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What mastering plug-in(s) to get with $300 budget?
My family gave me $300 in birthday money specifically for getting a mastering plug-in (or two if they're cheap) for Logic Studio. I was eyeing Ozone 4 by iZotope. I'm open to ideas about any other programs that have worked for you and interested in your opinion about Ozone 4 if you've used it.
I can't really speak for Ozone as I've never used it. One plug I'd recommend is Cytomic ''The Glue'' Its not a full mastering suite (Its only a compressor) but its 99$ and I swear its as good as the waves stuff and you can use it on anything, drums, instruments and mixes.
logic stock plugins quite pretty nice for any mastering that you wish to do. I'm not sure how long you've been producing for but getting proper mix is much more important. Mastering won't fix a crappy mix or do any magic to a track. I really wish more people would get this point early on.
so buy/read a book on mixing/EQ
if you really want to buy something than
Sonnox Oxford EQ is a really nice start for an eq.
As far as compressors first learn to use it and understand how it affects sound on individual tracks and on the whole mix, then move on to select/demo a bunch and select the ones that you like.
ozone while being a nice tool it won't teach you eq/compression in the way way if you would go and learn those tools separately
option 2 : buy a decent used reel to reel tape machine and just smack your tracks through it 
while it won't save a crappy mix anyway but your tracks will stand out from a crowd of people with an ozone by a mile if used properly.
option 3 : consider soundcard or monitor upgrade, better monitoring goes a longer way than any plugins.
Monitors are always a good option. Wouldn't bother with tape at all.
Look at the flux bundles, their compressors do some stuff that others just don't. Very advanced shit in there. Make sure you buy a bundle too, whatever you do. Its far more economically sensible.
Oh also... There's no such thing as a "mastering plugin". They're the same as mixing plugins 9/10 times (except maybe for multiband compressors/limiters). Chances are you already have everything you need to do a decent job.
for 300$ go get a course about mixing, most preferably bus mixing in logic first of all. Mastering is NOT a task for the artist. Believe my experience, that's why we have so many mastering engineers. You're in Calif, what about going to pyramind?
There's only a few engineers I trust, and soon there's one who's getting my latest work as it's a baby and I don't want anyone else to touch it.
Adaptive limiters and co won't make your music compatible with most soundsystems. A mastering engineer will at least do a decent job into that direction. And best of it, those guys are adorable and give you the right guidance too.
It's really worth it.
Go to
PYRAMIND ONLINE
and see if it helps.
Advice regarding mastering in general aside, I'd highly recommend going for Sony Sound Forge. It's a fully capable .wav editor, host, and mastering environment, and it also includes the Izotope mastering bundle, which are essentially the limiter, MB compressor, LP EQ, and mastering reverb modules from Ozone. It also include Sony CD Architect for creating entire CDs to Red Book specifications. I think it's a much better bargain than Ozone is.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by mathieu I can't really speak for Ozone as I've never used it. One plug I'd recommend is Cytomic ''The Glue'' Its not a full mastering suite (Its only a compressor) but its 99$ and I swear its as good as the waves stuff and you can use it on anything, drums, instruments and mixes. |
You can get 10 tracks professionally mastered for $300
So by the time you make 10 tracks it'll be Birthday time again.
haha your avatar rocks, sot. that dude is hilarious.
save the 300$, steal the plug-ins
p.s slate fg-x is pretty nice
You can basically do mastering with nearly any EQ, compressor and limiter.
If oyur goal is just to get your mixes a bit louder and fuller, would suggest to invest in learning the basic principles of mixing and mastering first. Once you've defined what your goal is (really mastering, or just beefing up tracks) the tools will select themselves.
Also be aware that mastering is not as much the tools, it's the 2nd pair of ears, the room calibration, the monitoring and experience.
Only if you know what you're after AND know how to get there, you can make informed decissions, just slapping a "chain" of plugins on your 2-bus often more hurts than helps, especially in a bad room.
And indeed 300 bucks also buys you between 5 and 10 masters, depending on who you go with.
Bottom line here: There is no "silver bullet" plugin, or suite that makes you bypass above. so be wise when setting expectations and spending money.
p.s. if you want a nice "near silver bullet" try Vengeance MBC and you'll be set with one of the many included mastering presets, only thing you have to do there is watch your overall dynamics and the plugin does the rest. I think for just "beefing up" and make your track sound like an Anjuna or ASOT release probably the best option.
just my 2cts.....
Ozone is probably the best option for your budget. The vengeance mbc is a great colouring tool but awful for mastering.
I think Ozone is a bit of a burden unless you know what you're doing with it.
A decent EQ, light compression and Kjaerhaus Classic Limiter are all you really need for some clean home mastering.
Ozone presets are just plain danger in the wrong hands 
any preset is dangerous . The vengeance mbc is probably the last thing any engineer in any field of music would turn to. He has 300 $, the ozone program is about that and it will actually teach you alot more. It is a nice package and does the job.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Raphie You can basically do mastering with nearly any EQ, compressor and limiter. |
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| Originally posted by Atlantis-AR I so disagree. |
I disagree with all in one mastering units like Ozone for a number of reasons that I'm not going to go into here...
Obviously anyone who masters with presets should be shot.
These other guys are correct--your songs should be as close to mastered in the tracking stage before you even think about mastering.
You can't magically fix multiple tracks playing at the same time with one or two plug-ins, because you don't have the same amount of control. Meaning: if your bass (for example) is muddy and undefined before you master, you're likely only going to make it sound worse by running everything through a compressor/limiter/EQ because a hi-hat hit in the wrong place could end up working like a side chain compressor.
I have one of the older Waves bundles, and I do like some of the FX in it, but wouldn't use them on a whole track unless it was ready to fit within the confines of what it can actually do. Digital clipping can start happening real quick when mastering that way, which is why you have to be careful long before you actually get to the mastering stage.
Oh, and you can't master effectively without the right set of speakers. I would say what speakers you mix on (assuming you've learned their nuances properly) are far more important than the plug-ins themselves.
If you want to take an early stab at things, try using buses to mix the drums through one plug-in, and then start bringing in other tracks--you'll quickly see the limitations of your raw tracks if you haven't mixed them properly.
Good luck!
Not to belabor the point too much, but I think that too many of us (yeah, including myself sometimes) take too literal a position when it comes to mastering. The term "mastering" these days encompasses a lot more than the traditional definition. Most bedroom producers refer to what we used to call "finalizing" or just putting the finishing touches on a mixdown to prepare it for submission to a label, or to send it their DJ friends to get work into a mix, etc. as mastering. If we would all just agree to put the semantics and idealism aside, these discussions could be a lot more productive.
fully agree, mastering is about making your track "compatible" to a multitude of systems,depending on the quality of the track, either no correction is needed, or corrections in the frequency spectrum, or corrections in amplitude. When mastered well, the track sounds as expected on a multitude of systems & media.
Mastering is more about the monitoring chain & room and making informed decissions as one knows what the result should sound like, Then about the silver bullet plugin to make things "phatt"
This means that Ozone or MBC in the wrong hands will create the aesthetic effect one is looking for, but will not autocorrect any spectrum issues, neither does it provide a safe quard for bricking your tracks. What happens is that the track sounds nice in your room, but is either way to bass light, or bass heavy outside your room.
I would go even further saying that if budget is limited, my spending priority would be:
- buy a book to really understand mastering (i.e. Bob Katz, the art of mastering)
- Understand and invest in room akoustics (bass traps, diffussors, mic measurement etc)
- invest in monitoring (speakers, amp, DAC)
- invest in tools (first learn the limitations of the tools included in your DAW and then make informed buying decissions based upon what's lacking, not because you think a certain preset in Ozone just sounds fat.Most modern DAWs are fully capable to deliver with the included tools
- Once fully comfortable in VST land, you might want to start exploring outboard options.
so having 300$ my spend would be:
- 30$ book
- 50$ Behringer EMC8000 mic
- REW (free)
- 200$ rockwool and wood for trapping/diffusors (DYI instructions on Gearslutz, just go to local DYI store)
I'm still curious to actually hear the mixdowns and where the OP is at in terms of needing mastering. Different processors suit different material so I won't recommend anything before actually listening to the mixdown, and if mastering can even save it.
Agreed, GIGO counts (garbage in is garbage out) hence my advise to invest in akoustics, this will probably be most beneficial for improving mixes.
Well I can see why the OP's bailed. He asked for recommendations for plugins and everyone decided to give him their wisdom on mastering more generally, making heaps of assumptions about why he shouldn't master his own tracks without knowing anything about him, his skill level or his intentions as to what he was doing with the tracks.
This thread has turned into another one where people give their incredible wisdom about mastering without really knowing much about the OP.
Good work TA.
i agree, all mastering threads should be merged and closed.
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