This gentle distortion and compression is tape saturation, a subtle added warmth and presence, similar to what you get from tubes but with its own distinctive character. When recoding levels are pushed into the red slightly, the wave is very gradually flattened, adding very subtle odd (and even) harmonic distortion, and at the same time, levels are slightly compressed. As fans of analog sound know, recording on analog tape always included a number of artifacts that, while technically flaws, nonetheless enhance recordings in a desirable way. It’s modeled after a Studer A810 two-track (remember Ozone is primarily a mastering tool). Vintage Tape offers iZotope’s version of the classic analog tape saturation effect. But they still bring classic analog character to the party, and are worth taking a look at. They don’t present the usual photorealistic front panel graphics that most modeled effects do, and on the surface they mostly don’t make a point of referencing the original hardware that inspired them, which I think makes them easy to overlook in the crowded field of virtual vintage toys. These are modeled after analog hardware processors - some are emulations of specific hardware units.
The four are Vintage Tape (available in both versions), Vintage Compressor, Vintage EQ, and Vintage Limiter. Ozone has four Vintage modules on tap, though three of them are currently only available with the Advanced version of Ozone. Another aspect of Ozone that people might be less familiar with is its inclusion of several Vintage modules, which add the option for applying some processing with a little analog “character”, along with the more general-purpose clean EQs and dynamics tools. Of course, iZotope offers many other plug-ins specifically targeted to mixing use, including Neutron (with its intelligent mix options), but Ozone’s modules also have a great deal to offer at that stage of production. But despite the intended purpose of this capable processor, Ozone’s tools can be equally useful for many mixing applications as well. IZotope’s Ozone is well known as an all-in-one processor for Mastering applications, incorporating a collection of modules that includes everything from basic EQ and multiband compression to an exciter, imager and loudness maximizer. Learn iZotope Ozone in the AskAudio Academy.