Best Mastering Plugins?

[JazzyJ]

Hi,

I bounced a mix down to 16bit 44.1khz recently using PSP Old Timer ('Glue together' preset) followed by Ozone 4 ('CD Master') on the Master Buss and have been pretty happy with the results.

Would anyone like to share their favourite RTAS plugs / method for Mastering?

I don't use iLok (so I'm not bothered about Waves L2, L3 etc) and I'm particularly interested to know what people think of Massey L2007 in comparison to other Mastering plugs. I like Vintage Warmer a lot but it's lost it's place for me recently.

Anyone?

[SpinningDisk]

There's plenty of post already relating to this matter.

[JazzyJ]

There's plenty of post already relating to this matter.

I agree, but the 'search' on the DUC is crap. If you type 'Mastering' into the search you can barely find a thread with 'Mastering' in the title......

[EvilElfBoy]

I like the McDSP ML4000 a lot for my mastering limiter. I also use the BX Digital, if you want serious mastering M/S, essential. If I want a little saturation to make it sound a bit more analog, URS saturation. The Digi rack 7 band is also really nice if you need to tweak the overall mix eq, and you can use the bx digital for surgical eq.

You really don't need a whole bunch a plug-ins for mastering, just get good ones.

Ozone 4 is a really good choice as well. I have used it for quick mastering a bunch and it works pretty great.

[flommer]

Originally Posted by JazzyJ

I agree, but the 'search' on the DUC is crap. If you type 'Mastering' into the search you can barely find a thread with 'Mastering' in the title......

Search>Advanced search>Keyword = "mastering">option = search titles only

[The Dougfather]

Ozone 4 is a fantastic plugin, the more you dig in to this plugin and suss it out the more you will be rewarded.

The Ozone mastering guide is a great read, it will give you a good incite in to mastering and more so mastering with Ozone. It's an easy read and the techniques apply to mastering generally, not just Ozone.

IMHO i would not recommend Pro Tools for mastering, the lack of real time bounce really slows things up. My weapon of choice is Peak LE 6 > Ozone 4 > Flux Stereo Tool (Keeps check on phasing).

L2007 is a great plugin but it's only a limiter, Ozone has 6 modules and the limiter is just one of them.

Nomad Factory Analogue Tools is also worth a look IMHO.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by The Dougfather

IMHO i would not recommend Pro Tools for mastering, the lack of real time bounce really slows things up. .

Why you would want to bounce faster than realtime at the one stage were its essential to actually listen to whats going to be the final product is a bit beyond me. There are places for faster than realtime bounces but the master is not one of them in my opinion. The other parts of post made sense but that just leaves me scratching my head.

[Craig F]

I still say pick one of the Bobs

[SpikeMcGuire]

I recently picked up T-racks by IK Multimedia. I couldn't be happier with it.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Craig F

I still say pick one of the Bobs

Thats good advice.