Auto-Normalize Function

When mastering, it's generally desirable to have as full a scale signal at peak as possible. In other words, you usually want the loudest point of the signal to hit 0 dB for the most dynamic range.

Ozone can help you automatically set your input gain so the peak at input is at 0 db, or your output gain, or both.

To do this, right-click (under OS X you can also ctrl-click) on the level meters to bring up the level meter options screen, then click the "Auto-Normalize" button to bring up the control panel below.

1) Start your mix playing. Be sure to play through the entire mix, or at least the point that has the highest level.

2) Click the Start button in the "Auto-Normalize" control panel. The Start button will turn into a Stop button.

3)  When you've played through the entire mix, or at least the point that has the highest level, click Stop.

4) Adjust the slider to the level you want your mix to peak at (e.g. 0 dB). Note that you can specify the level in percent or dB.

5) Click the Set button. Ozone will set your input or output gain (depending on the source you selected) so that your peak will hit the level you set.

Of course, you can also normalize in most host apps. Why do it in a plug-in?

1) Non-destructive. If you normalize to 0 dB in the host app and then add a little EQ with Ozone, you can peak your signal above clipping. Normalizing the output of Ozone, as opposed to the source file going into Ozone, ensures that the final output signal will have the maximum dynamic range.

2) So why not normalize in the host app after Ozone? Because Ozone can go right to 16 bit with high order noise shaped dithering. You don't want to process in Ozone, normalize in the host app, and then dither in Ozone. Or even worse, processing Ozone, dither in Ozone, and then normalize in the host app. In order to dither with Ozone, Ozone dither must be the last process to touch the audio. Any subsequent level adjustments outside of Ozone will corrupt the dithering process.

2) 64-bit. When you normalize you are expanding the signal. In a host app you are typically expanding it along a scale of 32 bits. In Ozone the level adjustments are calculated at 64 bits giving you higher resolution for each sample for subsequent processing.