Helpful ReplyMastering in Sonar, why not?

The way i master is, after i'm finsh my mixdown, i insert ozone mastering software in the master bus (assume all your audio tracks and aux track is master out and one of your buss is master/your sound card out)
pick a good preset from ozone and work from there, adjust your levels,
make sure your peak around 4db, then click on the ozone mastering.
adjust the levels to around 4db click the bypass on and off to check levels.
I use waves IDR after the ozone for bounce to 16 bit. when you export, do it from the master buss not from the sound card buss.
@ export click on tracks choose busses then choose master, choose 16 bit and you should know the rest.
tell what you think about that.

Hi Ken. Welcome.

I'm assuming you mean peaks at -4.0dBFS. That's a decent mixdown.

Selecting the Entire Mix is the same as selecting your Master Buss. It's all digital and doesn't use your sound card to create an export.

Wave IDR uses a good dither algorithm. I used to use it before SONAR included POW-r 3 dither. No need for a plugin for dither anymore.

Hope this helps.

This was an old post but it irked me enough to write a response anyway.

ORIGINAL: mb

Bob Katz does'nt even recommend Pro Tools (on mega HD systems) for mastering so i think sonar is realy out of the question with it's limited audio engine

Sonar has a better audio engine than ProTools!

ProTools: Everything is 24 bit until the summing buses. Yes, that's right, every TDM plugin in ProTools receives 24 bit audio, does it's thing at 24 or 48 bit and returns 24 bit audio (dithered or not depending on the plugin). RTAS plugins work at 32 bit. If you have several RTAS plugins one after each other, they communicate at 32 bits. The last RTAS plugin in the chain returns 24 bit (dithered or not depending on the plugin). The summing buses are 48 bit.

Sonar: Everything is 64 bit unless you insert a 32 bit plugin then the signal gets truncated to 32 bit for that plugin. So in theory, you can have a fully 64 bit audio path in Sonar. Due to the way native processing works, allot is actually done at 80 bit inside the CPU(s).

Sonar is just fine for mastering processing. (Just use something else for PQ coding).

UnderTow

Sonar 7 seems to be a champion!
It's cool the Mastering plugins Linear Phase, and the possibility to burn CDs natively. All this integration is awesome although I think it is time to improove to the Bob Katz K System -20, -18, -14 metering.
It would be a significant increment
Don't you think so?

LOL, that is awesome. i love it.

ORIGINAL: ohhey

ORIGINAL: attalus

ORIGINAL: Fullmoon

Just to get an idea.....what software(s) (other than Sonar) are my fellow Forum members using to master in? Any compelling differences (advantages) that you can point to, in support your Mastering sofware choice?

Thanks,
David

I use cdarchitect because it does a ton of things that sonar can't do-cd text,isrc coding,redbook burning,the crossfadind but still giving each track its correct number place on cd etc, and i think it does one or two things sound forge does'nt do and thats DAO burning.I don't think it's a good idea to burn your album on to cd's using windows media player or something similar!Mastering programs are more than just used for applying processing effects.

I tend the seperate the mastering and CD layout processes. A mastered song file is an archive just like a master tape would be and is considered "finished". It might or might not go on any one CD or be crossfaded with another song and that is a seperate process then the "mastering".

I think you already know this, Frank, but for the benefit of those who don't, the ISRC codes follow a song no matter what compilations, singles, etc. it eventually ends up on. That is, the ISRC code is supposed to stay with the recording throughout its lifetime.

ORIGINAL: fac
I've demo'ed some multiband compressors (Voxengo Soniformer, Waves C4) but I've failed to see how the could improve my masters.

Multiband comps are tricky to get right on a single-source application. On a two-bus mix... I think you'd better really know what you're doing or like you say you'll likely do more harm then good.

ORIGINAL: dcastle

I can't make a CD image, or a DDP image, I can't edit PQs, I can't edit ISRCs, I can't enter a barcode. SONAR IS NOT A MASTERING APP.

Ah yes! That's the key isn't it.

Does CD Architect do this? Does Pyro? What?

Regards,
David

FWIW, Nero will do this... well, not the barcode but certainly the ISRC and CD text.

Sony CD Architect 5.2 does!

hey guys i linked all my electric guitar tracks on the master bus .. i put elephant on this master bus but when im playing it, i lose sometimes the sound of the guitar for like 1-2 sec and it come back.
same if i use boost11 on bus track .. but if i use it on just 1 track .. all is good .. someone can help me please ?