Mastering in Sonar - your advice for a novice

Sonar Platinum HP Envy 7.
This is a novice and basic question about mastering - I have never mastered before but I have watched a great deal of tutorials. However, the forum members on here almost always provide the best insights.
Ok, production is complete, mixing is complete, referencing is complete.
Where do I begin mastering?
Do I master from the Master bus on my mix?
Or do I mixdown my project to a wav file, then import that wav file as a new project back to Sonar and begin mastering on the Master bus in the new project?
The only reason I could think of to master the second way is so I don't have a lot of plugins using CPU resources as I would if I master from the mix.
The forum members have been an invaluable resource of knowledge since I began learning Sonar 9 months ago. Your feedback is definitely appreciated!

Sidroe
I know it may sound like a weird way to master but when I am working on an album project, I import the tracks I want to master all into the same project, Song 1=track1, Song 2=track 2. This allows me to mute and unmute tracks to compare the overall loudness of the entire project. I then touch up which ones need some love and then I export them all in to a folder where they can be accessed and burned to CD. It takes no time at all and saves all those drink coasters that you end up with trying to get the whole album balanced. This is the quick and dirty way I do it. BTW, all tracks are routed to the Master Bus and the limiter is the last in the chain. Good luck!

Holy crap! That does make sense - so you can get all the songs to remain at the same level. Nice.
Oh yeah - all the tutorials I have watched always say to have the limiter last in the chain.

I usually do something like @Sidroe - I have a project named "Mastering_48k" that I bring my pre-master tracks into, that is, I make a mixdown of whole song (with -6db to -10db level) and then bring that pre-master into the "Mastering_48k" project.
 
On that master bus, I keep, in this order:
1.Fabfilter's excellent Pro-Q2 to cut off everything below 20khz (sweet 5th order cut-off slope)
2.Waves SSL channel (turned on or off depending on the song)
3.Izotope 7
 
Plenty of tuts for Izotope 5 or 7 out there, just try Youtube to start.  I use it to:
 
Check the stereo information - solid center, good stereo width.
Multi-band compression
More EQing
Limiting - I usually set a ceiling of -0.5db and then boost signal 6db to 8db.
Previewing how the song will sound if exported to mp3, flac, etc.
 
I'm sure that instead of Izotope's all in one, Sonar has all of those steps in different plugins and they all sound great. I might still recommend watching Izotope vids just for the very concise descriptions of what each thing does for the process.
 
When uploading to Soundcloud, I always upload the entire uncompressed wav (16-bit, 44.1khz) because they turn mp3s into absolute mush with awful artifacts.
 
 

I don't even know where to start...in the days of vinyl, mastering was an incredibly complex process due to the physical constraints of the medium. That's no longer the case. If you search on:
 
"Craig Anderton" mastering
 
You'll find a bunch of my articles. I've mastered hundreds of tracks, even won an award, but I do less and less as part of the mastering process with every passing year...although much of that depends on what kind of mix I get. 
 
My motto: "There are at least 20 valid ways to master a piece of music. The right way is the one that amplifies the artist's vision."
 
 

I must add that I use Ozone when applicable but I have had some record producers that I master for that have already commited to the EQ and tone of the record. All they want is Brickwall Limiting applied and as funny as it seems they all love Prochannels Concrete Limiter! I always start out with Ozone in the Master bus in my mastering template and I will do my initial passes over the tracks and they always can tell a difference without even seeing what I am using. I have had them with their backs turned to me, turn and say, "NO, that's not the limiter you used last time. Use the one I like!" I know some guys will think I'm full of it on this but I swear to you that it's true! BTW, these are legitimate record producers not home studio guys like myself.

Sam4246

chuckebaby
mix down to a wav file and then import it back in to sonar.
leave yourself some headroom, I typically leave between -6dB to -9dB.

Got it - do NOT try to get the mix crazy loud so you don't get it distorted during mastering. Now leaving between -6dB to -9dB ---do you mean keep the mix in between those two markers on the Master bus or just minus those amounts from the max level possible?

Also what is the K system?

don't let your levels exceed -6 to -9dB PEAK.
RMS is a whole different animal, hence the reason I chose the K system.
 
I used to use Ozone as well but after a while I found my finished products were beginning to sound like cookie cuter masters. That's not a knock on Ozone or the people who use it. they have better control over their masters than I do. im susceptible, vulnerable to getting caught up in using the same old settings/presets in Ozone. I believe it was effecting my judgment on the way I mastered so I stopped using it for a more basic approach= individual plug ins. I have been down the road and over mixed and over mastered many projects, only to find a more simple approach typically trumps in the end. I found going back to basics simplifies what we all want in the end, something that sounds good. and when that product is wrapped in 50 LBS of gift wrap, it sounds over polished. (like the ole saying.. "you can polish a turd all you want but in the end, its still a turd". 
So with all due respect to others, I don't want what everyone else wants. I want to dare to be different. sure we are all after the same thing but when you start falling in to the "This sounds amazing, it reminds me" it turns me off.  
 
My approach has always and will always be a very unorthodox approach.
Mastering doesn't start with the export process to a stereo track. It begins days, weeks, months before you even begin to record the first song of your album.
Pre planning, post planning, filling out documentation, producers notes, delay times, BPM's, exc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calculating Delay times: http://guitargearfinder.com/guides/convert-ms-milliseconds-bpm-beats-per-minute-vice-versa/
For when you are mixing: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-bpmtempotime.htm
For documentation: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Orginizing-Labeling-Audio-and-Midi-Tracks-m3448904.aspx
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Sure we all have those...throw together a few songs, mix them, master them. But when I am seriously planning an album for myself or a client, and I mean planning it A game style, I cut no corners. I sit down with all the material make notes for every song and make an arrangement of song order (which typically after post recording gets changed a little bit). then dive in. This method has proved efficient for me. but not everyone works the same way. and I respect that.
 
Key is when your mixing, make the mastering engineers job easier by making a great mixdown with plenty of dynamics, plenty of room.

jude77

Sam4246

chuckebaby
mix down to a wav file and then import it back in to sonar.
leave yourself some headroom, I typically leave between -6dB to -9dB.

Got it - do NOT try to get the mix crazy loud so you don't get it distorted during mastering. Now leaving between -6dB to -9dB ---do you mean keep the mix in between those two markers on the Master bus or just minus those amounts from the max level possible?

Also what is the K system?

Here are a couple of links to the K system.  They're well worth your time.  Good luck!!
http://www.meterplugs.com/kmeter
http://forum.cakewalk.com...-Metering-m382352.aspx

Thanks for the links. K-meter looks great, but there are quite a few similar metering options out there. On the ther hand, how good is Perception! Gotta get my hands on that:)
 
http://www.meterplugs.com/perception
 
 

Sidroe
I know it may sound like a weird way to master but when I am working on an album project, I import the tracks I want to master all into the same project, Song 1=track1, Song 2=track 2. This allows me to mute and unmute tracks to compare the overall loudness of the entire project. I then touch up which ones need some love and then I export them all in to a folder where they can be accessed and burned to CD. It takes no time at all and saves all those drink coasters that you end up with trying to get the whole album balanced. This is the quick and dirty way I do it. BTW, all tracks are routed to the Master Bus and the limiter is the last in the chain. Good luck!

Actually, I find this a good idea.  That way all of the tracks will likely sound on the same level for the collection of recordings.  I want to say album, but in this day and age, it is not an album...
 
 

Check out Izotope's mastering guide. 

Everyone's insight and experience has really helped. I have watched what seems like a million tutorials on YouTube and read a ton of articles about mastering. I have all the plugins that come with Sonar Platinum, the plugins that came with my interface (Focusrite Scarlet 18i20), I have the Waves Platinum bundle along with the Waves CLA bundle and a handful of other signature series individual plugins. So, I think I have all the tools I need to start mastering. Seems like using a multband compressor is a must.