Izotope Ozone 5 and mastering question

[rockguitarist1255]

I am using Izotope ozone 5 to master my first track, and i want to get this mastered good. I have ozone 5 on the master fader. The problem is, depending on what mastering preset i use on ozone, the meter levels in ozone sometimes get red, and the master fader level in pro tools gets red. I was wondering, since the volume needs to be turned down, if i should turn down the volume in ozone itself, or turn down the master fader volume down in Pro Tools so the fader in pro tools doesnt go red.

[Drew Mazurek]

Please don't take offense at this but if you've NEVER mastered a song and know nothing about Mastering, and would like it to be the best it can be, please don't try it yourself. Find a local Mastering engineer with some credits and pay them to do it while you watch and ask questions etc. I think you'll be happier with the result and you'll probably learn a lot along the way. I understand and support the notion of a pathway to self sufficiency, but starting blind is just not smart.

This is just my 2 cents!!

[SpongeBob]

Just bring down the Master Fader in ProTools to keep Ozone out of the red for the selected preset.

Should you tweak the Ozone preset, you may need to make an additional adjustment(s) to the Master Fader.

Ozone's presets are a good starting point but, you may want to season to your individual taste as you experiment.

[rockguitarist1255]

Originally Posted by SpongeBob

Just bring down the Master Fader in ProTools to keep Ozone out of the red for the selected preset.

Should you tweak the Ozone preset, you may need to make an additional adjustment(s) to the Master Fader.

Ozone's presets are a good starting point but, you may want to season to your individual taste as you experiment.

Thank you that helps a lot. I will just adjust the faders and see which presets are the best, since I've only been recording for about a year so im still new to it.

[bradch00]

Have you read the "Mastering with Ozone" Guide? It might be a good place to start. However, what dmazurek mentions is not a bad idea. Especially if you find someone that you can pick the brains of. Now a really good mastering engineer is going to have different gear than you will, but.... you should be able to get a few good mastered files. Then take your gear (in this case Ozone 5) and try to get as close to that sound as you can, with what you have. Chances are it won't be identical, but you should be able to get out an acceptable file (that is something you can 'live' with) eventually.

http://izotope.fileburst.com/guides/...With_Ozone.pdf

If you're clipping the master fader in PT, check the Maximizer in Ozone, move the margin down and play with the threshold setting.

[rockguitarist1255]

Originally Posted by dmazurek

Please don't take offense at this but if you've NEVER mastered a song and know nothing about Mastering, and would like it to be the best it can be, please don't try it yourself. Find a local Mastering engineer with some credits and pay them to do it while you watch and ask questions etc. I think you'll be happier with the result and you'll probably learn a lot along the way. I understand and support the notion of a pathway to self sufficiency, but starting blind is just not smart.

This is just my 2 cents!!

I don't take any offense to it. But i get what you're saying. I will try to find a studio that will let me look at how they master songs. I just don't want it to be some expensive thing or something like that. But I also will use the tips they give when i go to a studio because i still want to be able to master songs myself just so i can be self sufficient. Thank you for your advice.

[rockguitarist1255]

Originally Posted by bradch00

Have you read the "Mastering with Ozone" Guide? It might be a good place to start. However, what dmazurek mentions is not a bad idea. Especially if you find someone that you can pick the brains of. Now a really good mastering engineer is going to have different gear than you will, but.... you should be able to get a few good mastered files. Then take your gear (in this case Ozone 5) and try to get as close to that sound as you can, with what you have. Chances are it won't be identical, but you should be able to get out an acceptable file (that is something you can 'live' with) eventually.

http://izotope.fileburst.com/guides/...With_Ozone.pdf

I have not read the guide yet, since i just got ozone 5, but i will put an hour or two aside to read it, then tweak the settings while reading it to get use to the program. And i did read what dmazurek said, I do plan on doing that in the future. Until I fond the right studio and time, I just want to try and practice mastering myself. And i figured once i go to a studio, and tell them i have ozone, I should be able to get a mastered sound I can live with like you said. I figured i won't get that exact cd studio sound, since i'm not an engineer nor do i have the money like a studio to get a bunch or equipment and software, but i figured i can still produce a good quality song, that people can still enjoy, rather than having some half ass mix that would be terrible. I won't get that exact cd quality sound, but even when I've messed around with ozone and my final mix, and compared it to itunes songs i bought, the quality wasn't the exact same, but it was still pretty damn close to it, which i'm pretty much saying it was a good quality for my mix.