iZotope Ozone

Mastering and loudness

A mastering suite that podcasters borrow from music production to get a final loudness and polish pass on an episode.

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Ozone bundles a maximizer, EQ, dynamic EQ, and reference matching tools designed to take a finished mix and push it to a competitive, consistent loudness. Podcast editors mainly use the Maximizer to hit loudness targets like negative sixteen LUFS without clipping.

It fits shows already comfortable exporting from a DAW who want their final loudness pass handled by something more capable than a single limiter plugin, especially across a catalog with inconsistent mic setups.

A good chunk of the suite, stereo widening, multiband imaging, was built for music and simply doesn't apply to spoken word content, so expect to ignore half the interface.

The Assistant feature, which listens to your mix and suggests settings, is genuinely handy for people intimidated by mastering concepts, even if the suggestions need tweaking for voice.

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