to your question, but I'll suggest that you aim for a loudness target, not a peak target. Peaks don't tell much about how loud a sound is perceived.

If this is confusing to you, don't worry, read some great articles on Ian Shepherd's site and blog and listen to his podcast, if you have the time (his cohost is the "REAPER Blog"'s author Jon Tidey, btw). He's the best free resource for learning mastering that I could find.

And, I don't know how much "near 0" is for you, but don't go over -1dBFS, because true peaks (intersample peaks) will be louder than that, and if they exceed 0dBFS they can distort in the DAC, or during the mp3 (or whatever) enconding.

[G-Sun]

Originally Posted by SamGuitar91

However, when I finally output the wav, the peaks that I'm seeing are near -5.6 db at MAX, but typically in the region of near -12 db, which is shown by the two red circles in the second screenshot:

https://ibb.co/d2MzYJ

It read's peak -5,6dbfs.
What's the problem?

[RDBOIS]

I don't use the Maximizer function of Ozone. I find other functions useful for shaping the sound, but the Maximizer lacking.

And so, Ozone is not the last plugin in my chain -- I'll use a more sophisticated comp/limiter to help determine the final loudness.

Perhaps it is time to let go of the Ozone Maximizer if it not serving you well?

[SamGuitar91]

Originally Posted by RDBOIS

I don't use the Maximizer function of Ozone. I find other functions useful for shaping the sound, but the Maximizer lacking.

And so, Ozone is not the last plugin in my chain -- I'll use a more sophisticated comp/limiter to help determine the final loudness.

Perhaps it is time to let go of the Ozone Maximizer if it not serving you well?

Gotcha, can you please name drop some plugins I should use aka some compressors and limiters to use instead?

[SamGuitar91]

Originally Posted by G-Sun

It read's peak -5,6dbfs.
What's the problem?

I want it to be set completely at -6 db volume overall to be honest, just so I can have it not distort in the first stage of mastering. And in the second stage, boost it to near 0 db without obtaining distortion.

[EpicSounds]

I wrote a guide to using Ozone 4 on my old website, same should be able to be applied to Ozone 5.

http://audiogeekzine.com/2011/05/mas...-with-ozone-4/

one minor change with how I work with Ozone today:

I boost the gain of the file going into Ozone and usually have the maximizer threshold at 0 or -1 instead of -6. The margin or ceiling is at -1.

Ozone 5 doesn't care what level you put into it and it's easier to A/B level matched compare when you boost the level first.

[G-Sun]

Originally Posted by SamGuitar91

I want it to be set completely at -6 db volume overall to be honest, just so I can have it not distort in the first stage of mastering. And in the second stage, boost it to near 0 db without obtaining distortion.

You do not want an absolute figure for that stage.
There are certain types of limiters that can give you that result, but I see no reason to use them.

Set the limiters ceiling at desired target -0,3db.

Anyway, you're workflow seems not ideal. ymmw

[RDBOIS]

Originally Posted by SamGuitar91

Gotcha, can you please name drop some plugins I should use aka some compressors and limiters to use instead?

I kind of enjoy these three:


1) Very simple, free, low CPU, but surprisingly effective:

LoudMax Plugin

https://loudmax.blogspot.com


2) Does almost everything, medium CPU, free, but need to read the manual:

Limiter №6

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/


3) Gets up somewhere good and loud, with or without coloration, and over thinking the process, not free:

FG-X MASTERING PROCESSOR

http://slatedigital.com/fg-x-mastering-processor/

[DVDdoug]

I've never used Ozone...

My goal with mixing this current album is to set the gain stage to be -6db for Stage I mixing to render alll tracks to 16 bit WAV at the same volume without distortion. Then, later for Stage II mixing, I want to crank it to near 0 for the full volume so I can render 16 bit WAVs for a Bandcamp release.

Since you're doing a separate mastering step I wouldn't worry about your digital mixing levels.

Of course you don't want to clip, but you can even go over 0dB if you render to 32-bit floating point.

I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but if you're peaking at -6dB at 16-bits, you're only using 15-bits. It's very-very unlikely that you'll hear quality loss but you might want to render at 24-bits or 32-bit float for your final-mix before mastering.

My mix sounds great with studio monitor headphones, and sounds loud enough to my ears at half of the full audio interface volume.

Volume is relative. The loudness (SPL) depends on your interface and the sensitivity of your particular headphones... My setup might be louder or quieter than yours at "half volume".

The 1st thing is to compare to your known-good reference track (with the same playback settings and same headphones). You are using a reference, right? You probably won't get the same loudness as a professionally mastered track, but the pro track can still be your quality and volume reference.

If you want to get more precise you can get an EBU R128 volume plug-in to check your final master.

The K-System reference is 85dB SPL and that's probably a good monitoring level. That's a monitoring target-volume, not the volume of your digital track... You could monitor your pre-mastered mix at 85dB and your louder final-master at 85dB SPL.

But SPL meters don't work well with headphones so you'd have to make some electrical measurements and calculations (per your headphone sensitivity specs) or you could make an approximate calibration by-ear by A/B switching between 85dB SPL calibrated speakers and headphones to find the adjustment where they are equally loud.

A lot of audio editing/mixing can be done at lower levels and you might want to occasionally crank it up louder when listening for a particular detail (or defect). But, when you get down to the final-mixing stage you should be evaluating the sound at the "right volume".

And, I don't know how much "near 0" is for you, but don't go over -1dBFS, because true peaks (intersample peaks) will be louder than that, and if they exceed 0dBFS they can distort in the DAC

0dB is the digital limit. There's no reason the reconstructed analog output from your DAC can't go over 0dB. I'm not afraid of 0dB.

or during the mp3 (or whatever) enconding.

Yes, MP3 encoding will push-up some peaks and push-down others. The MP3 itself won't clip but you can clip your DAC if you play it at full-digital volume.

It's something you can check for (or leave some headroom for) if you're making MP3s but I've never seen any proof that this slight clipping is audible. We all know that MP3 is lossy, but if you're hearing compression artifacts you're probably hearing "regular" compression artifacts, you're probably not hearing clipping and lowering the volume probably won't make it sound better.

[emarsk]

Originally Posted by DVDdoug

There's no reason the reconstructed analog output from your DAC can't go over 0dB.

Yes, there is. Depending on your specific DAC implementation, the analog electronic circuit can be (badly/cheaply) designed with no extra headroom above 0dBFS before hitting analog distorsion.