RX8 From iZotope is Eli Krantzberg’s Software Product Of 2020, he explains why.
I consider myself quite fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so much of the new software developed in our industry each year. When new products come out, I often do videos on them, either for Groove3 or Production Expert.
And 2020 was no exception. Loads of plug-ins and other releases crossed my bough and were a pleasure to explore. Inevitably some of what I cover does not end up getting used regularly. But it is also inevitable that some make permanent changes in my workflow.
The primary repetitive task in my day to day work is editing my voiceovers when creating video tutorial content. As such, I am always looking for new ways to tweak my VO editing and processing. The release of RX 8 from iZotope earlier this year profoundly changed and, more importantly, streamlined how I edit these voice overs.
I had never had much success with the free individual RX elements plug-ins that I had attempted to use over the years. Using them as channel strip inserts in my DAW introduced a latency that made waveform editing impracticable. And I could never get them to do what I needed.
Enter RX 8. Not having had any experience with the previous versions of RX, I was a bit worried about the learning curve. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the individual modules were, each on their own, reasonably intuitive and easy to get my head around. I quickly discovered the Module Chain feature, and in no time, had a customized chain of modules to deal with precisely what I wanted.
Working primarily in Logic Pro, getting audio into and out of RX 8 is a simple matter of using Logic’s “Open In External Sample Editor” key command. My voiceovers are recorded in a “constant” setting (same VO talent -me, same mic, same room, same UA Unison preamp, same settings.) I have tweaked each module setting to suit the needs of my environment as perfectly as possible.
Mouth De-click is first in line to capture and clean up mouth noises. I have Vocal De-noise and De-click in line but bypassed. I generally don’t need them, but they are in place with the settings I want when I do. Breath Control is next, and it is arguably the best de-breath plug-in I have ever used - and I have tried most of them. This module single-handedly saves me tons of editing time.
Finally, De-rustle is a recent addition to my chain, added since the weather is colder and the furnace in the room behind my studio kicks in more regularly. It is a relatively slow module but well worth the wait. I find that after running my VO through this chain, it barely needs any editing.
RX8 by iZotope has undoubtedly had a more significant impact on my workflow than anything else in a long time. Honourable mention, however, has to go as well to Oeksound’s Soothe2 and SPIFF. After reviewing them here for production expert earlier this year, they remain permanent fixtures on my VO processing chain. I also recently used them both with great success to pre-process an electric guitar before the amp and cabinet modelling.
I thought my VOs sounded pretty good before RX8. Thinking it was primarily for noisy recordings and fixing problems, initially, I didn’t believe RX was for me. But wow, it cleans up the quality of any recording, regardless of how minimally invasive the external environment. It cleans up noise I didn’t know was there before!