I do the very best mix I can, then put some light compression on the master bus. That's it. I've never understood the concept of 'mastering' a single tune. If it's a collection of tunes intended to be heard together, different kettle o' fish.

I try to keep the track at a decent volume in windows medial player since many listeners use it as their main player. Uploads to Soundcloud  end up 128 mp3 into WMP or the Mac equivalent. 
 
If I have a decent mix then I look at ways to get it to threshold for the genre. That means looking at the standards and getting the track in that ballpark.  I could make it so loud it would blow your ears off. I don't want that. I want good and natural listening levels. I'm not mixing EDM either :) At least not today.

jamesg1213
I do the very best mix I can, then put some light compression on the master bus. That's it. I've never understood the concept of 'mastering' a single tune. If it's a collection of tunes intended to be heard together, different kettle o' fish.

I do "mastering" only in the sense that I put nothing on the master bus until my mix is done. Then I create a new project and "final polish" the "final" mixdown. This is where I'll do things like add saturation, parallel compression and minimal EQ tilts/shifts when I'm listening on other systems and feel that a small EQ change will help a track translate better. If there are issues I hear with an instrument, or levels of tracks, I go back to the original project, tweak and export again. Keeping the two projects separate allows me to separate overall mix changes from individual track changes.
 
Dan

dcumpian
 
 
This is where I'll do things like add saturation, parallel compression and minimal EQ tilts/shifts

Isn't that still 'mixing' though Dan? Curious about your mention of parallel compression, how would you apply that in a mastering sense to a stereo mix?
 
 

jamesg1213

dcumpian
 
 
This is where I'll do things like add saturation, parallel compression and minimal EQ tilts/shifts

Isn't that still 'mixing' though Dan? Curious about your mention of parallel compression, how would you apply that in a mastering sense to a stereo mix?

Technically, it is still mixing, but the processes I'm applying at this stage apply to the mix as whole.
 
I'll run a send to a compressor on a bus. I usually have a compressor bus and saturation bus, with sends on the only track in the project. I use the bus faders to adjust the "blend".
 
Dan

I have learned over the years it not about what you have for mastering tools.
Sure everyone could use a good limiter and a good multi band EQ but the most important thing of all is starting off with a good recorded mix down.
 
As long as that mix down is good (level wise and sonically good) you can use a potato and more often than not its going to sound good.
 
Once upon a time I tried to do too much in the mixing stages. It shouldn't be like that.
Your one job is to increase the level by squeezing the dynamics. Sometimes this brings out other elemenets, hence the reason for a good MB EQ.
 
Think simple, Keep it simple.

Also checking your mix in mono will identify any clarity issues before and after effects are added to your mix. I'm not into throwing on effects these days by keeping things much more simpler even my grandma could understand it....sort of.

I use both Sonar and Wavelab for Mastering, but mostly Wavelab if I need to export to various formats where the Metadata is important. Wavelab also has a very nice metering suite. With that said, I'll Master in Sonar sometimes because I have 3rd-party metering plug-ins that work very well, and it's easy to go back and re-tweak the mix if I need to. Global Freeze is worthwhile to save some CPU time. If I'm mixing the session as well, I will work in both realms (which is ostensibly blasphemy to most Mastering engineers).

Chuckebaby makes a great point. When mixing, don't even consider Mastering. Just get the best mix you can possibly get, and worry about Mastering later. So, I mix my sessions without Mastering on the fly. However, I may drop in some routine Mastering chain plug-ins into the Master buss where I can enable/disable them to see if there's anything in the mix that may have adverse effects on the future master. But I only use that chain typically to burn a fast demo for an artist, along with the regular mix. I always end up Mastering later with better results. So, this sets a good level of expectation.

As far as plugins in the Mastering chain that I use, they're mostly 3rd-party, but careful use of the built-in plug-ins can garner you a pretty darn good Master. The newest Multi-band EQ and Compressors offered by CW are great for these. The 4K compressor is wonderful on the Mastering buss. Careful use of that is phenomenal on drums.

I posted my approach here a few weeks ago.

I use a multi-band compressor, then a stereo expander, then a limiter. The extra bit part is in what is put in the song in the first place; if one has good tracks they will shine.
 
No "process" can help a repetitive loop shine, but other solo instruments and embellishments that break up the monotony can. Changes in the right places can keep a mix fresh even if it is a poor or simplistic recording method; musicianship is vital.
 
Interesting dynamic sounds and subtle textures that build and evolve.
 
Mastering is simply putting the existing tracks in focus.