Need a best mastering plugin

[imrae]

"What's the best plugin for playing guitar?" "What's the best plugin to get a #1 single?" "What's the best program for making money on the stock market?"

These are questions that arguably have correct answers, but it doesn't seem like a great idea to give them. Mastering is hard; not getting the results you want does not necessarily mean you have the wrong plugins. But Slick EQ M makes it a more pleasant experience

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I'm so unbelievably sick of the mentality of "If you don't know how to do X, you shouldn't try to do Y in the first place."

As with many things that are said, context and delivery are EVERYTHING! An example: The oft-used "If you don't know why you need something, you probably don't need it." can be delivered in a sneering condescending manner, which only serves to alienate the person asking for advice, or, delivered in the right 'tone' it is sage, valuable advice that many of us end up wishing we'd heeded the first five times we heard it

After many years at this (not that my results show it), I've now reverted to pretty much doing all my eq'ing, compression, and some other tasks with Logic stock plugins. I'm not saying they are better than other plugs I have bought/tried. I'm saying that in most cases I can't hear a difference.

So! I'm the guy who now doesn't know why he 'needs' certain plugins, is no longer looking for that 'one thing', and wishes he'd never bought into the hype. Like I said, the issue is not the advice.

[zenophilix]

I'm so unbelievably sick of the mentality of "If you don't know how to do X, you shouldn't try to do Y in the first place."

As with many things that are said, context and delivery are EVERYTHING! An example: The oft-used "If you don't know why you need something, you probably don't need it." can be delivered in a sneering condescending manner, which only serves to alienate the person asking for advice, or, delivered in the right 'tone' it is sage, valuable advice that many of us end up wishing we'd heeded the first five times we heard it

After many years at this (not that my results show it), I've now reverted to pretty much doing all my eq'ing, compression, and some other tasks with Logic stock plugins. I'm not saying they are better than other plugs I have bought/tried. I'm saying that in most cases I can't hear a difference.

So! I'm the guy who now doesn't know why he 'needs' certain plugins, is no longer looking for that 'one thing', and wishes he'd never bought into the hype. Like I said, the issue is not the advice.

Fair enough. I'm more focusing on the the "sneering condescending manner," as you put it. The type of people who assume that everyone should know as much as them.

[heavymetalmixer]

Ozone obviously but also T-Racks One.
But if you're looking for cheaper or free options you should just go download Tokyo Dawns free pack and chain the Slick EQ into the Limiter No.6 which is all you really need.
If you want some more color PluginBoutique got a sale on BeatSkillz Slam Dawg for $10 which I'm demoing and am enjoying for extra juice on the track.

Gotta agree with you, but I would change Limiter No. 6 with Loudmax, given that Limiter No. 6 isn't exactly transparent.

[sleepcircle]

You're kidding. I use Limiter No. 6 all the time and it's VERY tran--

oh.

you mean the original one, not the Tokyo Dawn Labs remake, right?

[ATS]

I use more than one plugin, recently I started using fab filter multiband and I love it!

[heavymetalmixer]

You're kidding. I use Limiter No. 6 all the time and it's VERY tran--

oh.

you mean the original one, not the Tokyo Dawn Labs remake, right?

Yeah, the old one. I use only free plugins (at least for now), so the best choice for me is Loudmax. Also, it gets frequently updated and improved.

[ATN69]

For mastering I sometimes use Ozone 8 adv. I run it outside the DAW (Stand alone) and load up the file in Ozone. My computer and CPU is not the fastest on the market but it's pretty good. Forget about running Ozone 8 within the DAW. It will kill the CPU if you have a decent sized project. If you use this approach there is no need to get the Ozone 8 adv. Standard Ozone will do.

If I want to master my track within the DAW I normally use FAB filter plugs. I have most of them. The 4 commonly used are L2, Q2, Saturn and their multiband compressor. The nice thing with L2 is that it has a good metering built in. These are way more CPU friendly compared to Ozone. Still the CPU usage goes up as long as you have GUI open. When you close the GUI the CPU usage normally drops to reasonable levels.

I used and still use Limiter no 6 occasionally. It's a really nice plugin and it's free. It is especially good to tame peaks and transients because it's fast. There is a compressor, limiters, clipper, etc, built in.

[sleepcircle]

loudmax is very good, although it doesn't necessarily offer the same control as the old limiter no. 6
what you COULD do is use the compression and multi-band segments of limiter no. 6, but NOT use the limiter part, and use loudmax for the final stage.

[ATS]

if you really want to learn to master do it and don't make the volume any different (and compare to the original). Practice like that. Slapping a limiter on something is not mastering.

[heavymetalmixer]

if you really want to learn to master do it and don't make the volume any different (and compare to the original). Practice like that. Slapping a limiter on something is not mastering.

And don't forget that mastering is about improving the song and the mix. If after volume matching before and after the plugins you don't hear improvements (or it sounds even worse), then you must change something.

[tapiodmitriyevich]

Well, if we talk about EQs, Limiters, Compressors, Tokyo Dawn is for sure a good option. Also watch out for vladg blog where his original stuff is. Klanghelm is also nice.
@OP, please don't remove all the dynamics and don't create an annoying perma ear troubling noise. Dynamics in a track are not a bad thing and music customers have that revolutionary technique at hand today: In order to make the track louder they have a thing called "volume knob". This is not known by music producers, it's quite awesome actually.

[Elektronisch]

I think the guy means he needs not the best mastering plugin (because there can be used different types of plugins) but best Maximiser plugin and actually DAWs stock limiter can be lacking there.

You can get not bad results with Maximus but it requires alot of work and you have to do alot of compromises to match todays music (electronic dance music) loudness levels. But Maximus can be a pretty good tool to use as a multiband limiter on a master for bass to avoid the distortion during bass key changes.

A maximiser i would recommend is IK Multimedia Stealth Limiter. It works very well for me. Especially on well made mixes.

[mutantdog]

For versatile and transparent processing I'd go Tokyo Dawn all the way.

If you want a bit more overall dirt then Klanghelm SDRR2 in desk mode works a treat in moderation. I'm also a big fan of Plugin Alliance Karakter on the master bus too, again though use in moderation.

And while we're at it, download the free Youlean Loudness Meter, it's a great visualisation tool and a good way to compare your track against others.

[Rocky Sri]

Ozone obviously but also T-Racks One.
But if you're looking for cheaper or free options you should just go download Tokyo Dawns free pack and chain the Slick EQ into the Limiter No.6 which is all you really need.
If you want some more color PluginBoutique got a sale on BeatSkillz Slam Dawg for $10 which I'm demoing and am enjoying for extra juice on the track.

Thankyou so much for your suggestion