master bus techniques anyone? Im still using boost 11 compressor on my final master bus. Its been a great tool but wondering if theres something new in the updates that im missing, or perhaps a specific tool or preset besides this that's a better ideal limiter for a final master bus. Maybe someone has the izotope elements mastering plug..? does this come with the new update,  and any reviews?

All I have on my master bus, lately, is Pro-Q 2, just for very minor/subtle tweaks, Pro-L, only to capture any rogue peaks (I use the K12 setting and aim for zero dB +/- 4) and then SPAN, which is for making sure I don't have any major frequency issues going, particularly at the low end.
 
Don't listen to me though, I don't know what I'm doing...

From my experience, Boost11 is too simplistic. I've used it as a quick processor when I didn't care enough to fine tune my mix. Like if I just wanted to make a rough mix to listen to at work that day, run it through B11 and go. It's like using a wide paint brush for expediency instead of a fine brush for detail.

For anything with more value, I'll use an LP multi-band compressor and EQ. If something is still spiking after using those two, I might add a 2nd comopressor with a very high threshold that only touches the spiking peaks.

Voxengo's Elephant limiter and his Curve EQ for digital mastering.

IMO,
nothing on the master buss, 
for mixing,
is the best thing when you are really learning your craft.
 
once you are there,
having a nice 2-bus compressor on the master,
set very lightly, and mixing into it from the beginning of mixing sessions,
will provide a nice 'set' for the entire mix sound.
(this is what i do now.)
 
 
MASTERING:
when I master my own material,
i bounce to 2-track and put that into wavelab and master there.
i use very little,
maybe a 10 band eq,
linear phase,
and a linear phase multiband,
again, set very conservatively,
and then a brickwall limiter (i use L2, and dither with it.)
i tend to master individual files at separate times, and let each stand on it's own merit,
without really matching levels.
i find on my own stuff, i tend to match levels intuitively.
 
 
but if you are mastering in sonar,
you can do the same thing,
but for simplicity,
i'd still suggest bouncing final mix down to 2-track, and exporting that as a 24 bit file....
to bring into a new session of sonar.
a lot of folks will skip this step, and just do it all in the original song file,
but i like to make decisions final, and doing it this way helps me keep control and manage sessions the same across the board.
 
and if you are doing several songs at once,
pull all those into a new sonar file,
and give them their own stereo tracks,
and put your favorite mastering plugins on the sonar master, run thru those,
and bounce down each song to a new stereo file that can then be exported into a 'final' directory for burning to cd.
 
you'll have to have some software program that can burn red-book appropriate files to cd.

ANYTHING will be an improvement over Boost 11. But forget iZotope Elements - one should not master with presets.
 
If you're going to go the third-party route, open your wallet and get Ozone Advanced. Pricey but covers all bases and is nearly impossible to get poor results with. 

Ozone is my go to plug to sweeten and polish the mix a bit.

Am I an Ozone Advanced user, yes.
Could I "master" with the free tools in  SONAR's Pro Channel and the Concrete Limiter, yes.
I'm NOT a Mastering Engineer, but for the work I do (and suspect what the vast majority of us do) it works.
That being said, didn't we get Concrete Limiter very cheap ($79 these days) when it was first released?
There might be equal, maybe better, cheaper tools.
Or just pop for Ozone, you know you want it...
 
T
 

MUCH APPRECIATED. thx guys,, Anymore comments are welcome as this is a never ending adventure.

In general, I use this chain on a stereo mixdown in a new (empty) Sonar project:
 
1) EQ - mostly to HPF below 40hz (on the track itself). This is optional.
2) Waves Linear Multiband (on the track).
3) Track send to a good mastering compressor. This is blended into the Master.
4) Track send to Waves Kramer Tape. Just enough to warm up the track. Blend to taste into the Master.
 
On the Master bus:
5) KClip/GClip (very gently, just enough to lift the mix level).
6) Waves L1 (no more than 3db of gain)
7) Waves L2 (no more than 4.5db of gain)
 
Regards,
Dan