Usually just Ozone 5. I always toggle Ozone on and off during the tracking and mixing stage. I never leave it on all the time. I have used the Sonitus Multiband comp or Concrete in combo with the usual ProChannel plugs from time to time. Ozone is just easier because everything is in that one plug rather than having to load a bunch of separate plugs that are really eating more CPU or RAM.

Ozone 4: custom tweeked preset

Cakewalk Studioverb2

generally, that's all 

I've grown into the idea of having your mastering plugs in on the master bus in the same session that you mix.  The are just all turned off during the mixing phase.  You have to have the horse power though to do this.

My master bus will have PC so that all of the basic PC Eq and Compressors are there.  My template for the master bus effects bin has a copy of LP64 in it, along with the ToneBoosters Tape Sim.  Last in the chain is the Concrete Limiter and Span.  Again, every thing is off while mixing except just a slight bit of Concrete Limiter.   I usually take a couple days off during the final mix and the home brew mastering to let the ears settle.

For me, I like having everything contained in one session and not having to open another just for the mastering. 

MakeShift


I've grown into the idea of having your mastering plugs in on the master bus in the same session that you mix.  The are just all turned off during the mixing phase.  You have to have the horse power though to do this.

My master bus will have PC so that all of the basic PC Eq and Compressors are there.  My template for the master bus effects bin has a copy of LP64 in it, along with the ToneBoosters Tape Sim.  Last in the chain is the Concrete Limiter and Span.  Again, every thing is off while mixing except just a slight bit of Concrete Limiter.   I usually take a couple days off during the final mix and the home brew mastering to let the ears settle.

For me, I like having everything contained in one session and not having to open another just for the mastering. 

I have done that too mike, I like to contain everything in one project as well. Lately I have been doing something different though. I bounce the entire mix to a single stereo track. Then I master that single track and then export. It works well for me because I also master in 24 bit 48k sample rate. Then the dither is applied after the mastering not the mixing.


When I use Ozone 5 the system usually bogs down. Ozone 5 uses the resources, but it is usually ok to mute or freeze all the other tracks and use Ozone on a single track


I have done mixes the way you describe. The plus side is if you hear something bad in the mix after the master export it makes it easier to go back and fix it. 

As the OP didn't indicate if he was traking, mixing, or mastering, I'll also let him know I'm not a Pro! :) Nothing while tracking; 99% of the time nothing while mixing; Vintage Channel mastering. I have experimented with other things that have become new with the X series of Sonar, but I still just like what the VC can do!

NI ARC System.

I'm pretty much with Jeff on this one, with a slight variation. As there's almost always some degree of limiting during the mastering process, I mix with a light amount of limiting in the master bus. Then, I remove the limiter and export as a clean stereo file. That's the file that I master.

Mastering is more than just getting the track to "sound good" if something's going to be part of an album or collection of songs; there needs to be level-matching, assembly, etc. I also run analysis on tracks, like a goniometer and such, to check for consistency. That's another reason why a separate mastering session is usually a good idea.

Hi Craig,
A goniometer? I'm not familiar with this tools use in audio...I thought it was just a tool for measuring angle...

Dean

A goniometer like this one http://www.uk-music.de/index.php?page=gonio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goniometer_(audio)

http://www.soundonsound.c...es/logic-tech-0311.htm

A Goniometer helps you to judge the coherence of the stereo image. Phase problems  are easily spotted as trace cancellations along the center line. You can still have great stereo but also great mono compatibility and this meter will let you know if that is the case. 

Back to the topic in hand Craig brings up a good reason why not to master too much during the mix process. If you are trying to make a group of tracks coherent for example and you have mastered them already then you might find it harder to have to go back and change the EQ on one of the tracks in order to bring in line with all the others etc. But if you leave all that until last it is much easier to alter individual tracks to bring them line with the others etc..

It is even better with the mastering or Song page in Studio One because all the mastering plugins can be setup for every track and then you can actually go in and change any of them to suit at any time.