Maximizer

Overview

Ozone’s acclaimed IRC (Intelligent Release Control) technology lets you boost the overall level of your mixes without sacrificing dynamics and clarity. The Maximizer applies to the entire bandwidth of the mix; it is not a multiband effect.

Controls

MODES

IRC I

Provides intelligent digital loudness maximization of the signal. It does this by analyzing the source material and applying limiting in a psychoacoustically pleasing manner, reacting quickly to transients (to prevent pumping) and reacting more slowly to steady bass tones (to prevent distortion).

IRC II

Similar to IRC I, but optimized to preserve transients even more, so they sound sharper and clearer in the output signal, even when aggressive limiting is taking place.

Threshold

Determines the level at which limiting will be triggered and determines the amount of gain added to maximize the output level. Setting the Threshold to a non-zero value that doesn’t trigger the limiter will still increase the output of the Maximizer. For example, if the input level to the Maximizer is peaking at -15 dB and the Maximizer Threshold is set to -4dB, limiting will not occur, but the level at the output of the Maximizer will be peaking at -11dB.

Learn Threshold

When enabled, the Maximizer will automatically adjust the Threshold slider to in response to the input audio in order to meet the Threshold Target value defined below. Double-clicking the Target LUFS value readout allows you to edit the LUFS target.

This parameter will not disable itself after learning. It can be used to continuously update the Threshold to meet the Target value.

Ceiling

Determines the maximimum output level of the Maximizer. It is generally recommended to use a setting of -0.3 dB when dithering, or a more dramatic setting (-0.6 to -0.8) when mastering audio to be converted to .mp3 or .aac later, in order to prevent clipping in the future.

Threshold & Ceiling Link

Links Threshold and Ceiling control values, when linked the controls

True Peak

Enables true peak limiting by examining not just the levels of each digital sample, but the levels of the analog signal that will eventually be produced by D/A conversion. This is sometimes necessary, since an analog signal’s peak level can exceed its corresponding digital signal’s peak level by more than 3 dB!

This option will increase CPU usage slightly, but if your mixes are running very hot you may want to enable it to ensure that no distortion is introduced when your audio is finally run through a D/A converter. Many modern broadcast loudness standards impose a limit on true peak levels, so use this option to ensure compliance of your peak levels.

Character

Adjust the character slider to customize the overall response time of the maximizer processing.

Stereo Independence

When limiting channels independently (with both sliders set to 100%), it is possible to achieve a louder output from the Maximizer, but this can result in a narrow stereo image. To alleviate the narrowing effect of the Stereo Unlink control, we split this feature into two sliders. When set to non-zero values, these controls apply limiting to transient and sustained material separately, based on a level envelope generated from a ratio of the individual channel levels and the entire stereo image.

• Transient: Adjusts how the limiter reacts to transient material across channels.
• Sustain: Adjusts how the limiter reacts to sustained material across channels.
• Link: Links the Transient and Sustain sliders.

Transient Emphasis

Click the “Transient Emphasis” button to fine-tune the shaping of transients before limiting takes place; this helps to preserve sharper sounds like drums, while still optimizing loudness.

The higher the amount of transient recovery you dial in using the fader, the more pronounced the transients will be after the limiting process.

Meters

Threshold Meter

The Threshold meter displays gain reduction as it is taking place with level meters. The outer two meters display the levels of the incoming signal; as gain reduction begins to take place, a gain reduction meter appears in red between the two level bars.

Mini-meter Views

The Maximizer includes the following mini-metering views above the controls area:

Gain Reduction Trace

A scrolling meter that displays the incoming signal’s waveform with a superimposed trace that illustrates the amount of gain reduction taking place over time. The Gain Reduction Trace can help you to set attack and release controls appropriately and monitor the envelope of gain reduction.

Spectrum Analyzer

Displays the real-time spectrum of the output of Ozone Elements.