VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Stormtrooper 7 · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:13 am Post subject: iZotope

I have heard things about iZotope products and how some people use it for audio processing. For those of you that have used it, is it worth buying? I know a lot of the software these days has some good built in processing effects and tools, but is it worth getting to add to like Sound Forge or Audition? And if you do use it, which would you buy? I have heard of RX 3 and Ozone 5. I would use it both for voice and music. I don't know much about it, but it keeps coming up in conversations from time to time. Just curious what you guys think before I invest and if it's worth it.

Jason Huggins · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:22 am Post subject:

I personally believe that with Audition, you don't need any of those other tools. RX3 is similar to spectral editing (included with Audition) and Ozone 5 does the same thing that the stock plugins can do (though, it might do it better...I've never had an issue with the stock plugins though). For Sound Forge, RX3 would be a good addition for the spectral editing, but other than that, I think SF comes with plenty of good tools as well. SF 11 includes Izotope Nectar Elements (very usable for VO IMO) and Izotope restoration tools. I'd say, both of those software packages are plenty for the vast majority of VOs.

Stormtrooper 7 · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 10:01 am Post subject:

Thanks Jason. That's what I was wondering. I'll probably just skip it for now.

Thanks!

Foog · Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:54 pm Post subject:

I'm surprised that this thread is so quiet! The buzz around RX3 was so big not so long ago, and lots of folks (not necessarily here, but, you know, out there) were touting it as some sort of silver bullet for a host of woes. It all seemed pretty nifty neat-o and convincing (I love me some distracting shiny baubles!) and consequently it has been on my wish list for some time now. Should I bump its priority down somewhere around "pony" or keep it sitting just below "better room treatment"?

Frank F · Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 9:17 pm Post subject:

The reason it is quiet about "Izotope" is in most if not all cases with VO - processing is not necessary. Radio folks will disagree and argue vehemently about how they over-process files to make it sound like - radio.

In the world of VO - less is more. Unless asked for finished production, many producers do not want you to process your VO files. Most if not all qualified producers will process the files to meet their needs. You can't fix stupid, and you can't undo processing of audio files.

Send your files to producer clean, tight, and unprocessed unless asked. When I speak of processing I am talking about compression, expansion, major EQ, and other tweaking with the actual audio. This does not include such things as a noise gate or noise reduction, normalizing, other simple clean up procedures.

You choose your own poison. Do you want to use Izotope or do your clients really want a clean high quality audio file when you send it to them.

Frank F
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Foog · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 2:21 am Post subject:

Stormtrooper 7 · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 7:24 am Post subject:

Yeah I know how the 'gadgets' in some of this software can distract us.... But I like to see what things do. As far as voice I don't use anything on mine except a tad bit of compression and some light limiting. I have a dual channel Alesis that goes in one side and out the other so that's about all mine gets. I don't have too much trouble with mouth noise as long as I am really hydrated.

Now if it's music stuff... I play with all the buttons and such to see what happens. I use a 24 track recorder for that, and it has some really good on board processing capabilities, but getting down to the nth degree for it, you have to migrate it off to something like Sound Forge. I was transferring some old vinyl to my computer a while back and SF has some really good restoration tools. I tweaked on some of the tools and the results were pretty amazing. There were some files I was able to get nearly all of the pops and such out of. I was pretty amazed. I had a guy ask me if I could restore his wife's Frankie Valli collection and it turned out pretty decent considering. She was super happy she could listen to him in the car now and without all of the trash from the old vinyl... So if I were to get iZotope, it would probably be for that just to see what it could do..

Frank F · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 7:35 am Post subject:

Yes! You are contracting "Gearitis", be careful it spreads fast.

The question is: "Are you getting any/more work from the P2P's with all of your processing"? If yes, then keep doing it, if not - then nothing has changed and going back to "less is more" will not likely hurt or help.

The noise reduction in AA (Adobe Audition is very good (although I rather prefer the version Sony Vegas). Better than Isotope? Yes and no. You need to be the judge.

A HPF, sometimes it is necessary, depending upon your room and other equipment.

Downward expansion to remove noise - not a chance. Use Noise Reduction instead. But be careful, some NR's can/will change the entire quality of the file when not used very judiciously.

Mouth clicks? Change how you address the microphone, adjust the input level, and by all means take a swig of water and swish it around your mouth. But adding processing... NO! and I repeat, NO!!!!!, NO!!!!, NO!!!!!

Resist "Gearitis"!, and look for the simple answer rather than new toys to play with (and spend money for).

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

vkuehn · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 8:28 am Post subject:

Frank F · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 9:17 am Post subject:

Downward expansion creates harmonics and expands the frequency of a wide array of sins (noise) Thus allowing the quasi-gate to locate and process the offending frequencies easier. It does nothing for your signal. However, if it works for you - then good on you.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

captain54 · Lucky 700 Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 744 Location: chicago

Scott Pollak · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 9:48 am Post subject:

Guess we'll all have to agree to disagree, with the exception that in v/o, less is, indeed best.

I use very slight NR to lower my noise floor just a bit, from about -58db to around -80 or so. And I hard limit to -6db for audible.com and usually to -4.0 for most other clients.

And that's it. Nothing else. And I've never gotten a complaint. Not from audible, Pandora, PBS.... nada.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 10:32 am Post subject:

I agree with Frank and Scott on the NR. It has to be used judiciously -- the smallest possible dose you can apply. I think the NR in Audacity does a nice job -- better, in my opinion, than Audition.
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Frank F · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 10:34 am Post subject:

Agree, disagree. It really does not matter. A large percentage of VO artists do not know a compressor from a D'esser. Knowing and understanding your equipment (software and hardware) is the most important thing imaginable for aspiring engineers.

What does a Noise Gate do? How does it work? Why? How does a Noise Reducer do what it does? How does it work? Does it have a downward expander? Can you dial in the frequencies you need to quiet? Have you played with it long enough and put it to tests on more sounds other than YOUR own voice from your own studio environment?

OK, many moons ago I worked for Law Enforcement and one of my duties involved "forensic audio". Noise Reduction is an often used tool. But, one has to know HOW to use it, when, and why. Then you must be able to document each step you have taken to achieve results and why they results are correct.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread: "... some NR's can/will change the entire quality of the file when not used very judiciously.".

Know your tools and how to use them. Then decide if your client deserves the BEST quality audio file you are able to deliver; or something less. If you choose something less then, by all means use NR, NG, DE, Compression, Limiting, etc. for your final product.

Have fun and learn your toys. You might be able to use them in some different fashion some day.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

ricevoice · Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 10:38 am Post subject:

I LOVE Izotope's products. I do sound design and music production for radio imaging, and I use Ozone 5 (just the standard version, not advanced) to master everything. Trash 2 is a phenomenally versatile distortion plug-in, you can do some really nifty stuff with it. Alloy 2 is a great channel strip that uses very low amounts of CPU resources, and it's also very versatile... you can rearrange the order audio hits the various components. I've not used RX 3 but if memory serves the big deal about that was they actually figured out a way to remove reverb/echo from audio.
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