User Manual
Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- What is Ozone 7?
- Ozone 7 Standard vs. Ozone 7 Advanced
- Getting Started
- Standalone Version Operation
- Edit Menu
- Other File Menu Commands
- Saving
- Multiple File Workflow
- Playing Back Audio Files: The Transport Bar
- General Functions
- Preset System
- Migrating Presets from Ozone 5
- Module Preset System
- Standard Module Controls
- Using Multiband Modules
- Mid/Side Processing
- Equalizer
- Dynamic EQ
- Dynamics
- Exciter
- Maximizer
- Vintage Limiter
- Vintage EQ (Advanced only)
- Vintage Compressor (Advanced only)
- Vintage Tape (Advanced only)
- Master Section
- Codec Preview (Advanced only)
- Options
- General Options
- Dynamics Options
- Imager Options
- Dynamic EQ Options
- Exciter Options
- I/O Options
- App Options
- App Tab
- Tips and Shortcuts
- Automation (Plug-In Version Only)
- Shortcut Keys and Mouse Support
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- iZotope Customer Support
Master Section
OZONE 7 | MASTERING SECTIONS
81
Bit Meter
This can be an invaluable resource for monitoring the digital activity of your program material,
including viewing:
• Whether the full range of bits (dynamic range) is being used.
• The output word length.
• Faulty A/D converters.
• Sub-par plug-in processing (detecting a plug-in that’s only processing at 16 bit, using fixed
integer math, etc.).
The bit meter monitors the state of bits in a digital signal.
• The inner two columns show the real-time activity of the bits of audio, for the left and right
channels.
• The outer two columns remember the real-time activity in a sort of “peak hold” way.
• If the inner columns toggle a bit (i.e. “light up”) the outer columns will show that bit as being
used.
In general, you want to see activity on each of the bits (except the top one, see below for explanation),
meaning that over a period of a few seconds each of the bits in the outside columns should be lit. You
should also click on the meter periodically to reset the peak hold of the outside columns, as something
like DC oset would toggle a lower bit once (lighting the outside column), but would never toggle it
after that since the bit is being held.
If you’re dithering down, you only want to see 16, 12, or 8 bits lit (corresponding to the output bit depth
of the dither).
Note that the bit meter is not a level meter. Instead, it shows which bits are being used. If a bit is used
(goes from 1 to 0 or vice versa), the position for that bit is lit.
The main use of the bit meter is to look for problems or discontinuities in the digital signal. Some
examples of problems are shown below:
• Headroom: You may have a 24 bit audio file, but aren’t using all of the bits.
• 16 Bits: In a more extreme case, you are only using 16 bits. If you’re dithering to 16 bits, this is
what you want to see. However, if you’re not dithering, this would suggest there is a problem
somewhere, either an A/D converter that is only putting out 16 bits, a plug-in that’s truncating
the signal down to 16 bits, etc.
• Stuck Bit: One bit in the middle of the signal isn’t being exercised, possibly due to a faulty A/D
converter or bug with a software plug-in.
Why the Top Bit Will Never Light Up
When samples are stored as a binary number, negative samples are specially encoded. Since the
binary representation of negative numbers is not intuitive, Ozone takes the absolute value of each
sample before plotting it on the bit meter.
Since the most significant bit is only set when a sample is negative, this bit will never light up. We
simply included the top bit as placeholder for completeness.