Universal Mastering Studios (UMS) in Los Angeles, which provides diverse mixing and mastering services for records, TV soundtracks, and even ringtones, is utilizing the iZotope Ozone mastering platform for a variety of needs.
Key UMS staff members, including senior mastering/mixing engineer Peter Doell, senior mastering engineer Erik Labson, and engineers Warren Sokol and Gabriel Wallach, deploy several features contained in Ozone.
For example, Sokol works a lot with Ozone’s multiband compressor and Exciter to perform changes such as making the bass pump from the center by filtering out the sides. “I also like to use the Exciter to just do a tiny bit of harmonic enhancement,” he adds.
Exciter is designed for dialing in “analog warmth” as well as adding harmonic enhancement. As it’s name implies, it can be used to “excite” certain frequencies to allow individual instruments to stand out within a mix. “I haven’t had any other processor that did that in the same way. I really like the Exciter in Ozone a lot,” Sokol notes.
Wallach adds, “Specifically, the Limiter in Ozone is one of the best-sounding ones, and the Dither as well. I don’t overdo it, it just gives me the extra that I need at the very end.”