For most people like me and probably 92.6 percent of us in here master our own stuff

Your statistic may be slightly out of date, CJ, because I'm pretty sure no one ever asked me. So please adjust your figures accordingly and make that 92.63%.

No problem, I get'cha. If you're into doing it for the experience, the fun, what ever cool. My suggestion then would be to put the most into your listening environment possible. Monitors, placement, room dimensions, bass trapping etc. . The place to start is with what the tunes will really sound like when otherwise not bumped or hyped by your room. Making adjustment to a tune in a bass heavy room will ultimately have you screwing it up and making it worse. I use Wavelab, a Manley Variable Mu Compressor, and the UAD-1. I bought the Manley because I really prefer the tactile feel and while listening for changes in sound. Especially if you're going to swing a filter back and forth, over and over looking for that sweet spot. The best bang for the buck so far no question has been the UAD. Wish I could affort the extreme pack. The Manley is for sale BTW if anyone's intersted.

I have to say, with all this stuff, I wish I could get it done better. I always get frustrated with the results. I know what I want but just can't seem to get there. I send a sample off to one of my regular mastering guys and bammo, it's done and clean as a whistle. That's why when there's a buck to be turned and a customer project that really has to put a smile on the face, I add the cost in and send it out for a quick-pass treatment.

Very cool - I will thnk about getting one.

This place has a nice Masteing Forum....
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/
Lot's of good topics covered by some well known ME's ......

Powercore and MBD Mastering suite. It containes the Multiband Dynamics and Brickwall limiter, both unmatched in parameters and quality. I've used hardward and software mastering tools in the past, but nothing compares to this. Get a PC Unplugged card and put up the cash (Sweetwater sells the suite for $999.00). You will never be dissapointed and always have masters that have the punch without the 2x4.

Hey Rain, I can agree with you completely here...I have always used Jonathan Weiner at MWorks (used to be called Master Works) in Cambridge Ma. He did my first 2 CD's a few years ago and he never ceases to amaze me. To use the common phrase...the guy's got big ears....In Johnathan's case...DA GUY'S GOT EARS LIKE DUMBO!!! I walked in to his mastering suite loaded with a mastering program on a mac, a couple of serious looking eq's and a ton of other outboard that was all top end....compressors, eq's, and the like. and 3 or 4 sets of VERY high end speakers. After converting and loading my tunes into the mastering program he used, he proceeded to listen through once then dialed me in....listened again, dialed some more, listened....you get the picture...took about 2 hrs to do it but he got me out of there for 400 bucks and I had a raido ready spit polished and shiny sounding recording master ready for print, that when compared to other EMI/Sony produced cd's sounded similar in tone and eq and played perfectly on my cd player.

I AM a proponent of actual Mastering Engineers and do agree with you that WHAT you do for mastering also depends upon your budget and audience for the recording. Some guys just want to try it themselves. Also who knows, we might have a budding ME out there in the forums....I just asked the question to see if anyone was actually doing their own mastering and what they did...I saw some kind of video where a version of Cakewalk Sonar Studio Edition (I own producer) had a kind of mastering tool as a plug in. I was wondering if other people actually used it or did they do the actual ME route...

I'm a Newbie to the DAW thing and just produced my first live recording of a band that came out better than I could ever have hoped or wished for sonic wise. So good in fact, they want to master it and put it out....I'm thrilled...

If you're releasing a full-length "as-professional-as-possible" CD, then you should have it mastered by someone else who has the ears and equipment to do it right. I released a CD a few years ago and used Jigsaw Sound in NY and was very happy with the results. At the time, they had a low-cost per/CD price which was quite reasonable. You may want to check them out: www.jigsawsound.com .

Your talking to ghosts,  that was 2007.