
Neutron, at its heart, is a multi-module channel strip. The claim Izotope makes is that the AI gets the initial mix to a good foundation, and from there you can really get creative in how you mix.If I had to choose a single channel-insert plug-in for mixing, iZotope Neutron would be at the top of my list. The Mix assistant is very interesting to me. Neutron 3 is an excellent set of plugins the master bus chain plugins are worth the price of admission by themselves.
Track Assistant analyzes the source audio and presents you with a recommended starting point. On top of all this functionality, iZotope has baked in two standout intelligent features. In addition, there are two processing sections at the end of the plug-in’s signal chain — Neutrino and Limiter. In Neutron Advanced, the four module types can also be instantiated as separate plug-ins. Moreover, every module has a wet/dry mix slider to implement parallel processing.

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Mix Assistant Mix Assistant is the same idea as the assistant in Ozone and Nectar. There are many effects and tools to help you pull the best possible sound out of each track you insert Neutron 3 into. Board niafijacdiu iZotope.Neutron 3 is the instrumental suite by iZotope, made to cater to your creative side. David Faulkner added iZotope Neutron Review Free Download to Board Description. In these instances, hitting Learn gave me a head-start in choosing which frequency regions to focus on.iZotope Neutron Review Free Download.
You can use the full-bandwidth input to the plug-in as the key signal, or you can use any of the individual EQ bands or the full-bandwidth or individual EQ bands from another Neutron instance.iZotope Neutron 3. For this kind of processing, Neutron’s Equalizer offers a powerful sidechaining function. A dynamic EQ can often sound more transparent than a static EQ, but you can also push a dynamic EQ to add “motion” to a sound by boosting or attenuating certain frequency regions to follow a beat, for example. In Dynamic Mode, the band works in a similar manner to a band-specific compressor or expander. Importantly, each of the EQ bands (except the two cut filters) can be individually configured for static or dynamic operation.
After instantiating Neutron on each instrument and tying them together with Masking Meter, it was short work to set up dynamic EQs on both instruments to carve out space in the spectrum for each other. Both needed to be prominent in the mix, but with both turned up, the mix was sounding hazy. Again, engineers with better ears than me might scoff at this functionality, but I found it to be quite useful and a real time-saver.For example, on a recent mix with distorted bass and guitar, I was having difficulty choosing how the two instruments should sit together in the mix. The collisions are highlighted in real-time as grey-to-white frequency bands (with the intensity of white matching the degree of masking) on the upper spectral display, while a histogram just above that estimates the amount of masking over a set hold period. The premise is that spectral collisions between the two sources can result in masking of one source’s share of the spectral energy by the other’s.
Its intended purpose is to facilitate “de-masking” of two sources, and again, it’s a great time-saver. Plus, there’s less tweaking required, because there are no attack, hold, and release parameters to manage — as these are auto-set behind the scenes for the frequencies at play.Masking Meter has an Inverse Link feature that, when enabled, automatically applies the reverse curve to the second instance of Neutron Equalizer, as you move and adjust the bands of the first instance. Why didn’t I just use a multiband compressor to do this? Because a dynamic EQ has target curves for frequency-response, unlike a multiband compressor’s flat bandpass lines. I positioned a medium-bandwidth dynamic EQ band centered at 7 kHz on the acoustic guitar, sidechained to the overhead mic’s EQ band at the same frequency, to filter out just enough 5–10 kHz from the attacks of the acoustic guitar’s strums to dispose of the weird clicking. Sure enough, I could see the flashes of white in the spectral display corresponding to the clicks. (Yeah, I know — very weird.) Once I discovered that the clicks could only be heard when the acoustic guitar and overhead tracks were both on, I gave Neutron’s Masking Meter a try.
Problem solved.The Compressor module in Neutron is straightforward in nature, and its controls will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used a multiband dynamics processor. It instead sounded wide, because its harmonics were pushed left and right. With the two tracks panned full left and right, the guitar was no longer mono. Using Masking Meter with Inverse Link enabled, I drew out a sawtooth-shaped EQ curve on one track, from 1.2 kHz to 4.8 kHz, and the opposite EQ curve appeared automatically on the other track. I decided that a stereo version of the guitar would be better, but I didn’t want to use the typical short-delay trick due to its tendency to sound “phasey.” I instead copied the guitar track and then placed an instance of Neutron Equalizer on each of the two tracks. For example, I had a mono rhythm guitar track that sounded fine during the verses of a song, but it wasn’t really working when the energy of the vocals and other instruments picked up in the choruses.
A spectral display lets you visualize the adjustable crossover filters overlaying the output’s FFT, while a scrolling timeline above that shows the envelopes of output amplitude and gain reduction for the selected band. Additionally, there are low and high–frequency resonant filters for the sidechain. Similar to Equalizer, the Compressor module can be sidechained to the full signal or to specific bands of its own source or the source of another Neutron instance. There are Modern and Vintage modes RMS, Peak, and True detection schemes and settings for Auto Gain and Auto Release.

Plus, when combined with the Exciter module, Transient Shaper really shines. I’ll admit that my favorite envelope shaping plug-in is Sonnox Oxford Envolution because of its powerful parametric spectral controls and its difference (effect-only) function, but in many ways, Neutron Transient Shaper is easier to use. Its two display panes work like the Compressor’s, showing its frequency and timeline curves overlaid onto the post-process spectrum and amplitude envelope displays.
