If you are an audiophile and want to get rid of unnecessary sounds, the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software is for you. It’s perfect for music producers, content creators, and post-production professionals. Let’s learn more about this software here in our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review.
Recording at home is very convenient for musicians, but eliminating noise can be a pain. Most musicians spend and design their studios, which cost more than resorting to the software.
Thankfully, the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software has a noise-reduction tool that eliminates most of the noise your audio has. It even improves the ambience depending on your preference.
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software is also a significant upgrade compared to the previous versions. It comes with a lot of audio modules that previous versions don’t have.
iZotope, Inc. has been around for quite a while now. Based in the United States, the company aims to deliver excellent software for audio recording, broadcasting, audio mixing, and sound design. They also specialise in audio technology.
They’re also well-known for software and technology licensing. It’s because of their decade of experience in developing their tools and audio processing algorithms for their software.
Which version should I choose?
iZotope RX 8 Audio software comes in three different versions. Elements is for $99, Standard is for $299, and Advanced is for $999. Each version contains both standalone software and a set of AAX, VST, and AU plug-ins.
The more expensive versions contain more plug-ins, but the Elements version still operates similarly. If you’re a guitarist, then you should opt for at least the Standard version.
Since you’re now mostly familiar with the product usage, let’s move over to the Design and Functionality section of our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review.
iZotope RX 8 Audio Software Review – Design and Functionality
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software has a user interface similar to Photoshop. Most Photoshop users should be able to navigate the audio selection tools easier.
If you’re coming from an older version of iZotope RX, the RX 8 is similar. Still, with added features. Audio engineers and video editors are sure to benefit, as this software is a complete package without needing to spend so much money on physical items/instruments.
Instead of a single plug-in that includes all of the necessary tools, the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software installs dozens of individual AU, VST, and AAX. This is very convenient for those who had a lot of trouble with only a single plug-in.
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software also comes with improved features, which are Batch Processor and De-hum. What the Batch Processor does is it makes it easier to process a group of files. This is necessary if you’re processing something, and you want to add a queue.
For the De-hum feature, it now uses 16 frequency bands with a detailed audio spectrum analyser, which helps you attenuate any hums.
Users can save more time and focus on their work since the User Interface is also easy to utilise. Navigation through the Waveform Overlay is fairly easy, simply because of the Horizontal Scrolling design.
Key Features of the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software
Let’s now move on to the key features section of our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review.
Horizontal Scrolling Spectrogram & Waveform Overlay Display
The Spectrogram & Waveform provides easier navigation without needing to drag the Waveform Overview around, and that’s because of the RX 8’s new Horizontal Scrolling feature. Navigate through your audio and tackle problems at ease.
Spectral Recovery
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software comes with a Spectral Recovery module that restores band-limited spoken audio. Restore Low-Quality Audio, Voice Over IP Calls, and More.
Guitar De-noise
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software also has a feature to tweak guitar noises. Use the Guitar De-noise module to eliminate harsh squeaks, odd noises intelligently, and guitar pick sounds from both acoustic & electric guitars.
User-Friendly Interface
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software comes in a Photoshop-like interface, which many people find easier than any other audio editing software.
Live Preview & Comparison
The new iZotope RX 8 Audio Software features a live preview & comparison of your previous unmodified audio. Judge the original and modified audio hassle-free with this new feature.
Proprietary File Format
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software features its file format for protection & security purposes. Prevent random users from modifying your audio with other software.
Digital Audio Workstation Integration
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software features Digital Audio Workstation integration which features noise-removal tools as plug-ins. Work your way to achieve the best sounding audio, even without a quiet environment.
Music Rebalance
The Music Rebalance module has been improved, now featuring a source separation algorithm which separates and cleans vocals, bass, percussion, and others.
You can now also switch quality, preview, compare and bypass all at the same time before rendering.
Loudness Control
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software has been improved, which instantly targets your audio to distribute soundwaves equally.
Wow & Flutter
Another new feature is the Wow & Flutter module. With this module, you can fix pitch fluctuations in recorded audio without any artifacts.
This Wow & Flutter also makes your audio crystal-clear and crispier since it automatically detects sonic anomalies and eliminates them.
Module Chain
The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software comes with a Module Chain that appears as a small dialogue box. Conveniently edit and speed up your workflow, with an option to load and save custom processing chains with multiple modules.
Dialogue Isolate
Can’t get enough with many dialogues? The iZotope RX 8 Audio Software features Dialogue Isolate module to increase Dialogue tabs for a simpler & clutter-free workspace.
Overall, the features you get looks promising. However, most of these are only available for Standard and Advanced versions of RX 8. If you have the budget, you should consider opting for the more expensive ones.
Now, let’s go to the hands-on section of our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review where we’ll share our experiences with the software.
Hands-on with the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software
For our testing, we recorded in a room with a lot of reverb: the bathroom, which isn’t a traditional recording environment. We used the Blue Yeti Nano for the microphone.
We’re going to try if we can eliminate some excessive sibilants and see how close we can get it to sound like a high-quality studio recording. We then loaded our audio into the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software after the recording.
Since we recorded in a room with a lot of reverb, we used the Dialogue De-reverb module. As the dialogue box appears, you’re greeted with a list of options to adjust how much you need to de-reverb. But since there’s a selective drop-down list of pre-sets, we’re going to try at least one.
The first one on the list is Extreme Reduction. This pre-set significantly reduces the reverb, but also compresses the audio, resulting in a quality loss. To prevent the quality loss, we adjusted the reduction scale to -15 dB.
You can easily preview and compare both the modified and original in real-time by pressing Preview on the lower-left corner, then pressing the Bypass button beside it. If you’re satisfied with the results, hit Render.
Upon hearing the results in our test, there is still some present reverberation in the audio with these settings. But after setting the reduction scale to -40 dB, almost all the reverb effect has been cleared, though the audio compressed a bit.
Applying the Extreme Reduction isn’t always ideal if you’re in an environment with narrow spaces, especially if your microphone is cardioid. This is also most noticeable if you have a mic that’s high in clarity.
The Dialogue Isolate module separates the dialogue from background noise. Since there’s also a drop-down list of pre-sets, we’re going to use Separate Dialogue.
Without any further adjustments, the audio sounded perfect this time. There are a lot of modules available if you need more tweaks, but the Dialogue Isolate already did the job in our case.
We finally rendered the audio and saved it as a .wav file since this is the file format where it doesn’t perform any form of compression. As we played the audio, it now sounds like it was recorded from a studio.
If you’re still hesitating about the available plug-ins and modules, you should also give iZotope RX 8 Audio Software a shot. For now, let’s summarise our overall opinions and thoughts here on our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review.
iZotope RX 8 Audio Software Summary
We’re now in the summary section of our iZotope RX 8 Audio Software review, and we’ll help you decide further if you should get the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software.
Overall, we’re delighted with how the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software gives a nice touch to your cluttered audio while also providing us with a user-friendly interface and a wide variety of tools & modules. It also saves you a lot of time and expenses related to sound editing. Therefore, it’s worth it.
While most of the features are only available for Standard and Advanced version, iZotope offers a 30-day trial for the Advanced version. This way, you can test the features first before buying it. If you’re interested in trying it out, head over here.
Whether you’re a professional or casual content creator, the iZotope RX 8 Audio Software should serve you well. Assuming you like to purchase iZotope’s RX 8 Audio Software, click here to go to their official website.
