Overview
Ozone 8’s standalone application allows you to use its mastering tools as a standalone application; no external DAW or two-track editor is required. This approach can be advantageous when your un-mastered audio already exists as a standalone audio file, and you wish to process it in as straightforward a manner as possible, without the complexity or CPU overhead of running a separate DAW or two-track editor.
Ozone App Interface
- Transport Bar: Includes playback controls and transport counter information.
- Audio File Tabs: Click on any tab to switch to its corresponding audio file, where you can play it back and adjust the controls of Ozone’s processor modules to affect the sound of the audio file.
- Waveform Display: The waveform display shows a graphical representation of the currently selected audio file.
- Module Control Panel: This main part of the Ozone 8 interface contains all of the controls and displays for the currently selected processor module.
- Module Chain: Displays the modules included in the signal processing chain.
- Presets: Click here to load a module chain preset.
- Master Assistant: Open the Master Assistant panel to analyze your audio for a custom starting point.
- Master Input/Output Section: This section contains detailed input/output meters, Bypass, Sum to Mono, Swap Channels, Dither, Codec Preview [ADV], Reference.
Ozone’s file menu contains the different commands you use to perform functions such as:
- Loading audio files into an Ozone project for processing
- Saving the project
- Exporting the processed audio files
Importing Audio
Upon launching the standalone Ozone application, a new project will automatically be created. The first step is to import an audio file into the new project.
To do so, you can:
- Click on the File menu at the top of the screen, then “Import Audio Files.”
- Click on the “plus” icon at the top-left area of the interface.
- Use keyboard shortcut Cmd+I or Ctrl+I; A standard dialog box will appear where you can navigate to the desired file, then click “Open” to import it into the project.
You can also import an audio file by dragging and dropping the audio file from your computer desktop/ folder onto the Ozone window. The imported audio file displays as a tab in the upper portion of the screen, with the title of the imported file. Each audio file tab, when clicked on, will display its audio file as a waveform, with an accompanying timeline displayed in minutes/seconds/milliseconds.
Supported Import File Types
FILE FORMATS | BIT DEPTH(S) | SAMPLE RATE(S) |
---|---|---|
.wav | 16-bit | 11,250 Hz |
.aiff | 20-bit | 22,050 Hz |
.mp3 | 24-bit | 44,100 Hz |
.aac | 48,000 Hz | |
88,200 Hz | ||
96,000 Hz | ||
176,400 Hz | ||
192,000 Hz |
Exporting Audio
Once you have applied the specific audio processing to your imported audio file(s), it is time to export the files. A new copy of the audio file will be saved, with all of the processing from the Ozone modules permanently applied to the exported file.
Click on the File menu, and then select “Export Audio Files.” A dialog box will appear, offering various options for the files you are about to export.
These choices include:
Current Track vs. All Tracks
- Click on “Current Track” to only export the audio file in the currently highlighted tab.
- Click on “All Tracks” to export separate audio files for each audio file loaded into the current project.
Filename (Available on Current Track Only)
Type the desired name into this field; the exported file will be labeled with the name you have typed.
Append Text (Available on All Tracks Only)
Type in the desired text into the field; it will be automatically added to each of the exported tracks. You can also select whether to add the text before or after the file name. This function is useful for “tagging” the titles of a group of audio files with a common label; for example, you could append a group of files with a label such as “January 18th 2014 session.”
Add Track Numbers (Available on All Tracks Only)
You can add track numbers to your exports in the “All Tracks” section of the Export dialog. Select the “Add Track Numbers” checkbox and your exported files will be numbered in the order they appear in your Ozone project.
Format
Select the format of the exported file(s): WAV, AIFF, MP3, or AAC.
AAC & MP3 Codecs used by Ozone
For AAC Ozone uses Fraunhofer’s codec. For MP3 the LAME codec is used (www.mp3dev.org).
Bit Rate (Available on MP3 and AAC Only)
Set the bit rate for compressed file formats. Audio quality improves with increasing bit rate.
Save Path
Click on the Set Path button to select, through the resulting dialog box, where your exported audio file(s) will be saved.
- If the project is unsaved, the default save path is your Documents folder.
- If the project has already been saved, the default save path is an Exported Audio Files folder in the same location as the project.
Sample Rate
Select the sample rate with which you wish to export your audio file. If you select a sample rate that differs from the original sample rate of the imported file, Ozone will apply high-quality sample rate conversion to the file. * The project sample rate defaults to the sample rate of the rst file that is loaded. * If a file is loaded after with a different or higher sample rate, it is converted to the original sampling rate set for the project by the first file, or manually set before the second file is loaded. * The conversion process will not convert previously converted/processed files (which are copied as working files upon load); Ozone will simply go back to the original files, create new copies, and then convert all files to the new sample rate for their new working copies.
Sample Rate when exporting to AAC or MP3 formats
Please note, if MP3 or AAC format is selected, files will be exported with a 44.1kHz sampling rate.
Bit Depth
Select the bit depth you want to export your file to. If you select a bit depth other than 32-bit, you may want to apply dither to your export. Ozone processes files at 32-bit so dither is desirable for files being exported to values lower than 32-bit.
Dither settings will default to ideal settings for 16 bit exports (CD quality bit depth). Checking the Dither on export box will apply these default settings or any custom settings you choose in the Dither module.
Enable Dither
When exporting to a bit depth lower than 32-bit, checking this box will apply high-quality dithering to the exported file.
This allows you to preserve the sound quality and dynamic range of a higher bit depth, when exporting the audio file to a lower bit depth.
For example, a common workflow is to record audio at 24-bit resolution, then import and process the audio, in an application such as Ozone, which will process at a higher resolution of 32-bits.
However, if you are releasing the audio material on a commercial CD, the audio content must, at some point, be converted to 16-bit audio, since that is the required bit-depth of the “Red Book” CD audio format.
By applying iZotope’s dithering to a 24-bit file, you can preserve the sound quality of the 24-bit file, when exporting it to a 16-bit file that can be burned to an audio CD.
Help
Click this button to launch the help documentation for Ozone 8.
Cancel
Click this button to cancel out of the export process and return to the main interface.
Export
Click this button to begin the export process (or launch the Track Info screen for MP3 and AAC). A dialog box will appear that shows the progress of the export operation, which occurs in faster than real time.
Track Info (Available for MP3 and AAC Only)
When MP3 or AAC is selected, the Track Info screen will become available after clicking Export. Here you can enter metadata for the encoded audio file that will used by MP3 & AAC players to display information about the file. MP3 will be tagged using ID3v2.3. AAC uses iTunes style tags.
Transport
Ozone provides a handy transport bar, located at the top of the screen, that allows you to easily navigate the playback functions of an imported audio file.
The transport bar includes the following functions:
Play
Click the Play button to play back the currently imported audio file. Playback can also be initiated by pressing the space bar. Playback will begin and you will see a playhead cursor move from left to right across the waveform. To playback the file from a spot in the middle of the song, simply click on any desired spot of the waveform, then press the Play button.
Stop
Click the Stop button to stop playback. The cursor will always return to the last insertion point.
Return to Zero/Skip Back
Clicking on this button has two di erent functions, depending on the current position of the playhead within the audio le:
- If the playhead is located more than two seconds into the audio file, clicking the button invokes a “return to Zero” function, moving the playhead back to the beginning of the current file.
- If the playhead is near the very beginning of the file, clicking the button acts as a “skip back” button, skipping back to the previous audio file (if there is one loaded).
Skip Forward
Click this button to skip to the next audio file that has been loaded into the software. If no other files have been loaded, the button will have no function.
Playhead Follows Playback
Clicking this button toggles the ‘stop’ behavior for the space bar and Play button. When unselected, and playback is stopped using the space bar or Play button, the play head will return to the last selected position. When selected, and playback is stopped using the space bar or Play button, the playhead will retain the current position.
Loop
To loop playback of a specific section of audio, click and drag on the mouse and highlight a portion of the audio le; the section will highlight in blue and the “loop” icon in the transport bar will also highlight.
When you next press Play, the transport will loop playback repeatedly for the highlighted section only.
To stop looping audio, click on the Loop button again. The button will de-illuminate and looping will no longer be active, even though the area of the waveform will remain highlighted. The Loop button can be manually clicked again if you wish to again loop the audio.
Ozone’s transport bar also contains three helpful displays, as follows:
Track Number
This number displays the track number of the currently selected track.
Time Counter
This counter will display the current time position within the audio file, displaying in minutes/seconds/milliseconds.
Total Time
This smaller display shows you the total length of all songs in the session.
To play back the imported audio file, press the space bar or click on the Play button. The audio file will be played back, with a moving playhead indicating the current position in the file.
- Press the space bar again or click on the Stop button to stop playback.
This function is very useful when dialing in the desired processing for a particular section of your audio file.
Multiple File Workflow
You can load multiple files into the same project. To do so, simply repeat the Import File process; each newly imported file will display in its own separate tab on the top of the screen.
To play back audio from any given file, simply click on its corresponding tab. The waveform file will change to display that tab’s audio, and the playback controls will control playback for that audio file.
Note
Note that any audio processing that is applied for an imported file, affects the audio for that file only; it does not affect the audio of the other files represented by the other tabs. This allows you to apply separate audio processing settings to each separate audio file in a session.
This is crucial in a mastering session, since you will apply different processing to each song within a larger collection of work, unique to the needs of that specific song. This also allows for the different songs to all fit together nicely as a cohesive album.
Re-ordering Tracks
To re-order the layout of the audio files tab within a session, simply click and hold on any tab in a project, then drag it to the left or right.
Deleting Tracks
To delete an imported audio file in a session, you can either:
- Right-click on the audio file’s tab and select “Remove Track.”
- Click on a tab to highlight it, then click on the “X” button.
When deleting a file, a dialog box will appear o ering you three different options:
Saving Presets
Using Ozone’s preset system, you can also copy and paste processing settings from one imported song to another, using the following steps:
- Effect the first track with your desired settings.
- Save these settings as a preset.
- Click the tab of the next track you wish to apply the preset to.
- Load the previous preset you have just saved.
- Continue working from there as a starting point.
Saving Ozone App Projects
An Ozone project is the overlying “master project file” that encompasses:
- The data of all of the one or more audio files that have been imported into the project.
- The specific audio processor settings that have been separately applied to each imported file in the project.
By saving the above as a project, you can always re-open a project at a later time, and perform functions such as re-ordering the audio files within a project, or adjusting the audio processing of any audio file within the project.
Saving
The standalone version of Ozone 8 offers three separate save commands, located within the file menu. They work as follows:
Save Project
Click on File/“Save Project” to save the Ozone project to your computer.
A dialog box will appear, allowing you to specify the save path of the project, as well as the project name.
Once the project has been initially saved, you can click on the Save Project command again at any time, and it will automatically update your changes, saving over the previous version.
A saved Ozone project contains the following three components, all placed in an automatically created folder named after the project:
- An Imported Audio Files folder, that contains a copy of the imported audio files, in their original state.
- An Exported Audio Files folder, that contains a copy of the exported audio files, in their processed state.
- A session file (with the file extension “.ozn”) that contains all parameter values that have been applied to the imported audio files.
This file uses the project name specified by the user.
This is the file you would click on to launch and reload the session, if you wished to make further adjustments to the audio files and then perform a new export.
Save Project As…
Clicking the Save Project As.. command will always bring up the save dialog box, where you can give a new name and save the project as a new, separate directory from the previously saved version. Using this Save operation will save a copy of the entire session folder (session file, imported and exported files) to a new directory.
Ozone Session Files (.OZN)
The saved .ozn files are referred to as an Ozone “session,” and its hierarchy is similar to that of other audio DAW programs.
It contains:
- A project folder that contains all files that are relevant to that project.
- The session file references audio in the “Imported Audio Files” folder.
Initially each project has only one session, but you could have many sessions in one project.
Save (.OZN) As…
Saves a new copy of the session file within the current working directory of your session. Useful for versioning your Ozone projects over time. Using this method will not create copies of the audio files associated with your project.
Save (.OZN) As...
Note that when using the Save (.OZN) As… command, will save a new version of the project file (the file .ozn settings) is created. No new version of the actual audio files is created.
Close Project
Click this menu item to close the currently loaded project.
Ozone will present a dialog box asking you what youwish to do with the currently loaded project; options include:
- Cancel: Cancels out of the close operation; the current project will stay loaded.
- Don’t Save: The current project will be closed and no changes will be saved since the last save operation.
- Save: All of the latest changes will be saved before closing the project.
Create New Project
Click this menu item to create a new Ozone project.
If a different project is currently loaded, Ozone will close out the current project, offering the options described above.
Open Project
Click this menu item to open up a previously saved Ozone project. A dialog box will appear, allowing you to navigate to the saved project you wish to open.
Ozone’s edit menu contains different menus that allow you to configure the audio aspects of the Ozone 8 standalone application. These menus include:
Audio Devices
Click this menu to select which audio hardware device you wish to monitor Ozone’s audio playback from, as well as the buffer size of the device.
Options will include:
- The onboard sound circuitry of your Windows or OS X computer.
- Any CoreAudio compatible audio hardware (OS X).
- Any ASIO compatible audio hardware (Windows).
If working in sample rates or bit depths higher than CD quality, make sure you have selected audio hardware that supports it.
ncG1vNJzZmirY2Ourq3ZqKWar6NjsLC5jqKxqKyfpbKlu9ano6iZlKh8pbvCrGaosp%2Bjsnl7zrOmp51dlr2xec6vnKuumZrEcLXNnZyxZpipuq0%3D