iZotope just released Neutron 4, a mixing suite with new upgraded assistant technology. I’m not on the team that built Neutron, but teams at iZotope often interact and work together and I was lucky enough to be involved in one specific new DSP feature for this release—the “Tame” button in Neutron’s Exciter module. Designed along with my friend and colleague Kurt Werner, the Tame button is an on/off switch that completely changes the way Neutron’s exciter impacts the dynamics of a performance.
What It Does
When the Tame button is off, Neutron’s exciter behaves like a “normal” distortion—additional upper harmonics are added to the input signal based on its level. The result is an expressive effect which is more dramatic when the input is loud, and more subtle when the input is quiet.
This responsiveness to the input’s level is not always desired, because of its inconsistency. In cases where the input has a lot of dynamic range, for example in vocals, the changing timbre of the distortion can be unwieldy or distracting. Also, a typical distortion effect reduces the dynamic range of a signal, which can detract from the performance.
The Tame button addresses this by enabling a “dynamics preserving” distortion mode. It adds complementary pre- and post- dynamics processing wrapped around Neutron’s usual distortion (using iZotope “special sauce” to make this processing as transparent as possible). The idea is to modify the input signal so that it hits the distortion in a consistent way, and then to undo those modifications on the output. This way, the same amount of distortion will be added regardless of how loud or quiet the input is.
How to Use It
It is important to keep in mind that the Tame button will completely change the dynamics of the distortion effect, since that is the purpose of the button. The most obvious way to see this is to turn Tame on when Neutron 4’s Exciter is really distorting the input signal and adding a lot of harmonics and gain. Since Tame preserves the input’s dynamics, all that added gain will disappear, which can be pretty confusing and disappointing if you were enjoying the loud, raucous distortion you had with Tame off.
Since Tame so fundamentally changes how Neutron 4’s Exciter reacts to the input, I have the most luck when I decide early on whether I want it on or off. Once I have that decided, I can dial in the rest of my settings. When I choose to enable Tame, I am usually in one of these two scenarios:
- I want to use distortion as a timbre-adjusting tool, and so want the new timbre to be consistent regardless of how loud or soft the performance is
- I have a dynamically expressive performance and am frustrated by the compressive side effect of a typical distortion making it sound less emotional
I’m so excited that Tame made it into Neutron 4, because I have been frustrated by these scenarios so many times over the years and now I have an easy way to address them.
It’s always a treat to get to be down in the weeds working on audio effects, and I’m happy this project that started as a prototype collaboration with Kurt ended up making it into a released product so more people can use it.