I guess there is a difference in what people mean when they say mastering. Knowing what I know now, buying a great wav editor would be the best place to start. T-Racks and Ozone are both very good at what they do, but if you need crossfades, meta data...and all of that. A wav editor with VST support is the way to go.

Well said!

If you are going for Ozone 6 at $250, you might want to think about stretching it a little to $335, you can get the Izotope Studio Bundle (Also mentioned by metellus above) which includes Ozone 6. Alloy 2 and Alloy 2, Nectar 2 Production Suite, all very useful tools.

jih64
If you are going for Ozone 6 at $250, you might want to think about stretching it a little to $335, you can get the Izotope Studio Bundle (Also mentioned by metellus above) which includes Ozone 6. Alloy 2 and Alloy 2, Nectar 2 Production Suite, all very useful tools.

I would agree with this.... Nectar 2 has an amazing harmonizing feature which is quite good and both easy and fun to use...

I'm relatively new at this and Sonar is packed with stock plugins, but I couldn't get them to bring a final mix close to what I was hearing on professional reference songs or to the professional quality mixes you find here and at other music sites where skilled studio gurus reside.
 
I first picked up the T-RackS Classic suite from IK because it was on sale and I was looking for a less expensive solution.  Some folks use it for mastering.  Those IK plugins are useful, but I still couldn't get the quality I was after.
 
I bought Ozone 5 during this past year after recommendations from those same gurus - to my ears the difference was immediate and immensely better.  Instead of loud and harsh, my mixes became fuller and smoother.
 
I have much to learn, but Ozone makes that process much more fun and a whole lot less frustrating.  If you have the bucks, go for it.  Good luck.

olemon, make sure you get back over to the iZotope site and download a copy of their Ozone Mastering Guide pdf if you haven't done so already. It's an excellent resource, even for those who are not Ozone users. 

bitflipper
olemon, make sure you get back over to the iZotope site and download a copy of their Ozone Mastering Guide pdf if you haven't done so already. It's an excellent resource, even for those who are not Ozone users. 

I do have it, though I haven't studied it like I probably should:(  

Seem interesting, but dongle required..

PlatanoMuse
Seem interesting, but dongle required..

Just had a quick scan through what has been mentioned, The Izotope stuff, Ozone, Alloy 2, Nectar, don't require a dongle, neither does the T Racks stuff or most of the other stuff that has been mentioned. The Slate Digital stuff does require a dongle, iLok2 however, but for me after playing around with it on a friends setup, well, it's ok, but I prefer what I have, am quite happy now with the results I can achieve.

bitflipper
Don't buy the advanced version for the dynamic EQ...buy it for the fun pictures and individual plugins. Or just get the standard edition and snag MDynamicEQ the next time it goes on sale for $42.

Dave, knowing you, that is a really good suggestion, I just checked the Melda website and MDynamicEQ will currently cost us only 41€ here in Europe. I am really want to take up the holiday offer to upgrade from Ozone 5 to 6 right now, but struggling to justify the cost to the advanced version. This sounds like a really smart option to consider, thanks.