iZotope have announced the next member of the RX family of post applications - RX Final Mix. RX Final Mix is a realtime, surround sound plug-in that will support up to 7.1, that iZotope have designed to be used on the stems and print master bus, and in essence has two sections, a Static / Dynamic EQ module and a True Peak Limiter module. For a limited time iZotope are offering a pre-order special offer of $249 instead of the normal price of $299.

iZotope RX Final Mix EQ Module

The EQ module can have a combination of up to 8 static and dynamic EQ bands. The dynamic bands can function as compressors or expanders and there is a neat icon which displays what mode each section is working in. In the image above, you can see that there is a high pass filter that is in dynamic mode as a compressor because the icon is a downward facing arrow. Band 1 is a conventional static EQ as it has a circle with the figure 1 in it. The other active bands, 3, 4 & 6 are all dynamic eq bands again functioning in as compression because the downward arrows are displaying the direction of travel of the signal, ie when you compress you are reducing the signal level.

iZotope RX Final Mix Limiter Module

The Limiter module is a True Peak Limiter which is essential for post workflows especially in broadcast workflows as the new BS1770 based delivery standards allows us to go within 1dB of digital headroom. But because we are working so close to digital headroom we have to know exactly what is going on between the samples as it is possible that the levels could go beyond digital headroom between two samples, so true peak meters interpolate what  could have happened between the samples and display the 'true peaks', which can be anything up to 6dB higher. The limiter point is clearly shown as the blue line across the meters with true peak meters that will show you exactly where things are.

iZotope RX Final Mix Presets

Across the top of the plug-in is a toolbar with the option to select a range of presets to get you going.

Compact GUI That Displays What Is Needed Clearly

They have tried to design the plug-in to take up as little screen real estate as possible by using tabs to display each band of the EQ section and tabs for the EQ and limiter modules. We also understand there will be a condensed view that offers quick access to the most important controls.

iZotope RX Final Mix Examples

All these examples have been created by the team at iZotope and the first of their In this examples, the dialogue is getting lost among the gunshots, and the FX are lacking the explosive force and low frequency impact that the scene requires. Here, RX Final Mix is being used to increase dialogue clarity and intelligently help accentuate the low frequency effects, resulting in a much more powerful and impactful experience.

In this example, our dialogue bus sounds boxy, the FX bus gets in the way of our dialogue, and the music is distracting. Here, RX Final Mix is being used on each bus to carve out space for the dialogue, help our dialogue sound more natural, and keep the music bus under control.

In this example, the dialogue bus, FX bus, and music bus are all fighting for attention, resulting in a muddy mix with a lack of focus. RX Final Mix is applied to each bus to help separate them and to make sure the dialogue comes through strong.
 

RX Final Mix System Requirements

RX Final Mix runs as a plug-in for your video or audio editing software and will require Windows: 7 or later or Mac: OS X 10.7 or later (Intel only)

It will be available in the following plug-in formats:

Audiosuite DPM and AAX, RTAS 32 bit, AAX 64 bit, AU, VST 2 and VST 3 32/64 bit.

VST, VST 3, AAX, RTAS, and AudioSuite will support mono up to 7.1. AU will support mono up to stereo only. For hosts that support both VST and AU, surround functionality can be used via VST. For AU-exclusive hosts, namely Final Cut and Logic, RX Final Mix supports stereo only.