Mixing & Mastering! Please Help!

[cichy]

Hey everyone,

I'm running an LE7 with Factory Bundle on my MacOSX. I'm slowly starting to close down my album; all the vocals are done and I'm preparing for Mix & Master. I left it for last, because I want the entire CD to have a specific feeling to it. I want vocals to sound a little harsh, metallic and "old school", as if played from an old Vinyl. Music genre is Rap, with a jazzy/soulful feeling to it - if it helps. My question is: what plugins would you recommend for when it comes to mastering? Perhaps some packages? I will definitely need some sort of filters, etc. Please help, as this is a pretty "expensive" matter, and there are a lot of plugins and plugin packs, and I can't see how they all work before I get them.

Any kind of tips would be very appreciated!
Thanks in advance,

Cichy

[The Dougfather]

If your new to mastering and find the whole thing a little daunting i would really recommend taking a look at Izotope Ozone 3. I had the cut down version with my ignition pack pro and just flicking through the restricted factory presets allows you to hear your mixes with loads of different mastering techniques. The GUI is nice and intuitive as well.

Cheers

[Naagzh]

It sounds like you want a specific filter or effect on your vocals, leaving the rest of the mix untouched. This is best accomplished by directly effecting the vocal track during mixdown, not during mastering, which deals only with the 2-channel, stereo mix, and affects the entire song, not just individual elements of it.

Try Izotope Vinyl on your vocals. It's a free plug.