Recommendation for Mastering Software?

Ozone 4 still runs, is 64 bit and doesn't really need "support" -- if you are happy with it, stick with it.  If there is something specific you want/need there is no reason to toss Ozone 4, just find a stand alone plugin that does that new thing.  I have Ozone 4, 5, 6, and 7 all installed and working inside Sonar but I still often use other plugins (T-Racks, Waves) depending on things.

What's wrong with Sonar? Also depends what you consider Mastering.

For some it's getting the files ready for finalising to a medium for sale. Eg getting ready for Redbook CD release.

For others mastering is the process of final eq, and dynamics control to maximise levels add meta data etc/

Must agree 100% with Bit - Ozone 7 is a massive improvement over version 5, which I was using - and very little learning curve
Nigel
 

I too enjoy using ik multimedia, especially the EQ 432. I move back and forth with compressors/ limiters depending on the kind of transparency I need or how "chewy" I want the low end to be. After hearing how good the 432 works for overall tone shaping, I have had my eye on their Stealth limiter. They really have a few gems in their lineup.Flavor of the week? Classic Limiter. It's kind of hidden in their classic collection and has a lot of the best of multiband and "old school" response. Anyway, they often have "mega sales"where you can get awhole bunch of good plugs on the cheap. Can't speak to Ozone, but can't say I've ever heard anything but good things, and if you are familiar with their layout, that has to weigh in  considerably in your decision

IK's Stealth is FRIGGIN AMAZING...and THAT'S A KILLER DEAL... I have virtually all their plugs and this is on every mix/the others aren't...
 
Fab's bundles/individuals all have 30 day trials... I find them to be the most visually intuitive, easiest to use, low on cpu... and prestine... widely regarded as top tier everywhere... I have most of them and use them the most.
 
Ozone/suit... Got it... learning it... but FF still has me by a wide margin for most things...
 
A couple hundred others are taking up disk space...

IRC4 is unique. It's similar to a multi-band limiter except that instead of fixed bands like you'd normally find, it scans the entire spectrum for peaks and lowers them via EQ somewhat like a dynamic equalizer before they hit the limiter.
 
It works like a charm. The only downside is that it will noticeably alter your master EQ, and you may be the type who prefers to have full control over that yourself. In my experience, though, it does nothing but good stuff.
 
 

I have not used the Stealth Limiter, so I cannot compare. My understanding is that it's a straightforward limiter, albeit with four algorithms and other features you'd expect from a high-end limiter (e.g. dither, oversampling). 

Yeh, they make a big deal about Stealth's superior ISP detection. I'm skeptical, though. To do "true" peak detection properly is very CPU-intensive and not practical in a real-time processor. In all likelihood they're doing the same thing everybody else does, which is to use 4x or 8x oversampling. it's not going to be 100% accurate but it's close enough and requires far less number-crunching.
 
A proprietary lookahead feature sounds interesting, though. It could actually be doing something like Ozone is: some kind of EQ pre-processing before the limiter.

bitflipper
Yeh, they make a big deal about Stealth's superior ISP detection. I'm skeptical, though. To do "true" peak detection properly is very CPU-intensive and not practical in a real-time processor. In all likelihood they're doing the same thing everybody else does, which is to use 4x or 8x oversampling. it's not going to be 100% accurate but it's close enough and requires far less number-crunching.

 
It is oversampling, not true peaks. You can set it to either off, 4x or 16x in the plugin. It notes which you are using, and notes it as intersample peak detection.
 
That part of it isn't notable, same deal you see in many plugins as you note (I think of the ones I play with only Tone Booster Barricade actually has a lookahead setting). The big deal is the damn thing works like a volume control up to like 9dBish of boost. I dunno how it does it, but it really does seem to just make everything louder, with no changes to sound character. Any others I've tried only were able to do very small boosts, if at all, before either the character of the sound started changing or they started to distort in some way. This thing does distort/sound bad if you push it too hard but you can damn near double the perceived volume and have it sound the same as it did before. Even things like drum transients. Obviously they get reduced but they don't sound reduced, the hits still hit.
 
I figure it is a demonic pact, or gremlins or some such, but whatever, I'm happy :D.

Haven't spent much time with ozone yet... it's sitting there awaiting a crazy song writing spurt and I am having way too much fun with Bohemian/ARK and other goodies... using my existing FF/IK mastering chain that I'm comfortable with...Stealth at 16x OS is a healthy hit to my 6 core intel... It's Intersample Limiting is quite lovely and has me all smiles; worth the cpu at the final stage...

Every limiter in my collection claims "true peak" detection. None of them do it without some small degree of error. None of them exempt you from the need to leave an appropriate amount of headroom to avoid intersample overs. Most significant, none of them can guarantee that you won't get clipping after MP3 encoding.
 
Consequently, it's still best practice to leave adequate headroom regardless of what limiter you use - which makes any vendor's claims of superior ISP detection moot.
 
Now, Ozone does have this cool AAC/MP3 preview feature. What I haven't been able to determine is whether the peak meter can reveal encoder ringing when this feature is engaged. So far I haven't seen any differences in the maximum-peak display when the encoder preview is active, which leads me to suspect the peak meter isn't useful for this. If that's the case, it's a missed opportunity for iZotope. I hope I'm wrong. Anybody tested this?