Double post.

I have RX3 (regular), and was wondering if anyone had any extra info on what the Phase tab can do in the "Channel Operations" panel, or when you might use it.

Here is the manual page describing it:

http://help.izotope.com/docs/rx3/Def...rations|_____2

I'm particularly interested in the "Rotation" part. Could it be used to gain more level and perceived loudness from a client's file in mastering, without any audible artefacts?

For a mixed piece of music I really doubt it'd add much, because there are so many different elements competing for the headroom within the piece. RX3 is a tool much better suited to fixing problems at the source, not after they're mixed.

If i recall correctly, I saw some feature on a website where a Radiohead (I think, but could be wrong) album was mixed to be loud, and they used tricks like phase rotation to ensure maximum loudness without limiting before it got sent to mastering. I can't find the link right now, but I guess it is a strategy to ensure something is properly in your face. (This is a post production forum, so don't expect too many replies that are music-oriented like you asked).

If the waveform is asymmetric, then yes, phase rotation will reduce the peak factor of the waveform. Phase rotation is frequently used for voice on radio. As far as artifacts go — it is not completely artifact-free, especially in the adaptive mode. But the fixed amount of phase shift usually only minimally changes the sound.

Thanks, I'll give it a try!

I finally updated to Rx3 Advanced from Rx2 Advanced. I had been putting it off because Rx2 had really been working just fine for me, so I didn't see the point in spending the money, but I am happy to say that the bundled Insight Metering Suite alone was well worth the price. It is the nicest set of meters I have ever worked with, which is a relief because I was worried about how I was going to replace my RTAS Massey Tools HR Meters if I ever decide to update to PT11. I Particularly like the K-20 K System meters and the real-time spectrogram, which when used together provide a wealth of useful info.

The BS.1770-1/2 LUFS meter seems like it makes my Dolby Media Meter plugin redundant except for LeqA dianorm readings, which I'm not sure I really need any more.

If I were going to complain about anything, it would be that the suite uses up a fairly big chunk of CPU power and on the bigger sessions I have to use 1024 sample H/W buffer on my HD Native system, but that's not surprising considering how much info they are capable of displaying.

I had exactly the same feeling about Insight. Great tool.

I feel the same way too. I still use my DMM2 for offline analysis just because I still have it (and maybe out of a paranoid sense of backup), but Insight has replaced it for all of my in-session needs.

On top of that though I found the overall quality of all the RX suites are better in RX3 vs RX2. Some like the DeClipper I find are much much better, others like the DeNoiser I find are just slightly an improvement, but still, any improvement is good. The new Dialogue DeNoiser is interesting, and the only module I haven't played with a ton because I haven't had great results with it is the DeReverb. Maybe I need to mess with it more, or maybe looking for pristine results from a DeReverb plug is asking for the moon. Overall Izotope's RX line remains some of the best money I've spent for post plugins, and adding Insight to the Advanced package was a nice icing to the cake (this is the first time where I've thought that the Advanced bundle was worth the price separation from the Basic bundle)

Is it considered best practice to apply a noise reduction plugin such as RX Denoiser on individual tracks when mixing, or on the final stereo mixed down file when mastering? Hearing noise that is mostly from the guitar tracks in a classic rock style of mix. Thanks.

If you have capacity for that, noise reduction should probably work better on individual tracks, not full mixes. However hearing a full mix will give you a better idea of the required amount of noise reduction to apply to the tracks.