I wanted to do something different for the 2017.10 Tech+Music, so I took one of my mixes and mastered it in SONAR, but also mastered it with iZotope Ozone 8's Master Assistant function. Although I won't be doing an accompanying article, I had already done the video and it's pretty self-explanatory. Do note that while this might seem like LANDR, Ozone exposes all the parameters that make up the master, so you can tweak - for example, if you like what it did but find the maximizing too heavy-handed, you can back it off.
 
So how good is the Master Assistant function, and how does it compare to a song mastered in SONAR? Listen and decide for yourself. I give my conclusions at the end.
 

Thank you very much, Craig!!

Great video and agree with the assessment.  
 
I view iZotope as the market leader when it comes to "AI" type of audio manipulation tools, and this comparison confirms it.  
 
You mix sounds the best, but you can tell that "medium" if backed off a bit would be scary close for a few button clicks and no thinking.  
 
 
 

Actually, the Mastering Assistant did a pretty good job of it.
 
I'm assuming you used (mostly) Cake Pro Channel/plugins for your mastered version...?
 

Jeff M.
Actually, the Mastering Assistant did a pretty good job of it.
 
I'm assuming you used (mostly) Cake Pro Channel/plugins for your mastered version...?
 

 
Yes, it was mastered In SONAR Platinum.
 

Nice!
I was wondering if you kept it "in house" or had a smattering of 3rd party plugs on some tracks/busses.

thank you for sharing this

But a key point you did not emphasize is that  the "Craig Mastering" involved a fair amount of tweaking to get it the way you wanted to sound.   Was there any tweaking done with the Ozone mastering?
My point is that with the same amount of tweaking you did on your own mastering take, you could have gotten the same or better results with Ozone 8.  Most people know that the presets and AI results in Ozone, are just the starting point, you'll almost always need to tweak no matter what tools you are using.

The "Craig Mastered" take is clearly the best one of the three, not too soft, not too hot.  Like Goldilocks and The Three Bears.
But each of the Ozone mastering takes, could have easily matched your take, with just a little bit of adjusting.
 

Really effective video, Craig, great job!

I've been finding Ozone's Master Assistant thing to be generally brilliant. But I agree with the makers that it provides a starting point rather than a finished master. But overall, Ozone 8 is amazing. And if you get Neutron 2 as well, and make use of the way the plugins can interact, you can get some astonishing results very quickly. It's a massive time saver.