iZotope announces Neutron mixing software

[Guy Rowland]

iZotope has announced Neutron, their newest mixing plug-in, set to launch in October. Geared toward simplifying and enhancing the mixing process, Neutron combines the latest innovations in analysis and metering with industry-leading audio processing to deliver focus and clarity in your mixes.

Neutron's Track Assistant saves you time by listening to your audio and recommending custom starting points for your track. The analysis intelligence within Neutron allows Track Assistant to automatically detect instruments, recommend the placement of EQ nodes, and set optimal settings for other modules. You still maintain full control over all your mix decisions, but Track Assistant gives you more time to focus on what's most important — your creative take on the mix.

Neutron's Masking Meter allows you to visually identify and fix perceptual frequency collisions between instruments, which can result in guitars masking lead vocals, bass covering up drums, and other issues that can cause a "muddy" or overly crowded mix. Easily tweak each track to carve away muddiness and reveal new sonic possibilities.

"With Neutron, we're introducing a new mixing paradigm by providing music producers and audio post professionals with a smarter way to mix," says Mark Ethier, CEO and co-founder of iZotope. "The advanced technology within the software has an intelligence that isn't the standard, one-size-fits-all mixing solution — Neutron is smart, but you're still in charge. We envision Neutron being the helpful tool you've always wanted. It has a deep understanding of the tracks and where they compete with one another, and it offers subtle enhancements to the sound based on that understanding."

Neutron can be used on every track, offering zero-latency, CPU-efficient performance. With a static /dynamic EQ, two multiband Compressors, a multiband Transient Shaper, a multiband Exciter, and a True Peak Limiter, users will hear clearer results in less time.

Neutron's Key Features:

Automatically detect different instruments - like vocals, dialogue, guitar, bass, and drums - and then apply the spectral shaping technology within Neutrino to provide subtle clarity and balance to each track.
Get recommendations for optimal starting points using Track Assistant, including EQ nodes, compressor thresholds, saturation types, and multiband crossover points, so you can mix with confidence.
Carve out sonic space with the Masking Meter to help each instrument sit better in the mix.
Create the perfect mix with five essential mixing processors integrated into one CPU-efficient channel strip, packed with both clean digital and warm vintage-flavored processing.
Surround Support [Advanced Only] for audio post professionals that need to enhance the audio for picture experience.
Individual plug-ins [Advanced Only] available for the Equalizer, Compressor, Transient Shaper, and Exciter.

Pricing & Availability

Neutron and Neutron Advanced will be available October 5, 2016 at http://www.izotope.com/neutron and select retailers.
Neutron Advanced will also be available as part of iZotope's new Music Production Bundle 2. This combines iZotope's latest products with its most popular tools including Ozone 7 Advanced, Nectar 2 Production Suite, VocalSynth, Trash 2 Expanded, RX Plug-in Pack, and Insight.
Once available, Neutron, Neutron Advanced, and the Music Production Bundle 2 will be on sale through October 31, 2016:
Neutron will be available for $199 USD (reg.$249) and 189 Euro (reg. 229 Euro).
Neutron Advanced will be available for $299 USD (reg. $349) and 270 Euro (reg. 325 Euro).
Music Production Bundle 2 will be available for $499 USD (reg. $699) and 459 Euro (reg. 645 Euro).
Upgrade pricing can be found on iZotope's website, and owners of previous versions of Music Production Bundle can find their upgrade coupons in their iZotope accounts

Neutrino was so subtle it was pretty much a Placebino. I like the concept here though, will be watching the demos and looking out for the upgrade pricing (not yet on the website)

[Ashermusic]

This intrigues me and I will watch the webinar.

[Marius]

Curious to see how this will interact with Ozone. I think I'm most excited about that masking meter...that's remained a gap in modern metering tools for a while now, so if they've managed to crack it that would be something. Looking forward to seeing how well it works on non-pop material.

[Guy Rowland]

There's something I don't quite get about it yet, maybe someone here has better insights than I. If I understand correctly, the idea is to examine the elements of a mix to see what is clashing with what, help carve out space for each etc. All makes sense, potentially very useful. However, for this to work, surely it needs to analyse the channels together? It seems its one instance per channel - so how can it know what the other tracks are doing? Is there some internal bussing between instances I wonder?

[Guy Rowland]

Ah ha, I can answer my own question via this excellent Sound On Sound demo video - yes instances do talk to each other. In fact, it looks bloody brilliant. I didn't realise effectively it's an updated Alloy 2, plus this whole new analysis section. I don't think I've ever seen this level of integrating tracks for a mix, and the boasted low CPU can only be a great thing.

Could be essential.

[Lawrence]

The Magic Analyzer/Fixer....the solution to my crappy mixing. These modern times! :::shakes head:::

[Ashermusic]

I saw this yesterday at AES. It is NOT an "auto-mixer" but an impressive tool.

Let''s say you have synth parts that are competing for frequencies with the lead vocal. The analyzer shows you this and within one plug-in instance (you need it on both tracks) you can start to carve out the problematic frequencies.

[Jack Weaver]

Seems like a great tool. It does still presuppose a lot of knowledge regarding audio processing concepts - importance of threshold in expansion modes, proper side chaining, etc. Come to think of it, it might just actually be a good education in that realm for many.

Throughout the video I kept thinking to myself, 'How did they arrive at these particular control algorithms? They are a certain level of enforcement of someone's sense of taste and beauty. Would we ever get designer algos from the famous mixers?'

I wouldn't mind trying this out. I don't have any regular pop style mixes coming up. So it might be a while before I get around to it. I'm not sure how it would work for orchestral/hybrid mixing, but no reason to think that it wouldn't. My only concern is that when you want completely different sounds in different parts of the song or cue how Neutron would/could have Part A sound one way, Part B sound another way and return to the previous fx levels for Part A again. (Hmmm, might be a good direct question for the iZotope boys.)

But iZotope are definitely propeller heads. I just started to use Rx Advanced on my editing laptop (along with WaveLab as the front end). Rx can be a hand full but it does things that nothing else can get at.

.

[tack]

Some neat tricks there.

The promo price of $200 for the standard version was cheaper than I expected it would be.

[Raymond_Kemp]

Throughout the video I kept thinking to myself, 'How did they arrive at these particular control algorithms? They are a certain level of enforcement of someone's sense of taste and beauty. Would we ever get designer algos from the famous mixers.

Exactly what I was thinking. Unless the final analysis is done by our ears, will one size fit all? Or, is this for people not able to rely on their ears which of course is the majority in this day and age of relatively inexpensive technology for all.

[Ashermusic]

It is a decision facilitating tool, not an ultimate arbiter, like an analyzer in an EQ, but more sophisticated. I am looking forward to working with it.

[Marius]

Holy crap, that is a lot more sophisticated than I was expecting. Just some great things I see at a glance...

- Easy comparisons with a complete undo history that has 4 different snapshots (A/B/C/D)
- The EQ can work dynamically like the Ozone Advanced dynamic EQ (which is wicked)
- Zero latency mode for tracking
- You can dial in the sensitivity of the masking detection
- You can enable inverse linked EQ nodes while dealing with masking to make it easy to cut an offending frequency range from one track while boosting it in the dominant track
- Band-specific side-chaining for individual EQ bands...he uses it to make the first EQ band of the bass react to the first EQ band of the kick, dynamically

The $200 intro price for Standard is great but I want to know if they have any loyalty deals on the Advanced version for those of us rocking lots of iZotope licenses.

[wst3]

someone has to play devil's advocate I guess...

I've watched the videos, I haven't had a chance to play with it in person, so take this with a grain of salt!

Izotope has some absolutely brilliant tools, some absolutely brilliant developers, and as good as it gets support. I think their software would jump off the shelf without a marketing department.

And yet they are also really good at marketing, at least to some segments. Which tends to be a bit of a disappointment for others.

Ozone includes one of the most musically useful equalizers I've ever used, and their multiband compressor is amazing. I'm still using the cut down versions that came with Sound Forge, they are that good.

RX is a remarkable restoration tool - it doesn't make CEDAR obsolete, but for most of us it does everything we need at a fraction of the cost of CEDAR.

So why do they need the hyperbole?

Ozone is NOT a mastering tool - there is no such thing as a mastering tool, and certainly there are no presets that will magically master your tracks. Mastering is a craft, generally applied by someone with very good ears and lots of experience. For the most part they work in rooms designed specifically for mastering, using tools that suit their approach to mastering.

The irony, for me, is that their booklet is really pretty good. If one read that a few times one would be in a great position to work with a mastering engineer, and one could probably even take a stab at mastering, or at least pre-mastering their own work.

So yes, I've had a bit of a gripe about Izotope marketing for a long time.

Then they release Nectar - which is a pretty cool tool - and they make similar marketing claims, that it is the only tool you need for vocals, and so on. I have a lite version, don't remember how I got it, bundled with something, and it is pretty cool. But it is not the only tool I need, and if I don't have a good track to start Nectar turns it into dog food.

Now we have Neutrino and Neutron. I played with Neutrino, it does some cool stuff. But I'm probably not going to spend any more time with it, or Neutron because it can not possibly live up to the hype. It is probably a very useful tool for someone that knows how to mix. It might even make mixing a little easier. But it won't replace the mix process and I'm tired of being treated like an idiot.

I love the linked EQ and the ability to link cut and boost. I do that manually now. I don't think band specific side chains is new, but I'll have to dig a little. I remember doing that with the old Valley People racks, but that was hardware. I don't want or need recommended starting points.

Why - the question I've been trying to formulate - Why do developers who are clearly clever and talented, developers who create innovative and musically useful tools - why do they the fall back on such awful marketing tactics?

Man am I grumpy today!

[Guy Rowland]

Yeah you are grumpy today Bill :-)

I'm not to fussed about the intelligent track presets, though it will be interesting to hear how it does. The big excitements I think Marius highlighted well - many of those had me going "oooooh" in the video, and I don't go "ooooh" at effects very often. That inverse linking eq, sidechaining frequencies with any other instance in your mix in a drop down named menu - come on, that's fantastic. While it's all been possible to do before, nothing compares to the ease of use, and intelligence with which it is applies (at least in theory). I don't mind them hyping when it's this well conceived!

(And BTW - RX5 Denoise offline simply walks all over Cedar. Not even close. Of course it's an offline so not quite the same thing, but I'm very impressed with their tech).

[Marius]

Hype helps them sell products, it's the same as in any other field. I know it's more "respectable" when companies are modest about their marketing, but those companies also aren't as successful as iZotope. The kind of R&D that goes into tools like this isn't cheap, and it's marketing that fuels those innovations by selling more products.

They've been pretty candid on all levels about the purpose of their presets lately. They're known for them and they did give off the impression of a "one-click-and-you're-done" thing in the past, but nowadays they're clear about it being a set of starting points or frameworks that you're meant to adapt. Both pros and amateurs use their stuff, and it's useful for less experienced mixers to start with a preset that sounds appropriate and see what kind of stuff it's doing. Makes it easier to understand the process. I don't see anything wrong with that.

There's always going to be friction when you're marketing a product both to professionals and beginners. Someone's going to feel talked down to.

As for Neutron, I don't think any of this (except the masking meter) is especially unique, but that's not the point—it's the way they've woven them together that's great. They're one of the only companies that makes products to push "the process" forward. The future of mixing probably isn't just replacing hardware workflows with increasingly sophisticated software recreations of the same boxes and patching systems.

[Guy Rowland]

The future of mixing probably isn't just replacing hardware workflows with increasingly sophisticated software recreations of the same boxes and patching systems.

Great post all round Marius, had to highlight this bit. It's a very slow process from thinking outside the analogue hardware paradigm, but I totally agree with you that this is where things have to go.

[Ashermusic]

Look, marketing is marketing and very few companies do not make exaggerated claims about their products, Bill.

But we who are experienced need to discount that and evaluate the tools on what we perceive as their merits and lack thereof. I think this will be a very useful tool at a good price.. Not the be all and end all, not the revolution, but nonetheless a nice helpful thing to have.

[wst3]

Look, marketing is marketing and very few companies do not make exaggerated claims about their products, Bill.

This is true, but it is getting worse, at least from my vantage point. Words matter, specifications matter, and the purchasing public, pro and amateur alike, needs to hold claims to a higher standard.

Part of my grump comes from the fact that I deal with this in my day job. Formerly respected manufacturers play fast and loose with their marketing pitches, and it makes it that much more difficult to make an informed decision. I find that frustrating.

I will have to take a closer look at Izotope marketing stuff, several folks have told me that they've toned it down recently. That would be nice.

But we who are experienced need to discount that and evaluate the tools on what we perceive as their merits and lack thereof. I think this will be a very useful tool at a good price.. Not the be all and end all, not the revolution, but nonetheless a nice helpful thing to have.

And that's where I get really upset. Everyone here is probably capable of evaluating the claims made by manufacturers and developers, and determining their accuracy. And that's fine.

BUT what about the newcomer - is it ok to suggest to them that this tool or that library is going to make them a pro? Like it or not, newcomers can't make the same evaluations, and it isn't ok to let them be misled. I know a lot of folks that purchased Ozone when it promised to master their tracks for them. They didn't even know what mastering really is, but they knew they needed it.

It isn't like I can go to the local studio and run errands or sweep floors to learn this stuff any more...

[Lawrence]

"It isn't like I can go to the local studio and run errands or sweep floors to learn this stuff any more..."

To be fair Bill, there wasn't a YouTube (with an awful lot of tutorials) back in the day. Tremendous resource, in my view.

[Thomas Mavian]

I did some "ooohs" and "aaahhhs" while watching the above video. Damn clever. However, I feel that it might take away a few of those "yeah! nailed it" moments I tend to have while mixing. Part of the fun with mixes is when you really make it sound good. It's kind of problem solving. This Neutron seems like a crossword-cheater in comparison

Not saying its bad, just saying that some of my "Yeah!" moments will transfer to something else should I get this.

[wst3]

"It isn't like I can go to the local studio and run errands or sweep floors to learn this stuff any more..."

To be fair Bill, there wasn't a YouTube (with an awful lot of tutorials) back in the day. Tremendous resource, in my view.

Fair enough. A friend of mine, a very talented and successful session guitarist, has commented more than once that he might be a much better player had he grown up with YouTube. In that specific setting I'm not sure he is wrong, but he turned out pretty darned good learning stuff by ear!

In the case of recording techniques - tracking, mixing, maybe even mastering - there is so much bad and downright incorrect information on YouTube that I do not think it reasonably takes the place of watching a more experienced engineer move a microphone or tweak a processor. There is immediate feedback, right or wrong, when you are in that setting.

Not to suggest that there are no good videos, but how is someone that doesn't know any better going to figure out which is good?

[Lawrence]

I thought of that as I posted. My answer is that as you say, nothing replaces real world experience, but video that actually shows mic placement and demonstrates the resulting audio is a good start.

Here in NY, there are still interns btw, though much less live recording.

[woodsdenis]

If you have a paid Izotope product the standard is nearly a no brainer, $88 at Audiodeluxe. Its really Alloy 3 tbh, the Track assistant thing is no gimmick, in using it briefly it always gave usable results that with a bit of tweaking were spot on.

[Lawrence]

Apparently you can get the whole production bundle for $199 if you're me (Izotope standard only)

[Guy Rowland]

..I think the music production bundle contains neutron advanced, doesn't it?