Full disclosure: even before I wrote for iZotope, Insight was my go-to metering suite. I liked it so much that I didn’t think it could be improved. Now Insight 2 has dropped, and I’ve been lucky enough to use it for a few weeks. And version 2 takes it to a new level with plenty of exciting new features. The Intelligibility Meter indicates whether or not dialogue is being overshadowed by the rest of your mix. IZotope Relay routes any specified tracks or buses to Insight 2 for analysis. In this video, iZotope’s very own product specialist Geoff Manchester walks us through the powerful Insight 2 spectral analysis and metering software at the NAMM Show 2019. While by no means an all-encompassing demo, it is a very thorough overview of what this impressive VST Plugin studio tool has to offer. I’m happy to report it has easily surpassed my expectations, replacing the original Insight in my practice. Primarily, I’d use the original Insight in post production. I might refer to it from time to time for mixing, but not as often as in other cases. This has changed with Insight 2, for the suite provides several improvements that make it a killer companion for mixing duties. Here are useful features, listed below: 1. Intelligibility Meter for vocal presence The was designed primarily with post-production in mind. However, it also works within the context of music. ![]() If I put an instance of (think of it as Insight 2’s “helper plug-in”) in the last slot of my vocals/vocal bus, I’m able to monitor the apparent integrity of my vocals in relation to the rest of the material. By integrity, I mean how easy it is to hear the words—the very definition of intelligibility. I find this meter quite handy, as vocal intelligibility is tricky to get right. Free php templates. It can be hard to know whether to bury the vocal on a phrase for the mystery of it (the work of Tool come to mind) or to bolster the vocals above everything else. There’s also the risk of raising the vocals too high without realizing it, either due to ear-fatigue or suboptimal monitoring. This phenomenon can give the mix a sort of karaoke feel. The Intelligibility Meter, particularly when set to low-noise level environments, can aid you in making the judgment call more impartially. All you need to do is watch the meter and, well, follow the bouncing ball: if it stays in the sweet spot, there’s your visual indication that the words will be understood. If it soars above or falls below, you have the option to tweak or leave as is. The choice is yours—and now you’re in a better place to make that choice. Using Relay with the spectrogram for superb EQ balance In the time I've spent using Insight 2, the suite demonstrates itself impeccably when paired with the Relay module. Relay can be plopped onto tracks, submixes, auxes, or anywhere else a plug-in can go. We just highlighted its helpfulness alongside the Intelligibility Meter, but you can also use Relay in conjunction with the spectrogram. The spectrogram goes beyond your typical frequency analyzer to show you the EQ makeup of your mix across a long swath of time, and with a greater visual representation. You can really pinpoint what each element of the mix is doing, thanks to the spectrogram’s use of shade: a growing concentration in color from a light to dark shows you how impactful things are at a given frequency; the weaker the shade of color at 200 Hz, the less pronounced the band.
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