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.

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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.

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Last edited by kitphillips on Mar-08-2011 at 07:05

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.

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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.

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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.

agreed...the new over sampling feature on the brand new glue update gives the waves ssl a run for its money! true story

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luzzBook

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You can get 10 tracks professionally mastered for $300

So by the time you make 10 tracks it'll be Birthday time again.

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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.....

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Ozone is probably the best option for your budget. The vengeance mbc is a great colouring tool but awful for mastering.

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