One of most powerful modules in Ozone is the multiband
dynamics section. You can use this module to compress, expand, and limit four
independent bands.
Each band has its own controls for controlling the dynamics. There are four bands, as shown by the sections in the multiband section at the top.
To select a band, click on its corresponding section in the multiband spectrum. The controls and dynamics meters will be updated to display the currently selected band.
Each band of dynamics is capable of three types of dynamics processing. Limiting, compressing, and expanding. This allows you, for example, to aggressively limit high level signals, apply more gentle compression to medium level signals, and/or boost (expand) the level of soft signals. The combination is such that you can tighten the dynamic range by compressing "from the top" or by expanding "from the bottom". Or a combination of both.
Controls
Gain: Adjusts the output gain of the band. This is useful, for example, after compressing or limiting a band to makeup the decrease in volume.
Threshold: Set the point where the dynamics processing takes place.
Ratio: Sets the ratio for the limiting. Higher ratios will result in more extreme compression or expansion.
Note that the expander can have a ratio greater or less than 1.0. When the ratio is greater than 1, it is operating as a gate and any signals below the threshold will be decreased in volume. With a high positive ratio it can act as an effective multiband noise gate, as shown below.
With ratios less than 1 the expander or compressor can act as an "upward compressor" by boosting the low level signals. This is an effective technique for adding fullness to a mix as you can bring up the lower levels without compressing or limiting the upper levels.
RMS detection: When this option is enabled, Ozone acts as an RMS compressor/limiter/expander. This means that instead of looking at the peak level of the incoming signal, Ozone looks at the average level. In general, peak detection is useful when you're trying to even out sudden peaks in your music. RMS detection is useful when you're trying to increase the overall volume level without changing the character of the sound.
Attack and Release
Settings
If you click on Attack/Release settings you can adjust the Attack and Release times of each dynamics section.
Note that each section (limiter, compressor, and expander) of each band can have its own attack and release settings
Auto-smoothing: This causes Ozone to intelligently make small changes in its attack and release times to reduce the amount of distortion generated by the dynamics.
Visuals
The dynamics section has three meters to help you visualize the dynamics within the selected band.
The left meter is a level histogram, or a level meter that keeps track of its history. This allows you visualize the overall "level content" of the audio by providing a running display of the history of levels in the audio.
The center meter is a reduction meter. It shows in dB the amount of reduction the compressor/limiter and/or gate is providing.
The right meter is a traditional dynamics curve, where the x or horizontal axis is the signal going into the dynamics module, and the y or vertical axis is the signal coming out. More horizontal compression curves means the signal is being flattened (compressed) more.
By default, the range of the meter is from 0 dB to -64 dB. You can adjust the range by pressing down the Ctrl key under Windows or the Command key under OS X and clicking with the left mouse button to zoom in, or clicking with the right mouse button to zoom out. Under OS X you can also Command-ctrl-click to zoom out. Note that if you zoom out completely so the range is 0 dB to -128 dB, you'll be able to set compressor/limiter/expander thresholds down to -130 dB. When you zoom in again, the thresholds will keep their values, even though the sliders will adjust to allow finer control of thresholds between 0 dB and -80 dB.
You can also set individual options for this meter by right-clicking (under OS X you can also ctrl-click) on it to bring up the dynamics meter options screen. Learn more about the dynamics meter options here...
Note: This help file is a quick reference for basic Ozone functions and controls. We have a separate "how to" guide that provides tips and techniques for mastering with Ozone. You can download this guide from http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/guides.html