DaVinci Resolve Workflow Simplified Again

I’ve posted a number of articles about keeping your DaVinci Resolve color grading workflows simple. Several of these have focused on using third-party DCTL effects (DaVinci color transform language). Some free, some paid.

This approach works well, but DCTL effects have two downsides. The first is that usually two CST (color space transform) nodes are required at both ends of your node tree. That’s to move you from a log camera space to the intermediate DaVinci space and then finally out to Rec 709. The second is that these DCTL effects are usually adjusted by sliders. Therefore, they require you to use the mouse and can’t be controlled from one of the DaVinci color panels. That can be quite fatiguing on your hands and wrists, especially if you are older and working a timeline with hundreds of clips to grade.

In this post, I’m offering four different ways to keep things simple without overthinking your workflow.

Referent

I recently ran across Cullen Kelly’s free Referent LUTs. Kelly is a colorist and YouTuber, whose website offers a number of tools and services. Referent is a bundle of camera-specific .cube LUTs (color look-up tables). Each is designed for Resolve as a DRT (display rendered transform) – not to be confused with a DaVinci timeline file.

Each LUT transforms a camera’s log space (like ARRI Log-C or Sony S-Log) to Rec 709. The bundle includes 11 folders organized by camera manufacturer with one or two LUTs in each. These get installed into Resolve’s LUT folder (Project Settings > Color Management > Open LUT Folder). You can also use these on-set in order to view a camera’s output as corrected video in a monitor.

The philosophy behind the Referent LUTs is twofold. First, it eliminates the need to use other LUTs or CSTs in order to convert log camera footage. Second, the approach is to grade in nodes applied before the node with one of these LUTs. By doing so, you are working in the native color space of that camera. These LUTs are not purely technical LUTs, which is why they are considered DRTs. There’s a bit of ‘creative adjustment’ made in these LUTs.

Camera-based grading

Set up the project as you normally would. Typically that’s using DaVinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate for the timeline and Rec 709-A (or Rec 709-Scene) as the output (on a Mac). Generally a node tree of about five to seven nodes is plenty. For example, Nodes 1, 2, and 3 would be for the primary and two steps of secondary grading. Node 4 gets the Referent LUT for that camera type (ARRI, Sony, Blackmagic, etc). Nodes 5, 6, and 7 would be for additional tweaks and ‘looks’, such as film grain, a film stock, etc. Most of your color correction happens in the first few nodes before the conversion to Rec 709 in the fourth node. This means that exposure, contrast, saturation, temperature, tint, etc are all being altered while still inside of the camera’s native color space.

If you have various clips in the timeline from a mixture of cameras, then each camera type would get the specific LUT intended for that camera model’s color science. There are ways to group clips of the same camera together, as well as to work with a single grade for the ‘look’ portion across the entire timeline. For instance, I often add film grain and a film emulation ‘look’ as timeline nodes.

Freelab

Another similar approach to Referent is Freelab from Colourlab AI. This is a free download that can be used in Resolve Studio and Premiere. Obviously, it’s intended as a ‘gateway’ to get you to purchase the full Colourlab AI application, but that’s optional.

You can use Freelab to convert camera log to Rec 709 as an OFX (Open FX) in Resolve. However, Colourlab AI also offers a set of free stylized looks. You can import these into the Freelab plugin to create a nice starting point to your grade. If you only use Freelab, the workflow is like Referent. Therefore, apply some nodes before and after the node the Freelab node as needed. Unlike Referent (but like CineDream described below). it can also be applied as an effect in the Resolve Studio edit page. This gives you some grading options without shifting to the Color page.

CineDream

I’ve written about CineDream in the context of Final Cut Pro, but the same installation also adds plugins to Premiere and DaVinci Resolve Studio. For Resolve, it adds three OFX (Open FX) plugins that can be applied to clips in the edit timeline or to nodes in the Color page. The Full Editor effect is a conduit linked to the standalone CineDream application, which is part of the installation. Apply the effect, open it and now you’re working in the CineDream application. When you are finished, apply the graded look to the clip in Resolve.

In addition to the CineDream Full Editor effect, the other two effects are the Basic Correction and Final Grading plugins. These work inside of Resolve and don’t send you out to the standalone CineDream application. You can literally do all of your grading in two nodes in the Color page or with both effects stacked onto a clip in the Edit page. Apply the Basic Correction effect to the first node for log conversion and primary color correction. Add the Final Grading effect to the second node for film emulation, including film stocks, halation, bloom, and grain.

I’ll skip the explanation of how to use the controls, because it’s essentially the same as I’ve discussed in my previous articles about CineDream and Final Cut Pro. Refer back to those for more details.

Or, just go commando

I’ve described two nice ways to work; but, conversion LUTs, CSTs, and DRTs are simply shortcuts. There’s no rule that says you have to work that way. Resolve is color space-aware, so with the timeline set to DWG/Intermediate, there’s no reason you couldn’t just manually grade camera log clips in a single node – no conversion nodes required. 

The Resolve interface specifically includes Log Wheels for that reason and even the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel offers a Log mode. Grading log footage from scratch might not be as mathematically accurate as using a technical conversion. However, when you are color-correcting footage, you are adding style and visual enhancement, not simply converting the footage to Rec 709. That’s how I used to grade in the early days of RED and ARRI footage and it was perfectly fine then and still is today.

This method of grading can all be done in a single node. Add more nodes if you need to use windows to isolate areas within the shot – or to apply effects like film grain or film stock emulations.

Whichever solution you prefer, the end result is best with some practice on a range of clips and camera types. If you do a lot of regular color correction work in DaVinci Resolve, then I think an investment in at least the micro panel makes sense. In the long run, you’ll work faster, get better results, and save on wrist fatigue.

I’ll have more about working within a single Resolve node in an upcoming post.

©2026 Oliver Peters

sonible smart:chain

There are tons of audio plugins on the market that emulate vintage hardware. A few companies buck that trend by taking a modern approach – vintage in sound when called for, but with modern processing approaches and interface design. Austria’s sonible is a front runner in this space, offering innovative design coupled with what they call Sonic Intelligence. In short that’s their approach to artificial intelligence in audio plugins.

The latest in sonible’s ‘smart:’ product line is smart:chain, which is a combination of effects integrated into a single plugin. However, it goes far beyond traditional console channel strip plugins, such as the classic SSL 4K emulations. When you apply multiple instances of smart:chain to individual tracks, each of those tracks appear inside all of the smart:chain interfaces. Open a single instance of smart:chain and you can access and control the settings for any other smart:chain insert. Using smart:chain broadly across your entire mix almost makes it like a DAW within your DAW by providing central session control.

Start by analyzing the track. This enables smart:chain to automatically create its best match for the settings to apply to that track. You can give it a head start by selecting the closest option for track type, such as Drums-Kick or Guitar-Electric. Otherwise, leave in on Universal and let the plugin’s analysis make the best fit. Play the track and hit the big green button. Let it run until the analysis is complete. Do this for each and every track to which you’ve applied smart:chain. This provides a starting point for the mix. Once the yellow exclamation mark icon next to the track name disappears, learning has been completed.

Seven processing modules in a single chain

As a combo plugin, smart:chain features seven basic processes that flow in this order: Gate, Equalizer, De-Esser/De-Harsher, Input Rider, Compressor, Saturator, and Clipper. If you look at the center of the interface, the flow of these modules is left-to-right across the top and then left-to-right again across the bottom set. When you run the analysis pass, each function is automatically optimized for that track. You can enable/disable any individual process, as well as manually tweak the settings. However, you cannot change the processing order like some other channel strip plugins. Depending on the module, there are additional speed and style settings, like aggressive, smooth, fast, slow, etc. The De-Harsher control is selected for any instrument type, but then automatically switches to the De-Esser mode for vocal tracks.

Most of these effects are pretty straightforward and operate like other individual sonible plugins. So, the equalizer section works like smart:EQ 4 and the compressor like smart:comp 3 – each with a similar set of controls. The equalizer might require some more explanation, as it’s different from other digital EQs. In fact, if you’ve used the Logic Pro Mastering Assistant, the type of EQ curve derived there will look similar to the one in smart:chain.

After analysis, the result is an EQ curve with a number of small boosts and dips throughout. The intent is to improve the clarity of the track, rather than broadly boost or attenuate bass, midrange, or treble. You can globally increase or the decrease the intensity of those volume changes by pulling the blue line up or down. There’s also a warm-to-bright slider on the left, which creates a tilt-shift change in the angle of the EQ curve. Finally, double-click into the EQ graph to add manual points, in order to modify the affected section of the curve.

Group control

If that were all, then smart:chain would simply be another plugin with a collection of integrated effects. That would make it similar to a plugin like iZotope’s Ozone. But smart:chain is much more than that, because it includes a group function – what sonible dubs ‘connected mixing’.

As I stated above, any tracks with a smart:chain insert appear in the interface along the left side. You can click the ‘manage groups’ button to switch to the groups page. Here you create groups and drag the individual tracks into them, such as all vocals or all guitars. However, the number of tracks per group is limited. Modern rock recordings often feature more drum tracks than will fit into a single group, so you might have to create and organize Drums 1, Drums 2, etc. Same for any other set of instruments with a large number of tracks.

Back in the main interface, the new groups appear as named tabs above the equalizer section. Scroll left or right to see and access any of these tabs. You’ll also find a new sidebar on the left with Front, Middle, and Back sections. This is what sonible calls ‘intelligent depth staging’. Moving a track within the group from one section to the other changes the intensity of the EQ curve, with Front being the most accentuated. According to sonible, spreading your tracks across these three sections impacts the dimensionality of the sound by establishing separation, clarity, and a sense of depth across the mix. For instance, lead vocals would be in the Front section, but background singers would move to the Middle or even Back section.

Auto Leveling to balance the total mix

Finally, there is an Auto Leveling control. Turn it on and pick the genre – Pop, Blues, Rock, Rap, and more. According to the user guide, “Auto Leveling analyzes relationships between learned smart:chain instances and creates a genre-aware rough balance across the project. It is designed to eliminate repetitive gain staging at the start of a mix, not to replace the final balance decisions of the engineer.”

When Auto Leveling is engaged, volume control sliders appear below the Auto Leveling control and on each of the group tabs. Groups are not track stacks, instrument stems, or sub groups in the same way as your DAW would create. However, by adjusting mix sliders for each group along with the overall, these do function much the same as VCA groups in some DAWs. However, you cannot apply any further processing within smart:chain to any of the groups. In other words, you can’t add EQ or compression to the group as a whole unit within smart:chain. If your tracks have been routed into stems of similar instruments and onward into a mix bus, then there’s no reason you can’t add other plugin effects in addition to smart:chain. At a minimum, you would probably still insert reverb effects and mix bus compression/limiting.

Is it for you?

After working with smart:chain for a bit on several different mixes, it strikes me that using it extensively requires modifying your workflow. For one thing, you are applying a common set of effects across the entire mix. It’s not the same as inserting vintage API emulations across drums, SSL emulations onto your guitars, and Neve emulations across everything else. So if you decide to only work with smart:chain, then get the hang of it before diving in.

Remember that the analysis data has to go somewhere. Logic Pro stored it inside of the project file. The song mix using standard plugins was 54.5 MB in size. The exact same project using only smart:chain effects for all tracks ballooned to 1.18 GB. That’s not unreasonable, but worth considering.

Just to be clear, you don’t necessarily need to use it everywhere. For example, maybe it makes the most sense for your mix to only use it on the drum kit tracks. There is no absolute rule as to how you should use it. I generally found it to work well, however, it did lock up Logic Pro on me at least once in a 41-track mix. But then that’s on an Intel iMac and these days I should probably be running an Apple Silicon Mac.

Nevertheless, like all of sonible’s plugins, smart:chain is a solid product that performs well. It’s hard to say whether or not it will make you a faster or better mixer. It’s a different way of working and that takes some time to get used to.

sonible smart:chain installation is easy and the standard plugin formats are supported. Licensing is via activation code or iLok. A fully-functional 30-day trial is available to test before your buy. sonible is currently offering an introductory discount.

©2026 Oliver Peters

DaVinci Resolve – Six Apps in One

Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve/Resolve Studio is constructed as an integrated set of media tools. These have either been acquired and redesigned or developed from scratch by the Blackmagic team. Unlike application suites, such as Adobe Creative Cloud or Apple Creator Studio, Resolve integrates the various tasks all within a single piece of software. Resolve 21 now accommodates photography (Photo), two styles of editing (Cut and Edit), visual effects (Fusion), color correction (Color), and sound mixing (Fairlight). Just in time for IBC 2026, Blackmagic Design released DaVinci Resolve Studio/Resolve 21.1. As usual, there are a ton of new features, including AI assistance.

Competing applications, including Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer, also offer a range of functions inside of a single application. At the heart, these are still mainly editing tools. You may open different panels to access task-specific controls, but the overall look and feel doesn’t change. The key difference with Resolve is that the interface for the various pages changes based on the operations within that section of the application. Each of these task pages has a completely different look and set of controls, which changes the mode of operation. And so, it really is like working with six different applications – designed with a definite ‘left to right’ workflow – ingest, edit, effects, color, mix, and export.

Let’s talk workflow – a strategy to simplify

What if Resolve’s modal approach is too overwhelming or you just don’t need everything? The solution is to turn off the pages that you don’t want to see or use in your workspace. For instance, you might only want to edit and aren’t yet ready to dive into Fusion, Color, or Fairlight. Simply uncheck those pages (Workspace > Show Page) in the top menu. This declutters the interface for a streamlined workflow. When you are ready to tackle new pages, like Color, simply enable them and you are good to go.

A multi-suite facility can set up different workstations all running Resolve or Resolve Studio. Each can be dedicated to completely different tasks. One suite for photography, others for video editing and color correction, plus a dedicated mixing room. Blackmagic Design also offers a variety of hardware built for these different tasks, including editing keyboards, color correction panels with track balls, audio controllers with faders, and video and audio I/O interfaces.

In each of these examples, turn off all of the pages except the one intended for that room’s function. You may want to keep the Media and Deliver pages on for file ingest and export. However, that’s optional, because several of these pages include their own import and export commands. Let’s take a quick look at each of these six pages.

Photo

The Photo page is the newest addition that was just introduced as a key, new feature of Resolve 21. Essentially it competes with Adobe Lightroom and is the perfect place to work exclusively with still photographs within Resolve. Click here for my in-depth walk-through of how to use the Photo page.

Cut

The Cut page was introduced a few years ago as an addition to Resolve’s Edit page, which already existed. So, its existence is a head-scratcher. Cut is like a hybrid between Apple Final Cut Pro and legacy 2-VTR, ENG-style editing.

In fact, there’s even a source-tape mode that combines common source clips with sequential timecode into a tape-like timeline. The DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor keyboard is optimized for the Cut page. It’s reminiscent of working with two Sony BVU-800 or BetaCam videotape decks. While the configuration works well for cutting news packages, it’s also a functional starting point for other edits. Start on the Cut page for your basic assembly and they move to the Edit page for refinement.

Edit

If you come from any other NLE, then the Resolve Edit page is going to look the most familiar. It’s ideal whether you are rough cutting or finessing a commercial, show, or film. You can start in the Cut page and move here or simply stay in the Edit page the whole way. You’ll need Color and Fusion for color correction and advanced compositing. But if you are mainly editing, then the Edit page is it. The DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard is the Blackmagic controller designed for this page. Add one and editing becomes reminiscent of running a CMX linear online edit suite back in the day.

Fusion

Fusion is Resolve’s advanced visual effects compositing environment. The software was originally acquired from EyeOn. The effects are built with node trees and range from simple to very elaborate composites. You can combine effects to create custom templates. The node tree structure only appears within the Fusion page and is collapsed in the other pages as a single clip with nested effects nodes. Fusion Studio is also offered as a standalone application for use by VFX departments.

Color

The Color page was Resolve’s starting point after the initial DaVinci acquisition by Blackmagic Design. Everything else grew from there. While color correction is why most people use Resolve, the application has now become so much more, thus attracting editors looking for new options. Nevertheless, all color correction for the Cut and Edit pages happens in the Color page. If you are editing in Resolve, then it’s best to leave color correction and video noise reduction effects to last, so it doesn’t impede system performance. Naturally, Resolve can be the ‘hero’ application in a dedicated color correction suite. Blackmagic Design offers three hardware controllers for use with the Color page: the DaVinci Resolve Micro, Mini, and Advanced panels. The Micro will also work with the iPad version of Resolve via Bluetooth.

Fairlight

This brings us to the Fairlight page. It stems from the original Fairlight CMI hardware systems developed in the 1980s. When Blackmagic Design acquired the company, they retained the multitrack DAW side of Fairlight and integrated it as software running inside of Resolve. The Fairlight page is geared around mixing TV and film projects. That’s how the terminology and presets are labelled and organized. Nevertheless, it’s a perfectly capable music mixing application, as long as you don’t need instrument samples, a library of guitar amp models, etc. Blackmagic offers several different Fairlight Desktop controllers, along with larger, advanced mixing consoles. There are also two audio cards and a dedicated Fairlight Audio Interface. So it’s quite easy to build a mixing room completely based on Fairlight (Resolve).

At NAB 2026, Blackmagic Design introduced Fairlight Live, making it the second section of Resolve – along with Fusion Studio – that’s available as a standalone application. Fairlight Live is intended for live mixing scenarios, like events, podcasts, broadcasts, and more. The software is free and gives you all of the mixing and effects power of the Fairlight page in Resolve, minus the need to deal with media. There are three bespoke mixing panels, based on the number of motorized faders needed: Fairlight Live Audio Panel 10, 20, and 40.

To wrap things up, Blackmagic Design has developed a sophisticated application that can be approached in one of three different ways. First, advanced users can access every page as needed and work through a project, start to finish. Second, new users can turn off the more complex pages so they only focus on what’s needed, like the Edit page. Third, a production company can structure the application in several ways to optimize use based on different operations, such as editing in one suite and color in another. The danger in creating such a complex piece of software is bloat; but Blackmagic’s engineers have done a good job of avoiding that. Most users’ experiences with DaVinci Resolve and Resolve Studio continues to be smooth, in spite of its complexity under the hood.

©2026 Oliver Peters

iZotope Joins the Boris FX Family

First, a bit of the backstory as we know it. iZotope is widely recognized as one of the go-to brands that’s critical to the audio community. Users have been nervous for the past few months, because the former parent company Native Instruments GmbH filed for preliminary insolvency in Germany at the start of the year.

Native Instruments was saved from bankruptcy thanks to its acquisition by inMusic Brands, whose portfolio includes Akai Professional, Moog Music, and other music technology companies. For iZotope users in particular, any uncertainties have now been resolved through the company’s acquisition by Boris FX – a leading post-production software developer.

Boris FX was launched in 1995 and for much of its existence has focused on visual effects software, specifically in the form of plugins, such as its Continuum line. Along the way, it’s acquired and integrated several other effects developers, including GenArts, SynthEyes, and others. They’ve even delved into editing applications, acquiring Media 100 in 2005 and more recently Vegas Pro (acquired from MAGIX). The launch of Optics added photography effects to their specialities.

Starting three years ago with the acquisition of CrumplePop, Boris FX has moved squarely into the audio space. Since then, Boris FX has been building an audio portfolio that includes Sequoia (a mastering DAW), SoundForge and Acid Pro (from the Vegas Pro acquisition), and other audio applications. The addition of iZotope to the audio group is complementary to the rest of this audio line-up. I expect good synergy, since both are Massachusetts-based companies.

What iZotope brings to the table

The iZotope brand is based upon four core products: Neutron, Nectar, Ozone, and RX. In addition, there’s a range of individual speciality plugins. Neutron, Nectar, and Ozone are principally focused on music production, recording, mixing, and mastering. While RX has many tools designed for music, it’s typically used for audio post – specifically by video editors and dialogue editors/sound designers. Like Boris FX’s visual effects products, the iZotope RX tools have been used on countless feature films and television series worldwide.

Let’s zero in on the new Ozone 12 and RX 12 and how they apply to video editors. RX 12 is considered audio restoration and repair software. It comes in the form of a standalone RX application that acts as the host for a range of processing modules. These are designed for audio clean-up, editing, and polish. Ozone 12 consists of ‘virtual rack’ that hosts individual Ozone audio plugins and is not a separate application. You can insert Ozone onto a track or bus in a DAW or NLE and then add, re-arrange, and adjust any combination of iZotope Ozone plugins/modules within the Ozone ‘rack’. In short, Ozone functions like a console channel strip, but with multiple, customizable effects.

Both RX and Ozone come in three versions: Elements, Standard, and Advanced. There are key differences to these packages. Elements offers the fewest plugins/modules; Advanced has the maximum number; and Standard is in-between. Only the Advanced version of Ozone installs the components as individual plugins (AU, AAX, VST3) in addition to the Ozone ‘host’ effect. Many of the RX modules are processor-intensive and require rendering. Therefore, only the real-time RX modules are installed as separate plugin effects. A varying number of RX real-time plugins are available in all three RX versions (AU, AAX, VST3, ARA). While iZotope does offer other plugins and bundles, none of these Ozone 12 or RX 12 effects are available to be purchased as single effects.

RX 12 Advanced comes with over 50 restoration tools in the suite, plus 18 real-time effects plugins. Ozone 12 Advanced includes 20 modules that load into the Ozone host or as individual plugins, along with a Stem Focus workflow. The plugin collection includes a healthy set of modern and vintage-style EQs, compressors, and tape emulations. Many of iZotope’s modules have been updated from previous versions to use Machine Learning technology for improved results. If you are an audio professional, then adding Ozone and/or RX to your bag of effects is compelling. But if you are a video editor, what do these tools do for you? Here are a few use cases.

Ozone 12

Editors often deal with library music cues and on-camera or voice-over dialogue. The Ozone modules are useful in tailoring each to best fit together, tame the music, or enhance/clean the dialogue. There’s also a workflow advantage. You edit in Premiere, for example. You can insert its stock plugins onto a track, but can only open one at a time. However, if you insert Ozone and then add several of its integrated modules, they all appear within the Ozone ‘rack’ as tabs. Click from one to the next to easily adjust the settings in real-time.

The mix for a video project also needs a certain level of ‘mastering’ – just like in the music world. If that’s all you want it for, then Ozone 12 Standard or maybe even Ozone 12 Elements would suffice. Insert Ozone 12 onto your Premiere mix bus. You can either use Ozone’s Master Assistant, one of the various presets, or add modules from scratch. Adjust the settings and finalize the mix to a target loudness level, such as -23 LUFs for broadcast distribution.

You can use the Master Assistant as a starting point. Once it’s ‘learned’ your track and assigned modules, customize the settings for each, especially the loudness level of the Maximizer module. All of the component modules are designed with visual displays that show the audio waveform and how that module is impacting the signal.

Ozone 12 added a number of new features that are useful to music mixers and video editors alike. Let’s say you get location audio, a VO, or a music track that’s overly compressed or even just slammed to the point of distortion. Dial that back with the new Unlimiter module to bring back transients and revive the track. There’s a new Bass Control module to add punch or balance out the low end of your track. Finally, there’s Stem EQ. Ozone divides the signal into vocals, bass, drums, and other instruments. While this is most useful for music mastering engineers, video editors can also use it to separately adjust the EQ on just dialogue. That might be needed when you only receive a mixed track and not individual audio files.

RX 12

RX is the tool to repair audio. Its Spectrogram display has been a hallmark of the application. Unwanted sounds, like squeaks, barks, etc can be ‘painted’ over to highlight the offending areas and RX handles the repair to eliminate the distraction. In addition, there are plenty of processing modules to tackle hiss, reverb, hum, clicks, breath control, mouth noises, guitar noises, clipping, and more.

Much of iZotope’s latest development effort with RX 12 has gone into the Stems view, which allows you to split a mixed track into several component parts. Once split, you can separately process each stem, eliminate one or more stems, or rebalance the relative levels of those stems. You can split the mixed track into stems through Scene Rebalance, Music Rebalance, or Dialogue Isolate. The specific process you pick depends on whether this is a musical production or a mixed track for a video project.

Stem-splitting isn’t new technology, but it has certainly improved in recent years, thanks to Machine Learning. Comparisons versus RX 11 on a recent Boris FX livestream demonstrated a marked improvement in quality using RX 12. iZotope engineers have done a good job to avoid AI hallucinations, which is more critical than you might think. That’s because RX is a favored tool for those working in the field of audio forensics.

This can be useful when you need to revisit an old video production. The client needs to revise a commercial that you edited several years ago. They want to change the VO or the music track, but all you have is the final, mixed commercial. No separate tracks to work with.

I tested this scenario and RX easily split my mixed commercial into three stems: dialogue, music, and effects (nat sound in this case). When I soloed each stem, the isolation was mostly perfect. Music and effects held no hint of the dialogue. The dialogue stem sounded natural without hearing the other two. I could have easily put in new music or a new dialogue track and remixed it with acceptable results.

This didn’t work quite as well when I tried to extract a bass line from a mixed song. Although all other instruments were minimized in level, they were still in the isolated bass track. When tackling stem splits in music, RX rebalances the percentages of each main instrument group in the mix, rather than totally isolate them. The success of both of these processes will vary with every mixed track that you are trying to work on.

Final thoughts

It’s very early in this acquisition and plenty can change in the coming months and years. There will be an ongoing process of integration within the Boris FX family. For now, nothing changes for existing iZotope software owners or how new owners purchase and license their software. The iZotope website is getting updated to reflect this corporate change.

Now that iZotope is part of a larger audio group that includes such high-end products as Sequoia, I would imagine in the future you’ll see some cross-pollination between these products. I’d love to see more real-time functions in RX and maybe a refreshed user interface as part of new development efforts.

Regardless of whether you are a video editor or an audio engineer, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the iZotope products. Both RX 12 and Ozone 12 are built around tools that are high-quality and effective. For Boris FX, these ongoing acquisitions have turned a small plugin developer into a comprehensive powerhouse for post-production software.

An earlier version of this article was originally published at ProVideo Coalition.

©2026 Oliver Peters

That G-Word Again

Let’s talk about gamma issues again. I’ve previously written about the Premiere gamma ‘bug’ and Premiere’s color management tools. Unfortunately, gamma levels are a never ending issue. It’s not a ‘bug’. It’s the way the system was designed. Different platforms and delivery targets use different gamma values. This makes it impossible to export a single file that will look the same no matter where and how it is viewed.

Understanding gamma

The simplest explanation of gamma is that it’s a conversion from how a camera sensor sees light to how the human eye sees light in the real world and the subsequent interpretation on screens. Plot that on an XY graph and the camera sees a straight line from corner to corner. Once you apply the mathematical gamma correction, the graph displays it as a curved line. The lower the gamma number, the brighter the image. The higher the number, the darker the image.

Gamma values are based on the display system. Broadcast TV uses a gamma value of 2.4, which was originally derived from the CRTs used in TV sets and monitors. Apple’s QuickTime Player and Apple’s ColorSync technology is based on a gamma value of approximately 1.96. The web is in-between at 2.2.

Depending on the application, a generated/exported Rec 709 file (SDR video) will often include an embedded gamma tag to identify the gamma value. Gamma of 1.96 is tagged as 1-1-1. Gamma of 2.4 is tagged as 1-2-1. This tells QuickTime Player how to display the file to the screen. What happens when you move between different post applications that expect to see different gamma values?

Editing software applications’ color management

Adobe has spent a lot of R&D effort in improving color management within Premiere. Most of this involves the automatic conversion of various camera log images into Rec 709 (or other). There are also display preference settings for the viewer to use gamma values of 1.96, 2.2, or 2.4. However, these settings do not change the image. They merely change the video appearance in the viewer. If you are on a Mac, then internally Premiere is tied to Apple’s ColorSync technology and works in 1.96 gamma. I don’t edit on a PC, but I believe there Adobe is using sRGB values for the display. Unfortunately, none of Premiere’s color management settings address the issue of different gamma values for source footage that’s already Rec 709 and not log.

In Premiere and Final Cut Pro, when a file uses a gamma value of 2.4 and contains a tag of 1-2-1, both applications will ignore this and assume a tag of 1-1-1 (QuickTime standard). This is true even though QuickTime Player itself correctly interprets this information and displays the file as intended. The result is that when you import the file, it will look more washed out within the NLE than the original. If you export this file from Premiere or FCP without doing anything else to the file, the result will not match the original. It will be brighter with lower contrast and saturation. It will now also have a tag of 1-1-1. Clearly both of these applications have converted the gamma value of the file. Sadly there are no internal settings to compensate for this.

The post production workflow dilemma

The easiest thing to do would be simply to work in your desired NLE, make the file look like you want it to look, export it, and deliver. That’s all well and good, but it’s not the real world.

Often, the creative edit (‘offline’ edit) is done in one NLE. The camera files are sent with a list to a colorist to grade (usually in DaVinci Resolve Studio). The graded files are rendered/exported and delivered back to the editor to conform for finishing (‘online’ edit) and delivery. That portion might be in yet a different editing application.

If the colorist exported the files using a gamma value of 2.4 (set in Resolve’s export dialogue), then the color-corrected files are tagged as 1-2-1. However, back in FCP or Premiere, these files will be converted and no longer match the files from Resolve.

Workflow solutions and workarounds

The good news is that Resolve is the only one of these applications with specific settings to control gamma during the grade and when exporting the file. This means that you can check with the colorist about certain settings and request a specific output. If you are doing the grade yourself in Resolve, then there are several settings to be mindful of.

On a Mac, set the color management to work in DaVinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate and the output to Rec 709-A (or Rec 709-Scene). When you export, your Deliver page settings should be Rec 709 / Rec 709 (not specified gamma). This will ensure that the files are tagged as 1-1-1 with 1.96 gamma and match the appearance in the Resolve viewer. These files will pass through Final Cut Pro or Premiere correctly. The export from the NLE will match the files from Resolve.

If you cannot control this and receive files from a colorist tagged as 1-2-1, then there are two manual ways to deal with it. The first way is to apply a LUT to the clip that you have imported back into the NLE. Adobe used to offer a correction LUT, but it’s no longer available from Adobe. It can still be found on the internet, so search for ‘QT Gamma Compensation.cube‘. This LUT will offset the conversion the NLE is doing to the file. The second method is simply to use the NLE’s color tools for a manual correction. Typically, you can pull down the midpoint of a curve slightly and add about 5-10% saturation and you’ll be pretty close.

Going back to what I said at the start, it is impossible to make a single file that is identical in all places. If you are working with Mac-oriented settings, but need to deliver for broadcast, the best approach is to grade the final version using an external video reference display. If it looks right there, even though the exported file has a gamma of 1.96, it will be acceptable for broadcast and look correct on TV.

Files for the web might be a bit dicier. If your footage is bright and colorful with a decent amount of contrast, then these gamma differences will be less noticeable. However, if you went for a darker, moodier, low-contrast grade, then differences will be more obvious going between platforms. The best approach is to test your exports and make adjustments if needed. If you use Frame.io or a similar review-and-approval site, then it’s easy to upload a file and check that on various computers, browsers, tablets, and smartphones to see whether adjustments are necessary.

©2026 Oliver Peters