iZotope Ozone 12 Release and Upgrade Sale (Until October 6)

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iZotope Ozone 12 Release and Upgrade Sale (Until October 6)

Hello! I’m Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

I’ve been meaning to continue my synthesizer explanation series, but I’ve been swamped with studying English lately… time is slipping away! ^^;;

Purchase Ozone 12 at Plugin Boutique

Instead… well, not quite “instead,” but iZotope recently released Ozone 12, and to celebrate, Plugin Boutique is holding a sale. So, I thought I’d dive in and review it.

I received Ozone 12 as an NFR (Not for Resale) copy for this review. If you purchase through the links in this post, I’ll earn a small commission, which helps keep the lights on!

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Plugin/Module Overview

Plugin/Module NameDescriptionElementsStandardAdvanced
Stem EQIndependently EQ vocals, bass, drums, or instruments in a stereo file✓
Bass ControlAdjusts low frequencies✓✓
UnlimiterRestores overly compressed transients (powered by machine learning)✓
ClarityCreates smooth masters (seems like high-frequency enhancement)✓
MaximizerLimiter✓✓
EqualizerTraditional EQ✓✓
ImpactFine-tunes dynamics✓
StabilizerAdaptive mastering EQ✓✓
ImagerStereo imager (free to use!)✓✓
Match EQMatches frequency characteristics to a reference track✓✓
Master RebalanceAdjusts stem volumes at the mastering stage✓✓
Low End FocusLow-frequency specialized processor✓
Spectral ShaperFrequency-specific shaper✓
Dynamic EQDynamic EQ✓✓
ExciterExciter (think saturator, with 7 types)✓✓
DynamicsCompressor/limiter✓✓
Vintage TapeTape emulation✓✓
Vintage CompressorVintage-inspired compressor✓✓
Vintage LimiterVintage-inspired limiter✓✓
Vintage EQVintage-inspired EQ✓✓
Other Features
Master Assistant: Custom FlowCreates a customized mastering chain✓✓✓
Master Assistant ViewVisualizes the mastering process in Ozone 12✓✓✓
Stem FocusPrecise stem separation✓
Track ReferencingManages reference tracks✓✓
Transient/Sustain ModesEmphasizes transients or sustain✓✓
Assistive Vocal BalanceAdjusts vocal clarity and balance✓✓✓
DitherDithering✓✓
Codec PreviewTests compressed formats like MP3/AAC✓
Additional Plugins
AudiolensAudio analysis and reference tool✓
iZotope RelayLightweight channel strip for communication between iZotope plugins✓
Tonal Balance Control 2Frequency balance analyzer✓

Wow, that’s a lot, isn’t it? 🙂

The Elements version doesn’t include individual plugins and is limited to a streamlined version of the integrated plugin (number 5 in the list). Since there’s so much to cover, I’ll focus on the key plugins and the new additions in Ozone 12.

1) Stem EQ

I’ve never been a huge fan of stem separation tools in the past, but the technology has come a long way.

It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t sound unnaturally detached either. The way EQ is applied to stems feels impressively natural.

Compared to the older Master Rebalance, Stem EQ is much more precise. The sound is noticeably different, suggesting they’ve updated the algorithm.

This isn’t just for mastering engineers—it’s versatile enough to significantly alter the feel of the source material, making it a useful tool for many users.

2) Bass Control

This one’s a winner! iZotope plugins are known for their intuitive interfaces, clearly showing what you’re adjusting. Bass Control is no exception, displaying only the low-frequency waveform to give you a clear sense of whether the sound feels light, heavy, or punchy.

3) Unlimiter

Think of Unlimiter as an attack shaper. It doesn’t fully restore the original transients, but it does a great job of naturally enhancing them.

4) Impact

This is a fun one. Impact lets you emphasize or reduce transients on a per-frequency basis. It’s another reminder of how critical transients are in both mixing and mastering!

Applying it lightly to the low end can group the kick and bass together, creating a cohesive, groovy feel. Pretty cool!

5) Ozone

This is the core of it all, right? One-click mastering!

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of one-click solutions, and after testing it on a few projects, it feels like there’s still room for improvement.

That said, unlike older versions that relied solely on one-click mastering, you can now pick and choose effects to create a custom chain. Starting with suggestions for EQ, limiter, and imager can be a great jumping-off point! 😊

The other plugins are fairly well-known, so I’ll skip the deep dive there.

Both iZotope and Acon Digital have made it possible to perform stem mixing at the mastering stage using just a stereo track. It’s wild how far we’ve come!

Oh, and among the Advanced version’s additional plugins, I highly recommend Tonal Balance Control 2. When my ears feel off (like when I’m under the weather), this plugin always reveals something’s slightly amiss.

It’s also fantastic for studying other tracks and establishing your own reference point. Definitely give it a try!

Ozone comes in three versions: Elements, Standard, and Advanced. The table above details which plugins are included in each, so check it out to find the one that suits your needs.

Purchase Ozone 12 at Plugin Boutique

Personally, I love Low End Focus, Stem EQ, Bass Control, and Impact, so I’d recommend Advanced. Standard is a solid choice too, but Elements might feel a bit limiting.

You can try the demo to see for yourself. I hope you find it useful!

Until next time! 😊

I Earned the Stage Sound Engineer Level 3 Certification

Hello, this is Jooyoung Kim—sound engineer and music producer.

In Korea, there is a government-issued certification called Stage Sound Engineer (Level 3, 3 is the first (or beginner) level, followed by 2 and 1.).
It doesn’t have a direct equivalent in the US, UK, or Canada, but you can think of it as something like a formal audio engineering license, proving both practical and theoretical knowledge in live sound.

As I’ve been working in the audio field, I realized that while practical skills are essential, having an official certification also helps when listing credentials on a résumé. For a long time, I wasn’t sure if it was worth pursuing—but I figured if I didn’t get it this year, it would only become harder later. So, I decided to take the exam.

Studying for the Written Exam

I had already bought some textbooks back when I ambitiously wanted to “master all of audio engineering.”
Unfortunately, the exam content had been updated recently, which meant my older materials were out of date.

At first, I tried to get by without buying the new edition, but after checking last year’s exam questions, I realized too many things had changed. So, I finally bought the updated books just two days before the exam and studied them intensely.

In total, I prepared for about ten days—definitely a crash course. The audio-related parts were manageable thanks to my background, but the legal regulations and stage-specific terminology were quite difficult. Memorization has never been my strong suit (even in English vocabulary study these days, I struggle a lot!).

I didn’t go through the entire book cover to cover, but I solved past exams one set per day and focused on reviewing the parts I got wrong. It was a very “efficient cramming” strategy.

The Practical Exam

Since much of the practical portion overlapped with my usual work, I didn’t need to prepare too heavily.

The main part was a listening test: adjusting pink noise with a 15-band graphic EQ to balance different frequency ranges, and identifying test tones across the EQ bands.

Because I couldn’t find a simple 15-band graphic EQ plugin anywhere, I actually built one myself as a VST3 and AU plugin. If anyone needs it, I uploaded it here:

🔗 GitHub – JYKlabs/15-Band-Graphic-EQ

Mac users can simply extract the files and place them in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 and /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components.

Windows users can place the VST3 file in their VST3 plugin directory. (Since I only built it on Mac, I haven’t tested it on Windows yet.)

The plugin is extremely minimal—no extra features, just a straightforward EQ.

During the actual exam, there were 10 listening questions in total. The first five (identifying effects) were fairly easy, but the last five (detecting EQ adjustments applied to music or noise) were much harder. Since the exam environment was different from my usual studio setup, I struggled a bit.

Also, I tend to think of EQ in terms of musical intervals, but the test was structured entirely in octave relationships, which threw me off at first.

Still, since passing only required 6 correct answers out of 10, I managed to make it through. Thankfully, my hearing was in decent condition that day (sometimes ear fatigue can really mess me up).

Final Thoughts

Unlike in South Korea, many Western countries don’t offer official government-issued certifications specifically for live or stage sound engineering. Instead, recognition and credibility often come from trusted industry certifications, educational credentials, or portfolio evidence.

For example, the Certified Audio Engineer (CEA) credential from the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) is well-regarded and requires both experience and passing a technical exam. For those focused on live sound, programs like Berklee’s Live Events Sound Engineering Professional Certificate offer structured, practical training.

Even if you already have solid skills, it can sometimes be difficult to secure projects or convince clients without something official to show. That’s where certifications and structured programs help: they provide a clear, external validation of your abilities and open doors that pure experience alone may not.

At the end of the day, audio work is unpredictable: sometimes you’re mixing in a studio, other times you’re troubleshooting live sound under pressure. The more prepared you are, the easier it is to adapt.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!

How to Set the Subwoofer Crossover Frequency?

Hello, I’m Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

I wrote a SCIE level paper!

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had written a paper on subwoofers, right? On August 12, my paper, Group Delay-Driven Crossover Optimization for Subwoofer Satellite Systems at Listening Position, was officially published.

I had planned to write about it as soon as the paper was out, but time has been tight lately… ^^;;

This post is about how to set the crossover frequency for subwoofers.

The motivation behind this was pretty straightforward. Not only studios but also many individual users incorporate subwoofers into their setups. However, there’s surprisingly little guidance out there on how to properly set the crossover frequency.

I myself use two subwoofers!

From a perceptual perspective, there are papers suggesting that humans don’t easily perceive directionality below a certain frequency (say, a few Hz), so the crossover should be set below that threshold. But when it comes to numerical analysis, the only paper I could find was Dr. Bharitkar’s Automatic Crossover Frequency Selection for Multichannel Home-Theater Applications.

In that paper, the claim was that a flatter frequency response in the low-frequency range is ideal. However, dips in very narrow frequency bands often don’t show up clearly in numerical calculations of variance.

I was convinced there had to be a better approach. So last summer, I bought a measurement microphone and started taking measurements without a clear plan.

By experimenting with different crossover frequencies, I collected a ton of data and made an initial discovery: there’s a correlation between Group Delay (or Excess Group Delay) and the frequency response.

After trying various configurations, I found that Excess Group Delay wasn’t as strongly correlated, but peaks in the Group Delay (whether positive or negative) corresponded to dips in the frequency response. Moreover, the smaller the absolute value of the Group Delay, the less pronounced those dips became.

I conducted experiments in a university classroom and my own workspace, using a Finite Element (FE) model to demonstrate this correlation. My conclusion was that the crossover frequency should be chosen to minimize the maximum absolute value of the Group Delay in the low-frequency range.

Here’s the mathematical expression for it:

Looks a bit daunting, doesn’t it? ^^ Let me break down the terms:

  1. ω_oc: The optimal crossover frequency (frequency is typically denoted by ω).
  2. ω_LC: The lower bound of the crossover frequency (Low Crossover).
  3. ω_HC: The upper bound of the crossover frequency (High Crossover).
  4. GD(ω_i): The Group Delay value at frequency ω_i.
  5. α, β: Correction factors for the low-frequency range.

I included α and β because I noticed that Group Delay can vary significantly outside the adjustable crossover frequency range. These correction factors help account for that.

Setting the crossover frequency this way not only benefits phase response (since Group Delay is the rate of change of phase) but also improves the frequency response. (For those diving deeper: this is trivial in minimum-phase systems, but real-world systems aren’t always minimum-phase, which makes this approach meaningful.)

Additionally, I applied 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley filters to both the satellite speakers (the main speakers in a subwoofer-satellite system are often called “satellite speakers”) and the subwoofer, while carefully aligning timing and phase. These conditions are critical for the approach to work.

I was working on a tool to automatically measure and output audio based on this method, but analyzing the data to select the optimal crossover frequency turned out to be quite time-consuming. With other papers and projects piling up, I’ve had to put it on hold for now.

If I get some free time, I’d love to revisit it. It’d be amazing if a company like Genelec saw this and added it as a feature… haha. And if they wanted to sponsor me, that’d be even better… ^^;;

I tried to explain this in a straightforward way, but the topic itself isn’t exactly simple, so I hope I got the point across clearly! 😅

If you’re curious about the detailed setup or experimental process, feel free to check out the paper or reach out to me directly.

Until next time! 😊

Safari Pedal Launch Sale (Ends Aug 31)

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, mixing engineer and music producer.

If you play electric guitar, you might already know Safari Pedals. They’ve just joined Plugin Boutique — and to celebrate, they’re running a launch sale!

(If you purchase through the link in this blog, I’ll receive a small commission, which helps keep my work going. Thank you for your support!)

[link]

Safari Pedals specializes in electric guitar pedals, cabinets, and related gear. True to their name, most of their effects are themed around animals — complete with animal names and illustrations.

They have quite a wide lineup, so here’s a quick overview:

PluginDescription
Gorilla DriveAnalog-style drive
Time MachineVintage-style compressor and filter, covering retro sounds from the 50s to 80s
Yak DelayUnpredictable delay patterns, in collaboration with Dan Mayo
Flamingo VerbFour reverb types (IR-based Room, Plate, Spring, Hall)
Lion MasterTrue peak limiter
Fox Echo ChorusModeled after the Roland RE-201
Dirty Dog ReverbReverb + distortion, in collaboration with Joe Chiccarelli
Owl ControlFour different compression styles
Rhino ReverbVintage hi-fi reverb inspired by the 60s–70s
Dragon EQ3-band EQ + drive
Ladybug ReverbLo-fi style reverb
Rabbit TapeTape plugin with cassette and reel-to-reel modes
Camel StripVintage-style compressor + EQ channel strip
Cobra FuzzAnalog-style stereo fuzz
Hawk PhaserColorful vintage phaser
Zebra ClipperVersatile clipper
Bull Sub MachineLow-end enhancer based on Leslie Brathwaite’s signature sound
Silver LlamaAmp modeled after Silvertone amps (included in Planet of the Amps bundle only)
Twin PandaAmp modeled after Fender Twin Reverb (bundle only)
Sun BearMastering-grade bus compressor
Level-OrCompressor/limiter based on Standard Audio 500 series hardware
Cassette BunnyVintage tape lo-fi sound
Falcon Air EQHigh-frequency enhancer EQ
Click image to purchase Safari Pedal Everything Bundle in Plugin Boutique

All of these are included in the Everything Bundle. Instead of covering every single plugin here, I’ll highlight a few that stood out to me.

Gorilla Drive

Click image to purchase Gorilla Drive at Plugin Boutique

Personally, I believe the simpler the pedal, the better. Too many parameters can slow you down and give you a headache when dialing in tones. That’s why I like straightforward tools like Gorilla Drive.

It has a Tilt-style “Tone” EQ in the middle, making it intuitive to shape your sound. Tonally, I’d describe it as a smooth, warm drive — but of course, sound is subjective, so try it for yourself.

Cassette Bunny

Click image to purchase Cassette Bunny at Plugin Boutique

This one nails that soft, vintage cassette tape vibe — with rolled-off highs and extreme lows. In Studio Mode, the bandwidth opens up for more high-end saturation, but I actually preferred Home Mode for its character.

Great not only for lo-fi music, but also for adding subtle texture to background guitars.

Silver Llama (Planet of the Amps bundle)

Click image to purchase Silver Llama at Plugin Boutique

Within the amp bundle, the Silver Llama really caught my ear. The FX Spring reverb in particular feels very wide and has a noticeable out-of-phase character.

The bundle also includes standalone FX plugins, so you can use just the effects without the amp if you want.

Yak Delay

Click image to purchase Yak Delay at Plugin Boutique

This is a wild one. Hit the Random button along with the Sync button, and every delay parameter starts shifting in sync with the beat. Perfect for ambient music or experimental textures. I’ve never seen a delay behave quite like this before.

Fox Echo Chorus

Click image to purchase Fox Echo Chorus at Plugin Boutique

Although it’s modeled after the Roland RE-201, it also includes reverb and chorus, making it a great all-in-one spatial tool. The convenience alone makes it worth checking out — and despite the extra features, it’s not priced higher than other plugins.

Dirty Dog Reverb

Click image to purchase Dirty Dog Chorus at Plugin Boutique

This one is pure attitude — a wide, spacious reverb drenched in distortion. While it’s obviously great for rock, it can add grit and depth to all sorts of genres.

Final Thoughts

These six are my top recommendations, but honestly, Safari Pedals’ entire lineup is well-optimized, unique-sounding, and easy to work with thanks to their intuitive controls.

The sale runs until August 31, so take your time browsing and see which ones spark your creativity.

See you in the next post!