One of the tools I’ve used the LONGEST in my career as a mixer has been Ozone from Izotope.
I started on version 3 and have been using version 5 for the past few years.
Ozone 8 Advanced was released last month and comes with some powerful features for those of us who make music in the home studio – one of which is the Tonal Balance Control feature.
Today I’m going to show you how Tonal Balance Control inside of Ozone 8 Advanced can help you make sure your mix will translate out in the real world.
Want to get started mastering your music with your just your stock plugins? Check out this mini series I did:
Mastering With Stock Plugins 1 – EQ
Mastering With Stock Plugins 2 – Compression
Mastering with Stock Plugins 3 – Limiting
Do Not Create Another Song Until You Read This Guide
(Price: $17 Free Today)
Discover the 6 Steps for Creating a Radio-Worthy Song From Scratch
My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Hey Graham, first of all, that’s a great song – well done! I think it’s one of your best mixes, too.
That’s a very handy plugin! I thought I was done with plugins, having everything I thought I needed. And then you go and show me this LOL.
Thanks,
Pete Musgrove
Great song. The mix is sounding great.
Thanks Pete – and sorry 🙂
Hey Graham, I agree with Pete! I can’t count the times I’ve listened to my final output in my car and on different media devices before releasing the song to the world. Not to say I will stop doing it, but at least now I have a tool to add to my arsenal! And hopefully it will reduce the time to produce the master version. Thank you for keeping us home studio guys informed and encouraged!
Grateful!
Ty
That’s my goal!
Graham, that was a first-class demo! I just got this with Neutron 2 and was loving the visual feature, BUT I didn’t even know about link to the Neutron EQ!!! So thanks for that!
I must say, when you made that second Band 5 move and all that little high bubbly stuff popped out of the right speaker, I said to myself “Well played, Graham!”
Warm wishes for the holidays!
Wade Mathias
Thanks Wade!
If this will save me time listening on all the various audio systems I’m alllll for it. Thanks for this and I’ll share it.
I think your videos always is a constant reminder to simplify making Music, and use the most valuable plugin. Our ears! This is helpful though! Thx.
THANK YOU for this!!!
I was going to search for any mention of this plugin within the Dueling Mixes forum, and see if anyone was using it since I’ve been really looking into getting this.
Your video sealed the deal – and just in time for possible sales 🙂
Man, your stuff just rocks!
Very helpful tip, Graham!
I am a current owner of Ozone 7 Advanced, and this video shows a great reason to upgrade to Ozone 8 Advanced!
Thanks!!!
-Dave
Thanks for the non-cross-platform review, as I do use Linux for music production, so no Ozone for me. To me, I’d rather have a hardware version of Tonal Balance Control, or better yet, just buy $500 worth of speakers and Hi-Fi stereo systems.
If you do have a car, which I envy you since I have visual impairment and I cannot drive, go outside for some fresh air and listen to it in your car stereo.
Since I do not have a car, I’d just grab a soundbar and listen to my song outside. Or if you have an Aiwa stereo system (a brand back during the ’90s), use that! Listen to how it sounds like. And yes, some stereo systems have 6 EQ presets that can change the tone of your song.
And $500 for a bundle of plugins that don’t work with Linux? No thanks.
Hi Graham, great song! Really like it. Good plugin. Take care Mick.
Interesting! I’ve been using Ozone 5 since it came out I think. Let the upgrade pricing pass me by on this one might I’m going to have to think about it. It does trouble me a little in that it can steer you toward mixing with your eyes instead of your ears, and then when it sounds like poo in the car, you’ll have only Ozone to blame I suppose…
Haha. Correct – your EARS are always the final judge. But sometimes you can’t trust your years so something like this can help keep you from getting into trouble.
Hi Graham, thanks for the heads-up! Tho I think it’s important to stress that not your entire song should be in this ‘modern’ range. For instance, I’ve checked a couple of songs of Muse and Nickelback. In the song ‘uprising’ the lows vanish from the chart and the highs barely reach the chart. Also in the first verse, no low-mids according to the Tonal Balance Control. Same thing with Nickelback, fi Dark Horse. But all these songs have in common that the choruses ARE in the ballpark. So I think it’s important to stress that not your entire song should be ideally in these charts, but rather the chorus part of your song. After all, that’s how you build a song. It’s all building up to the chorus 🙂 Just thought I should mention this, in case there are some listeners ready to burn their freshly new made mixes 😉
Great point.
Thanks graham for the informative video. Wondering if you are going to use neutron with this, to be able to zero in more on the mix elements that could be fixed. E.g. kick drum or bass. I’m Undecided if I should just do ozone and say good enough or if neutron would really be worth the extra money.
Haven’t played with Neutron yet so I can’t say
Wow Graham….!!!
God Bless Your Ministry
One of the best mixes
Nice plugin but exorbitant price! It appears you have to buy the more expensive version of Ozone to get the tonal plugin which is $500 US. When you live in Canada that translates into around $700 Canadian buy the time you add in exchange rates,and taxes. I understand the value of this plugin but the cost is prohibitive for people trying to operate a home studio on a shoestring budget.
There is a similar reference tool for a smaller budget, if you only need this feature: https://www.masteringthemix.com/products/reference?variant=40907779600
A little late seeing this, but I thought I’d mention that you can get the entire music production suite including Ozone Advanced, Neutron Advanced, as well as a handful of other useful plugins right now for $499 USD with the Spring sale going on until March 29th.