iZotope Ozone 12 Advanced

The latest version of Ozone promises improved AI assistance and adds some interesting mix‑repair options to its powerful mastering toolkit.

iZotope’s Ozone is one of the most long‑standing and well‑known software mastering suites, and we last reviewed it at version 11, back in SOS January 2024. Now, iZotope have delivered version 12. As you might expect from a mature piece of software like this, Ozone’s existing feature set is both broad and deep. It’s a powerful piece of software that offers more than enough functionality for experienced engineers to perform almost any kind of mastering processing. All that core functionality remains intact in Ozone 12, but we’ve explored it in previous reviews, so I’ll keep this review focused on the highlights of this new release.

There are several tier options when purchasing Ozone, and I had access to the ‘full fat’ Advanced edition for this review. The other options in the Ozone family, Elements and Standard, provide subsets of the feature set at more modest prices. Elements is aimed at less experienced users who might want the software’s Master Assistant process to do the heavy lifting for them, while the key difference between the Standard and Advanced versions is the number of processing modules included (14 and 20, respectively), and that Advanced also makes each of its modules available to the user as an individual DAW plug‑in. (The iZotope website provides a feature comparison chart if you want more detailed information about the differences between the three tiers.)

A Little Assistance

Ozone’s depth and power can make it somewhat intimidating for new or less experienced users, and it was with this in mind that iZotope first introduced the AI‑based Master Assistant feature. Essentially, this auditions a section of the incoming audio and then suggests a suitable mastering processing chain to get you started, while leaving you in control. In Advanced and Standard, you can then dip into the individual modules, but in all versions — and lying at the heart of the Elements version — you can use a straightforward ‘more/less’ approach, courtesy of a compact set of macro‑style controls. No, this perhaps won’t rescue a poor mix to the extent an experienced mastering engineer might be able to, but feed it with material in decent health and it’s very effective, producing fast, fuss‑free results that, importantly, make it less likely that an inexperienced user will take their mix backwards rather than forwards!

Custom signal flows and additional genre targets bring more options to the Master Assistant concept.

Version 12 brings us the option to customise this assisted mastering process. Sitting alongside what’s now a much more expansive selection of genre‑based targets, the new Custom feature lets you choose your own selection of Ozone’s underlying modules to be included in the processing chain. You can adjust the length of the auditioning time (up to 60 seconds, using the Analysis Time slider) that Ozone uses to learn the properties of your mix. And you can give the Maximizer module a nudge in your preferred direction in terms of the intensity of the processing and any ‘loudness target’ you might have in mind. Should you prefer a specific starting point, you can even save these ‘custom flow’ settings as a default — for example, this could be useful if you want to ensure consistency as you work through a series of tracks.

Some minor graphical tweaks aside, once the analysis is done, the options for then fine‑tuning the result thrown up by Ozone 12’s initial suggestions remain similar to those found in v11, and while this is not foolproof, I do find the compact control set to be well thought out. Indeed, it’s what makes the Elements edition such a sensible choice for those who are new to DIY mastering: it consistently delivers pretty solid results without the user having to actually learn how to master....