Start here: learn iZotope RX from the spectrogram up

Learn RX with one short recording and one audible problem. Keep the original, locate the distraction, try a repair and compare it with the untreated sound. You do not need to learn every module before making a useful first edit. The guides below build those skills and explain which RX 12 edition and working environment each task needs.

Read the spectrogram, then confirm what you hear

The RX spectrogram and waveform display puts time left to right and frequency bottom to top. Color represents amplitude; check the color-map ruler because the display is configurable. Broadband hiss may look like a speckled background, tonal hum like horizontal lines, and a click like a brief vertical line.

Those shapes are clues, not diagnoses. Wanted notes can form horizontal lines and useful attacks can look like spikes. Listen to the selection and the surrounding sound before removing anything. Start with reading the spectrogram, then learn selections, Preview, Compare and History. The first-cleanup tutorial brings those skills together on one problem.

Choose the editor or a plug-in workflow

The standalone Audio Editor in RX 12 Standard and Advanced provides spectral selections, Undo History and Module Chain. RX Elements is a six-plug-in collection and does not include that editor. Standard and Advanced also include plug-ins; seeing RX inside your DAW does not identify your edition.

Plug-ins can perform real audio repair in a compatible DAW or video editor. Available formats, controls and real-time or offline operation depend on the tool and host. The Editor's module footer is not the plug-in interface: Preview, Compare and Listen availability varies, and those footer controls are absent inside Module Chain. Use the RX workflow hub to choose a host handoff before committing repairs.

Check the edition, not just the module name

Use the current RX edition comparison to check the tools a guide needs. Differences can include controls and algorithms within a shared module: Standard and Advanced both include Dialogue Isolate, but Advanced adds its Best / Offline quality option and four-band processing controls. Standard can still render its available processing into a file.

This site uses RX 12, whose initial release is dated April 2026. The RX 12 changes guide covers the additions; Stems View is available in Standard and Advanced, while Scene Rebalance requires Advanced.

Make each repair reversible

Work on a copy. Use Preview or Compare where the module and view support them, and keep a repair only after checking the wanted sound at similar playback loudness. Extra gentle passes can still accumulate artifacts. If you need several stages, the Module Chain guide explains how to compare the complete chain from the same source.

Repair Assistant proposes settings you can refine. Treat its suggestion as something to audition, not a finished repair. Save an RX Document to retain the original audio and edit history, then export a separately named audio file for delivery. A normal WAV export does not carry RX's editable history; follow the import, export and safe-saving guide and reopen the result to check it.

Once you can select, compare and save reliably, choose the dialogue cleanup hub for voices or the audio repair hub for damaged recordings.

Questions before your first cleanup

Does RX Elements include the standalone editor?

No. RX 12 Elements supplies six plug-ins for a compatible host. The standalone Audio Editor is included with Standard and Advanced.

Does Standard only work in real time?

No. RX 12 Standard can render processing in its Audio Editor. Dialogue Isolate's additional Best / Offline algorithm is an Advanced feature; that algorithm choice is different from rendering audio into a file.

Is a bright line always something to remove?

No. Brightness describes amplitude under the selected color map, not whether a sound is unwanted. Confirm the event by listening and check that your selection does not damage wanted speech or music.