Can iZotope Neutron 5 mix BETTER than ME?!

[@shuya4104]

I respect that you admitted that the plugin did better. That being said i think the primary advantage of a plugin like this is the time it saves to get to the 80% line. It definetly didnt fix everything and with enough time a human could improve on that mixdown and i think thats the main point. Use the plugin for what it can do and focus the human energy on the remainder it cant. There is no point holding onto an ego for a skill a plugin can replace, rather focus energy on things it cant do yet.

[@dahlhousestudios]

Agreed! "80% line" is exactly correct. I found it gets you solid tones. But, what no one that's selling AI mixing plugs wants to tell you is: Mixing is 90% organisation, faders, and panning. I just did a review where I mixed a reasonably dense rock song with only Neutron 5 Elements, and the first thing I noticed was that it doesn't really save you time-you still have to do all the hard work to get a mix done. But Neutron's like you sent out your tracks to get mixed by another engineer. Great for identifying new angles. Do you think you'll buy/use it?

[@shuya4104]

@@dahlhousestudios its part of my izotope subscription but i havent actually come around to trying it out. when it comes to pop or conventionally mixed music im primarily a producer and the stuff i do mix falls into the unconventional mixdown category, with bassmusic thats wildly too bright and pushing -4lufs and higher, so i havent really bothered changing up my workflow yet.

[@dahlhousestudios]

@@shuya4104 Right! I don't think i'd mix a song all the way with Neutron (especially Elements!) but I'd reach for it during the organisational phase. Maybe build an initial stem mix with it. Then use the usual suspects to finish it off.

[@cvaderx]

I love your honesty. Most engineers would downplay the software and ill speak AI due to insecurity. Not you...The realest. Respect! Bravo

[@kelvinfunkner]

yes! I like the excited version of you better! And yes, the Neutron automix was a surprise to me as well! I'm torn as to whether I would say I "like it better" than yours, but it's definitely a scary close challenge. Wild times we are living in for sure!

[@sebguyader]

Keeping your energetic way of presenting your videos is IMO a great decision. Stay true to yourself for this as well!

[@Whiteseastudio]

Thank you! Will do!

[@kickandsnareproductions536]

@@Whiteseastudio Yes! We missed it! That's what makes you, you.

[@rothzn]

Witte neus studio. ;p

[@Z3Chosen1]

​@Whiteseastudio Hi how do you get such crisp clear audio? Your Voice recording is amazing

[@Whiteseastudio]

Good microphone, pre-amp and little processing

[@phadrus]

I thought this was one of your better videos, I really enjoyed that you took the time to use the plug-in and compare results. Very helpful and understanding what this plug-in can do.

[@danielnehren6643]

Thanks!

[@XantuxNepomuk]

I'd need to hear a LUFS matched comparison between the different mixes. The auto mix just had way louder drums, so it sounded way louder (and better)

[@leonnaffin]

yes, we need a level balanced mix maybe also in comparison to the analog/hybrid mix in the studio. it was shocking how good the neutron sounded. i don't think i would trust myself to turn up the drums that much, but it wasn't the worst decision.

[@jackalisland]

That was my immediate thought.

[@adwind3055]

Great video and a great demonstration. I do agree on nearly all single comments you had, so I expected to have a different A/B/C outcome. Surprisingly I prefer the Automatic version. Never expected that. Thanks for digging into and giving such a clear view on it.

[@fortheoneswhocare]

I do prefer the Neutron Automix focus but I respect that you decided to put your mix against it and didn't edit the video to hide it. Well done.

[@craig.martin]

Still my favorite music tech youtuber. Great video, I'm an amateur, so this seems like exactly what I need. I loved seeing your process, your tweaks, arguably your manual mix still has more vitality, but this looks like an incredible tool. You rock, Sir!

[@georgetaylor3126]

Actually really like the automix and your full manual mix. The auto balance is more upfront, a bit more radio, yours is more natural and open. Feels softer and more relaxing! Prefer the guitars in your manual mix but quite like the drums and immediacy of the auto mix. Very interesting, thanks for a great video!

[@harriesdelosangeles1000]

i think it really depends on what you're looking for. some days, i'd like what you did and some days i would with the neutron's autoprocess. thanks for doing this for us, man! you're the best.

[@MortenAndersen-hjemmesider]

The Neutron mix was actually very good :-)

[@mintyswirljoy]

I had anxiety when you were introducing the song... and it wasn't Sandstorm and I felt a sigh of relief!! Please keep it fresh, brother!

[@mikulamusic]

Love the energy!! 💯

[@matthewcassette]

Thanks for going over the features. Great video. Being an independent artist this helps me build a good reference with the limited time I have. It makes me more creative and focus on my song writing and not stress so much about mixing stage. I can't wait to start using it on my songs.

[@mintyswirljoy]

Thank you for SHOUTING again!!

[@christokah]

I liked the balanced neutron mix but with your guitar settings ;)

[@OhitsShiftz]

OMG I JUST SAW THIS CAME OUT AND BOOM YOU HAD ALREADY UPLOADED YES YAY YAY,🎉🎉

[@wrmusic8736]

that's how sponsored videos work

[@OhitsShiftz]

@wrmusic8736 what a pointless comment 😴 if you had watched the video you would have heard him say the video is NOT sponsored lmao. Have a wonderful rest of your day 🥰

[@wrmusic8736]

@@OhitsShiftz either that or the dude must be Flash or Quicksilver or whatever because it's the only way to have this video recorded, edited and uploaded right on release day with permission from another artist to use their song material. Which is impossible without sponsorship.

[@OhitsShiftz]

@wrmusic8736 there was no sponsorship going on at all. He has worked with them in the past as he said in the video so they gave him a copy. No sponsorship going on but nice of them to give him a copy.

[@wrmusic8736]

@@OhitsShiftz but that's a literal sponsorship right there

[@deckling823]

YES!!! This is why I watch your videos, love your energy!!!

[@mennovroom5537]

Hi Wietze, the sound of the room is very beautiful on that recording .

[@marcosdeida1440]

Heck yes! I love this energy!!! It got me excited about a plugin 😂⚡😂⚡⚡⚡

[@sabothawk]

Thanks for the video! The stereo width in your mix was better, for sure! While Neutron 5 placed more energy in the mid channel which definitely worked for the lead guitar and bass, your mix had better high-freq's and created a more immersive experience in headphones: my only trouble with Neutron 5's approach in this case is a "flattening" effect, probably from using multiband compression and automated EQ on the master bus: multiband processing in the mastering stage can result in a "disassociated" sound between elements, especially when pushing loudness, unless the mix is "glued" back together afterward by something constant like a full-band compressor, such as an API2500 or the like. It was great how Neutron 5 offered a second opinion about how to master the mix, though: that reference is invaluable mental parsley when mastering! -- Happy Mixing! :)

[@tlawhon]

The main difference I heard between your mix and the Neutron Auto was the bass was more present in the Neutron mix, which I preferred. Thanks for the video, and don't be afraid to be excited!

[@kadiummusic]

I would love to see what would happen if you gave Neutron the raw tracks to a classic like Bohemian Rhapsody or Let's Dance and see how they compare. My guess is that if you produce formulated 'fits in a box' music it will work fine, but that it will never make the bold artistic strokes that create a masterpiece. 🤔

[@davehallock3656]

Right and that's where you come in. No AI will ever know what you want and how you want it to sound. But very good sound and balance is a great place to start rather than at square one.

[@tchip-bc1gp]

@@davehallock3656 " will ever " .... let's talk about this in 10 years

[@scottbitz5222]

If you really want an in-depth of how those producers and mixers actually do it (And sometimes the mistakes that make it through the whole process!) Rick Beato is an amazing channel to follow! (seriously, one of the most amazing recording things was when tapes played misaligned and lead to an amazing opening for a song by one of the bands they were recording meaning this amazing opening line of the recorded song that made it to the record was all because of an equipment issue!) I also think you'd be surprised at how many "tools" the old producers used (in their case, "presets" on their hardware from other mixes, which is why you get certain things from certain producers and mixers!) to get them to a basic mix. Also, you'll hear that sometimes they just had to live or work around a recording issue because it was so expensive to record so they mixed/mastered around things they couldn't fix in the track like we can now with DAWs and digital recording.

[@mttlsa686]

@@scottbitz5222 Like the classic Phil Collins 80's gated reverb snare. It was born from a mistake in the recording studio.

[@EgoShredder]

@@tchip-bc1gp That's a whole AI topic in and of itself, which usually ends up in people saying humans are disposable and unnecessary or as top WEF advisor Yuval Noah Harari likes to say, "hackable humans" that are "useless eaters". I find that to be a false claim made by a group of people that are half human hybrids at best.

[@LaMoureMusic]

Ich finde es sehr cool, wie ehrlich du mit der Community bist. 💪🏼💯

[@Pottwerke]

Wundert mich etwas, weil doch Ehrlichkeit in deinem Leben bislang keine große Rolle egespielt hat.

[@doingittodeath]

Darf er so?

[@NoCats-on-Guitars]

It's astonishing what the Neutron can do, sometimes I compare my mixes with the mix of the Neutron, just do see if I made a mistake or could do better. But mixing is not only technical, it's also personal taste and the Neutron mixes are "middle of the road"..not the way I prefer.

[@davehallock3656]

Generally I would expect the plugin to get you a long way to final and then add the tweaks that make you and your music happiest. Tools make the job easier and Neutron gets you a good strong starting point and as the artist or producer you add or subtract as you feel necessary. Neutron is like a good assistant engineer. He gets everything up a good balance and then you add the tweaks and polish that suits your material and vision. Anything that helps me do better mixes more efficiently is a god send!

[@NoCats-on-Guitars]

@@davehallock3656 Yes, it is a nice tool that can help you to make the job easier, but I like to do it myself and I never had the need to use it in a mix. I prefer my vision of the sounds I use. Maybe that's "old school", but that's the way I love to work.

[@slayabouts]

It seems like by the time you go through adjusting all the parameters, you might as well just mix it yourself haha. It does get you to a good starting place though like loading a bunch of presets on everything that are all 85-90% of the way there

[@mastermindesrpr]

The Neutron's sounds more modern and yours sound's more vintage to me... But both of them sounds great, it all depends on the clients taste...

[@ariel.s99]

Same opinion here I think because the ai trying to give more presence on the mix

[@scole402]

hell yeah the real you is back and I can FEEL it!

[@WillLundyMusic]

Hell yeah man. There’s that dude we know and love.

[@DjXCENTRiC]

This is actually crazy! Your's sounds warmer.

[@Echinder]

I really think if izotope could figure out a way to do reverse visual mix, it would help so much more. As in, you mix like regular and it shows you a visual representation of what the room looks like based on your mix

[@fusionbeats4453]

Sommige mensen zeuren altijd! Maar ik hou van je enthousiasme ga zo door!!!!🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@asteroidmrecords]

Nothing wrong with the auto mix, but def prefer the vibe and stereo field on your mix better. Super cool how professional of results you can achieve as a beginner nowadays!

[@edjefferson9175]

Love the visual mixer concept - would be much fun on a tablet.

[@gilbertnorum4366]

This is a great video. This is how you review a plugin.

[@simonbarth3181]

ver nice review, you really show of what this thing can do!

[@stevegalante]

It's certainly quite impressive !

[@mikeyskymusic]

Your mix is much clearer and less muddy vibe IMO vs the autobalance

[@asr84]

Stay true brother. Love your content.

[@TapeDub]

Great to hear you shouting again! Keep doing it, literally!

[@jimsanger]

Scarily good, it's particularly noticeable on the drums

[@carolynhoward501]

You're the best Thank you so much for sharing this with me

[@mrpinguin9189]

you can hear the compression going banana in the neutron mix, it feels a bit chaotic to me. your mix sounds quite relaxed but quiet, I think if you compress on your master/mix bus it will sound more proffesional/feel like a more final mix

[@iamsimonmorris]

Great review love the way you gave us an honest no mess review. Cheers

[@itsrasalhague]

It's crazy that I just commented on your Neutron 4 video yesterday asking about Neutron 5. Well, here we are.

[@equivocator7727]

I lean towards preferring more full "creamy" mixes like yours, but that's a matter of personal taste. The more aggressively-shaped sound it produced was pretty good too and definitely leans more in the direction of clarity over anything. If anything this just goes to show how much of an artistic process mixing is and that there are lots of good ways to do it.

[@hcl8836]

Very interesting. The neutron balanced mix is not only more focused, it sounds fuller and richer in my ears but not muddy. Your mix sound thinner and lacks energy in comparison as if too much of the upper bass and lower mids were cut out.

[@mikemccormick1624]

Yes! Great video! I like your mix (top track) the best. I'm hearing a bit of mud in the Neutron mix. For my ears, your mix is cleaner. However, for a plugin, the Neutron mix is quite impressive.

[@MuSiCPrOdUcEr777]

I liked the up front cntr & focus as you put it of neutron mix(hh seemed a little to loud), but warmth & width of your mix was very nice also. Was lisening on crappy ph speaker so maybe not accurate feedback. But great vid!!!

[@sandeboe]

TOTALLY surprised by Neutron! I really dig the Neutron at the intro/verse for the groove, but your manual on the chorus with how full it feels

[@jamesgrant3343]

Welp - it was a louder mix for sure. Cool that you can get it to do the thing and then go tweak it. A good way to shake off the ‘heard this too many times’ when it comes to evaluating a mix when all you have is your own mix.

[@davehallock3656]

You got it!

[@rmp5s]

The visual mixer thing is actually a kinda neat idea...would be REALLY cool if, instead of just left and right, it could do mid side like that. I'd probably buy it if it did. Send like a quick, simple way to get levels in the ballpark.

[@superwassou]

HE IS BACK!!!!!!🥳🎉

[@zach1113]

Great vid!

[@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY]

Nectar 5 Compressor actually takes THE DISTORTION out of the signal when you clamp down on it enough! Did v4 Compressor of Neutron do that???

[@eugeneondasound]

Both great mixes! Amazing that an auto mix can compete with a real human mix engineer! Impressive

[@ilikeflxwers]

Great Video again!! Btw where did you get that friggin awesome phantom power coffee cup?

[@sunboywrld]

make mixing video for trap and hip hop. waiting for your knowledge on 808 n other mixing elements 🙂

[@BigMuff75]

Just to answer the question in the title without having watched this video - YES! :D :D Sorry, couldnt resist.^^

[@marcushuyskensmusic]

Great video!! And YES to sticking to your individual style!! Sidenote: Which model Hyperdeck are your using for 4k Screen Capture? 4k Pro or Ultrastudio 4k mini?

[@moosey62]

You're very cheerful. I have to check this out. ;-) Cheers Wytse.

[@dyonissiszoes3747]

The plug-in chose to put more drums and you chose more guitar. Both are good but it’s quite impressive that it did something as good as you 😮

[@andthensome512]

Killer sounding kick drum.

[@superhadouken]

The Neutron sound better to me in this example but I think It can work if you use it to have a second opinion of the mix. Sometimes when you work alone its cool to have a different version of the same material to make decisions.

[@garythompson5402]

Wow, I really like both between the manual mix and focused. Tough choice but I must say for people who can't mix, this is amazing!!!!! maybe all we need. The human touch is always so welcomed in this day and age. Especially when you see AI writing music too. Goodness!!!!

[@firstname3078]

I got the email from Izotope earlier today about Neutron and was curious about it. This was helpful, thank you!

[@easyvelvet77]

Please keep on shouting and being excited! Be you! That 's the way!!!! 😍

[@obecojb]

It's the same as comparing cleaning the car at the carwash with cleaning it by hand

[@kenvives]

Dude. You’re back! I’ve missed you. I was concerned your doc put you on too much Prozac.

[@Hahejo]

I prefer the drums and bass of the auto-balance with your manual guitars. I think that’s its purpose: it replaces an assistant rather than a mix engineer. We moved from the main worker to the overseer.

[@Jhonatan5]

Well.. I have to say, that was pretty impressive.

[@lucmermans37]

The autoprocessing definitely beat you lol! But now compare it to a mix of yours with your own gear ;)

[@briankingart]

Can't wait to get it...

[@isadrak1408]

Review on the new izotope reverb?

[@colosamson]

do you think its better than Neutron 4 for mixing?

[@monomono]

The auto balance was actually quite ballsy making the bottom end of the drums so present which gave as you said a super focused sound. it really can stand on its own. getting the upgrade now So i can replace myself.

[@julianmorrisco]

I preferred the manual mix. Ok, I don’t like the way pop music has the drums too forward with every style so I quite liked the drums pushed back a little bit, given the more acoustic frame. This looks like a good tool to fill in for the assistant engineers we used to have. I came up that way, I’d set a rough mix for the engineer before he or she came in and I’d learn by watching what they did to my starter mix. I can see Neutron filling the same role, now we don’t do things the old way. One more comment. Vocals are the most important track for almost every song. Without vocals, I don’t think this was a proper test.

[@JohnHallberg-v4o]

You are fired ❤ from Dj John Sweden.

[@mafiashpagety]

Great video. Thank you!

[@davehallock3656]

A few years back the discussion on the iZotope beta board was hot and heavy about whether we should go in this direction. I remember telling the guys look this stuff is coming no matter what iZotope does. So who do you want doing this stuff. Every company has a different perspective that is for sure. iZotope generally does a great job with their plugins....At the end of the day AI is coming strong and it is a matter of whether you agree with an individual companies application of the technology. My comment years ago was I would rather iZotope be involved rather than put our heads in the sand. I am not an employee of iZotope but I have been a beta tester for them from jump street. Now the folks at Native Instruments own iZotope. And I have history with them as well . Both good companies. I was honored to allow Michael and Daniel to show their original product Generator at the Antex Electronics booth at Namm in 1998...But I had never tested for them until they bought iZotope.

[@exhumus]

I prefer your mix for this style of music. I didn't love the way the auto balance brought the bass forward in the midrange and overall left less space in the mix, but that's personal taste.

[@theofokkema3904]

Nice mug. 'Phantom power' 🙂

[@buddhabinaural]

Most people say this is 80% of the way there. I only had masters to compare against because I master directly in my mix page, so I added the Ozone intelligent mastering to make it fair, so I was comparing master to master. It wasn't even close to 80%. It sounded like when I wake up the day after I've burnt my ears out and think damn I fucked my ears last night, I'd better have a day of quiet. I will say it sounded warm but that is about all I can say. All the clarity and definition had gone, except for one bit - the drums and it had gone way overboard on the drums and made them, I was going to say pokey but it was beyond pokey, all my drum impacts sounded like clicks. Where it did work well, was where there were very few instruments. The thing there is, having very few instruments is an easy mix anyway. When things get cluttered and there are loads of instruments, that's where the mix gets challenging and really why I wanted this software in the first place to save me a ton of time mixing hard to mix stuff. It wasn't even close for me. The best I could get was combining Neutron on the tracks with did some light mastering with T-racks stuff on the 2bus and I got it to sound OK but Neutron on the tracks and Ozone on the bus just sounded a mess. Cancelled and uninstalled. I thought this was going to be some AI hocus pocus to save me hours of work but it really wasn't very impressive at all for me. It just sounded like clarity was completely written off for warmth and warmth without clarity is just mud. Maybe it works well on certain source material, I was using it on soundtrack stuff and it didn't work well at all. Don't get me wrong, Ozone do amazing stuff, I'm just referring purely to it from an intelligent AI perspective. The AI could not mix my song well at all. I now have a lot of uninstalling to do because it lists each component as a separate app.

[@mofateam1]

nice to hear you shouting again ❤

[@mypetdrgn]

in the end, what the customer likes is the one you go with

[@ESJ_27]

I think yours leaves more space for other elements, even if the automix sounded more cohesive I think you're probably mixing with all of your experience in mind which will result in a better track overall. And damn, I guess the upwards compression of everything actually makes it feel more dense lol

[@skyow733]

What would be your thoughts between this vs something like say Smart EQ 4? Is this essentially covering EQ grouping etc like SEQ4 but with additional features too?

[@jeno.javori_music]

Yes Yes Yes! I love that style!!!!

[@guestlistrecords1466]

YEAH !!!! he's shouting again OH WHAT MUSIC TO MY EARS

[@dahlhousestudios]

So sounds like you've been following Neutron as long as I have. Until v5, it did things I liked, but often things a hated, but I just did a full mix using only Neutron 5 Elements, and I was shocked by how good it sounded. The missing "element," I think, until now was: spectral balancing. Neutron now has some soothing going on that finally makes it possible to see our (inevitable) AI mixing future! Do you think you'll actually use Neutron 5 in your mixes (even though you know how to mix?). I liked it on bass and clean guitar so much, I might start mixes with it, then bounce for final processing. Thoughts? 🤔

[@arbi4039]

Good that you sticked with the shouting. Also good that you care about your audience 👍👍😊

[@ArmadorMusic]

Allright bro okey allright, allright allrighttttttttt

[@ecstokely]

This song really reminds me of the menu music for American Truck Simulator

[@ittou]

I like the full manual version the most. It's sounds wider than both Neutron Mix.

[@ohcibi]

Wild guess for soloing: the eye icons next of them channels are prolly there to mute each channel. I guess ctrl/alt/cmd (thats 'or') clicking on them works to mute 'all other' channels. I wouldnt know why they would use an eye icon for this particular audible thing but those are generally used to 'hide' things in software and developers are kinda narrow brained.

[@modallias]

Honest question, is it worth starting a sound engineering career now? I'm finishing school in 2025 and until I graduate uni or at least obtain decent skills to mix/master for others, it's gonna take a few years (even considering that I've already been doing this for myself). And seeing such plugins doing better work than a professional engineer like you genuinely worries me. It seems like to earn a decent amount of money form this job you must be so unique that people actually hear the difference between AI processing and your work, which a lot of people, who buy mixes or masters won't really hear from now on with such tools on market. I don't think I'd convince a random producer, who doesn't know much about sound engineering, that I can do better than an AI plugin that he found, which he can buy for once and use forever in all his songs. Because it does sound good. I'm not excluding the fact that some producers, who know how to mix and master, still send their projects to engineers, but in that case it would be a high-skilled one with a reputation. But everyone has to start from something right? It was possible a few years ago, but now it seems to be really tough. It's like you have to skip the "gaining experience and reputation" stage, because it's now replacable by AI

[@TruthSurge]

4:08 looks as if it just did a newb move of boosting way too many lows for the kick and some crunchy 5K give or take but really? You don't want to blindly add that thing to individual tracks. I wouldn't.

[@MixedByDotRob]

I will wait until next year with my Neutron update ... and then update directly to Neutron 8.