Mastering Plugins - Discussion? Suggestions?

[Table Syrup Records]

Not to be rude or whatever, but can we please try to keep this strictly to those mixing/mastering/engineering for a living
- or at minimum doing this professionally? THANK YOU

Ok, so, wondering what you guys are using.

I know I don't always do things the 'RIGHT' way....
but I do them MY way, or whatever way works for the song or project, regardless of what that calls for....

From the aspect of a mix being final:

I had been using (Predominantly Waves) the L316's, but then started gravitating toward the C4 (and Q10 as needed)....
Something going on with the C4 that I love ... Feels and sounds right... different character than the L316 in my opinion, unless I'm nuts
at minimum, feels better for me

Generally I will rock a touch on the master bus in Pro Tools, then when I fly every song into DSP Quattro,
I can touch up each on individually if/as needed, then again a bit of overall for the entire album

I'm buying the C6 today, on sale for $89 - I have wanted the versatility of 6 bands for a long time - the 4 bands was somewhat limiting.

So, now my go to will be the C6, with Q10 as needed


Anyway.... Wondering what you guys are using and what your workflow is in regards to finals in PT and then the mastering/authoring stage/s

We could also add, what are you guys using (those of you who do it) for Authoring?
I had all kinds of issues with Peak, and of course they are gone
Wavelab didn't impress me, and was uber expensive, and I didn't need the plugs
I went with DSP Quattro and am very happy with the workflow, and capabilities/options

[elicious]

hey shorty,
do i remember you had/ have some analog gear?
if so, take advantage of that and run the track through the chain
to fluff it up a bit
and make things sit a bit bettuh.

here, i'll, take the tune and run it out to our malcolm toft board (you have trident, yes?)
hit the half inch,
bring it back to just nudge an 1176,
then print that.

tres smoooth…

on the digi side;
depending on how much needs to be fixed/ pumped up;
i really like flux syrah to do its ver of parallel compressing
followed by paul frindle's limiter in the DSM. (no freq shaping, tho)

if you need more character; HEAT, or Kush's UBK both squish nicely.
or even kramer tape
(if you set the input and output very conservatively,
then trim back up.)

since you like the C4 for corrective work,
have you explored the C1?
great as a dynamic eq
without the multi band aberrations.

for sugical eq, pretty tough to top the massenburg eq
or even clariphonic for parallel eq-ing.

for metering,
FG-X has great volume meters (wish his limiter didn't smear so much)
and spectra foo is great when you want to zoom in on freqs or check a tricky phase sitch.

horses n courses and allthat,
e
for the record studios

[Table Syrup Records]

Metering: I have some hardware Dorroughs , waves - and I actually sort of like the new options in 11

Outboard: Pretty limited since my loss in the tornado, but yes, Trident 65 Series
On projects that justify it, I'll finish in the box (bahahhahahaaaa), and then pass the mix through a pair of 65 channels and back in.
I love the character of the 65 EQ's and Pre's, especially with the pre's pushed..
I run my faders wide open and crank my pre's up till the saturation sounds right with just the right amount of harmonics
Gives things a pretty sexy sound

Just looking for some other input, and I appreciate yours.

I spend a lot of time reading, watching, then applying technique I learn about... but I'm running out

To be honest, I really do appreciate a lot of the pro's who are putting out stuff, ie Pensado, etc, but some of these cats are so vague that it does me no more good than my own technique and investigation / trial and error in the studio - which ends up being better time spent

I just want to keep learning and evolving.

Every time I start doing something the same way for say 6 months or more (in general.... I do different things all the time), I try to switch it up a bit and try different techniques, at least to learn, if not to commit