Hey all, Getting around to mastering my first project and am curious as to what you all use for mastering plugins? What gives the music that glisseny sound?

What plugs do you have and what version of sonar do you have... This would really help, because i left my crystal ball at work.
Cj

This is something that's going to be trial and error as what may sound good to one engineer, may sound like crap to another. Just experiment and take notes just don't go overboard processing unless that's the sound you're shooting for

In my experience, the way to go is hardware mastering units, they simply work better than software.
I used to do soft mastering, until I got a TC Electronic Finalizer 96K, it created a small revolution in my studio...
If you haven't tried any hardware mastering units before, I suggest you do that, there really is a difference...

The TC is a really nice piece of hardware. Its on my things to get, but cant affort list.
cj

You can pick one up at eBay for considerably less than in a store, even new ones...
I've bought much of my studio gear from eBay, new, seriously good equipment for just
a fraction of what it would cost in a store.
Just have to be patient and spot the good deals..
You've made a good decision by putting it on your list,
it's a magic wand, I guarantee you it will take your productions
through all the last steps, and then a few more...

Hmmm, just saw a site here in norway that has cut the prices for
the 96 K by almost 50% and the M3000 by almost 25%, selling them out as bundles...
Maybe TC is launching something new, so the prices will be
cut on older equipment??

And just for kicks, I ran a search on eBay, there's one, new in box, for 1600$...

ok not trying to start some forum freak-out but I've found without a doubt by far that lots of mastering tasks- sonics-wise (not automations, edits, etc) is far better done with high quality analog processors. And I think if you search articles from some of the best, most experienced mastering engineers- you'll find they use analog paths lots of times- for their most critical masters.

This is just about the sonics, what I'm saying I've found... not editing...

I'd try some of your finest analog compessors and EQ's and compare that to the sound of your plug-ins- see what you find. There's no magic app (well maybe! haven't found it yet!) but you may be surprised with the musical-ness of the textures of analog devices. Lots of the world's best who have scrutinized the crap out of everything think that's the way to go for them!

So, just a concept-
Ev
www.evanandnature.com

I totaly agree with you evan. I have an outboard dbx compressor that i use for my bass and vocals, and i just experimented with it sending a project out to it, and put my montors and the outputs of the dbx and i got an exellent sound from it. Maybee ill sent it back into sonar and make 2 different mixes and see how much of a difference their is. But im adding another a/d conversion, so i dont know.
Cj

Hi

i have used Tracks-24, and have Ozone right now, they are fine for some fun mastering and quick tweaks. however you will get the best results from true mastering pro's, real ME's

here are a few i knwo of that do great work

Terry Manning, Compass Point Studios
http://www.compasspointstudios.com/

Stever Berson
http://www.totalsonicmastering.com/

Dave Mcnair
http://www.unitymasteringnyc.com/

the usual process is, well for me as just a home guy, to FTP the WAV to them, they master it and you re download it. i think the price from Dave was 100 bucks a song. i think Terry starts around 1500 an album. of course its pretty sweet to have their name on a project, people who have worked with Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Aerosmith etc

Steve Berson also does a wonderful job and is a smaller venue

hope that helps, oh and they all seem to do one free for you so you can hear the difference. it was a pretty big difference in comparison to MY masters

Blues,

When I was at Berklee, they taught us to master a stereo mix with these three effects in order:

1. EQ
2. Multi-band compressor
3. Compressor (mostly for limiting)

You can get a good clean and loud wav or mp3 playing around with these three tools. We used stock sonar plugs and Timeworks plugs (EQ and CompressorX). That is, nothing fancy. Of course, a lot depends on the stereo mix you start with.

Get a good set of monitors (no home stereo speakers, period)

Good luck!