Using Ozone and RX at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences

Learn how the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences integrates Ozone, Neutron, RX, and Insight into their curriculum to get their students prepared for careers in music.

For a relatively small program, The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) in Tempe, Arizona excels at preparing their students for success in the music industry. Since 2004, when Darrel Thorp and Moka Nagatani became the first CRAS grads to win GRAMMYs for their work on Radiohead’s “Hail To The Thief” and Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love below,” the school has continuously produced top-rate talent, including a record 72 CRAS graduates that were nominated for 163 GRAMMY awards in 2012.

Not bad for just 400 students between two campuses.

But while many of their accolades come from award-winning records, Tony Nunes, Music Production Instructor at CRAS is quick to point out that the school covers a much broader curriculum: record production, live sound, audio for film and television, broadcast audio, video game audio, theatre sound, and commercial production.

A large part of this instruction across their programs involves using mixing, mastering, and audio repair tools, including iZotope software Ozone, Neutron, and RX. Under instructor supervision, students install the software package during one of their Pro Tools classes, and iZotope plug-ins are used in mixing clinics and dynamics classes as well. CRAS also incorporates iZotope products into their studios and labs.

“The value with iZotope is that they are experiencing industry standard products—the same tools they will see on their internships and employment.” —Tony Nunes, Music Production Instructor, CRAS

Using Ozone at CRAS to teach Mastering

Today’s streaming services like Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music, where streaming formats like AAC and MP3 are the standards, have presented audio engineers with the challenge of mastering their music for the correct listening formats. The tool of choice for CRAS? Ozone.

“Ozone is a big hit,” says Nunes. Students love the idea of mastering and auditioning their mixes before uploading them to Soundcloud, especially the codec auditioning of MP3 and AAC files.”

Beyond listening formats and loudness, Ozone Advanced is also the go-to for other fundamental mastering lessons. “It’s a great educational tool for so many reasons, but we love to be able to demo specific mastering DSP processing like multiband compression, imaging, and mid/side processing,” says instructor Nancy Sharlou. “The Ozone demo follows our discussion of mastering gear, so it’s perfect to introduce them to certain mastering techniques and approaches. We ultimately complete a finished master using Ozone and export to multiple formats. The codec preview and dithering options allow us to critically listen for clipping, artifacts, and to better dial in a finished product. Our AWS control rooms are equipped with ATC monitors, so it is the ideal environment for our students to ear train and take full advantage of what Ozone can do for mastering.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0imWEz1hco&feature=emb_titleAlong with Ozone, iZotope’s Insight meter package is used in the CRAS Broadcasting  curriculum as the primarily loudness monitor, teaching the principles of FCC regulations.

Using RX at CRAS to teach Audio Repair

At CRAS, RX is used predominantly in their post production classes to clean up foley and automated dialogue replacement (ADR).

“Since the students own the plugins, they really get to explore and experiment outside of the classroom with their own projects,” says Nunes. “They get to see the products in use during our classrooms and then continue to work on it after-hours. With RX, they get to iron out any details that didn’t go perfectly during their after-hours sessions. For example, clipping or distortion in recordings, hum removal, and headphone bleed into vocal mics.”

But no matter the tool, the ultimate goal for CRAS is to prepare students for success in the real world. Nunes believes iZotope’s tools are an essential part of that journey.

“The value is that they are experiencing industry standard products—the same tools they will see on their internships and employment.”

Call CRAS at (800)562-6383 so that you can start living your passions in Professional Audio! An Admissions Representative is standing by to CONNECT YOU TO YOUR DREAM!