Mastering EQ and Compression

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

I am new to mastering,so preliminary sorry if some of questions are bit naive
Till recently i didn't realize how important are quality FX on individual track and master bus,trying to do everything with pure magic of sound design
Of course good fx cost money and had to spend few hundred euro for that,but feel very satisfied how pro my mix sound now with few touches.
Main hesitation is how much is too much on master bus and which plugins more advanced users will recommend as best mastering EQ and compressors,what other type of plugins are useful and you are using on your master channel and worth the time and money?
For the moment my master chain is:
1.Bettermaker EQ232D - add sweetness and color
2.bx_2098 EQ - add saturation and clarity
3.elysia alpha master - glue together everything.

What else to add?

[Ploki]

bx_2098 EQ is a bog standard EQ with a run off the mill soft clipper for "THD"

you might think it's the "quality" of FX where it's at but in my opinion, it's being able to make decisions and quality of your monitoring environment.

I'd be 100% more comfortable making a master with only Logic stock plugins in my studio, than with whatever plugins in a studio i'm at first time or a studio with substandard treatment.

When i think of plugin quality i think of predictable behaviour, prompt updates, good support. I don't think all PA plugins are good quality, although elysia alpha is pretty good if i remember correctly. BX2098 is just a standard EQ with a clipper wrapped nicely.

With all that said, plugins I most often use on a master bus, usually in this order:
Voxengo TEOTE / soothe2 (when necessary)
FabFilter Pro Q3
ToneProjects Unisum / u-he presswerk / weiss DS1
TDR VoS Slick EQ / Slick EQ M / Voxengo HarmoniEQ
Voxengo OVC-128
Voxengo Elephant / FabFilter Pro L2

I generally don't use linearphase oversampling where possible (voxengo has that option).

In my opinion, find tools you're comfortable with that can get you results quickly and are predictable and work consistently across different sampling rates. In my opinion in mastering, it's important to strive for proper technical execution, so I generally avoid plugins known to alias. Some engineers don't.

This is my chain after about 30 masters this year, of electronic, trap, pop and some rock music

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Thanks for sharing,i guess i am really newbie,despite sound design experience - till recently didn't put anything, but limiter on master bus, just to avoid volume picks and now i am like in a wonderland how much better is everything when glue parts together properly
How you deal with phase conflicts and better stereo imaging,i have some tricks from sound design prospective ,making things more dynamic and expressive,but the phase issues are still dark matter to me,how to fix them,when start to mix.
Also is it MS compression useful as mastering tool - i am literary as curious child right now,experimenting with everything that can help to improve my final mix:)
Cheers

[imrae]

I am no pro ME but have done a few records for myself and friends.

Width is certainly something to look at: I will lay out all the tracks in a record and compare their stereo content with each other and maybe some references. The goal is to make them sound like they belong together, both in mono and in stereo. Mid-side processing can both solve problems and cause problems in that respect!

My number 1 plugin for mastering sessions is SlickEQ M, because of the gentle "do no harm" curves and a nice workflow for exaggerating or compensating the "sides" contribution of a band.

[kPere]

Great choices, elysia alpha comp is a very very solid one, with amazing clipper - lives on my mixbus as well. Same goes for bettermaker, great touch on low and high end.

Beside that, Tokyo Dawn is a solid recomendation - you cannot go wrong with them. TDR Slick EQ M and Kotelnikov will do everything you might need on your mixbus. Followed by Limiter no 6, you got everything. I wouldn't look further.

Also using blackbox for some saturation, but you can go anywhere your ears lead you to for that.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

from what i am watching in youtube everybody has different approach and ideas how to make things better,so probably will start pay attention on style oriented mastering techniques first,before to make general conclusions .
M/S compression is serious tool i am learning now,but can't say is it better for mixing or mastering or could it be used everywhere...
Anyway thanks for sharing ideas and plugins you using.
Did somebody use and like acustica audio mastering plugins?
I like their free stuff,but plugin alliance have amazing discounts so spend some money there and satisfied with results for now,but read somewhere that acustica audio use their own technology to capture real analog behaviour,so willing to pay little bit more in the future for analog sound in digital environment if it is audible better compared to vst ...?

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Great choices, elysia alpha comp is a very very solid one, with amazing clipper - lives on my mixbus as well. Same goes for bettermaker, great touch on low and high end.

Beside that, Tokyo Dawn is a solid recomendation - you cannot go wrong with them. TDR Slick EQ M and Kotelnikov will do everything you might need on your mixbus. Followed by Limiter no 6, you got everything. I wouldn't look further.

Also using blackbox for some saturation, but you can go anywhere your ears lead you to for that.

I bought entire Tone Empire plugin's collection cause there is/was super discount and their saturation color is what i was looking for - first thougth to buy just Goliat,which is simple and intuitive ,but then try the rest and couldn't resist to that simple intuitive interface and warm sound for such price:)
Their model5000 compressor is usable for color and punch on master bus,but you can't open the sound stage like elysia alpha master.
The Firechild is ok to make the single track more massive,the opto compressor haven't been used yet
The Money ran out on Softube Trnsient ,if there is another discount next year will buy their tape and summit eq...
Till then will learn mastering techniques with what i already have,every month there is free plugins to add via plugin boutique,have huge amount of such,even haven't check many of them yet,some useful fx may pop up,for example WA Dodge pro become my favorite plug for any kind of multifx touch on boring track
Cheers

[DCrown]

I prefer TDR over every PA plugin
Effective, clean and easy to use with
just the right amount of features,
that's what I want in master bus.

[Ploki]

TDR Kotelnikov is also great, didn't specifically mention it because other three get more use, but I'd gladly surrender DS1 for Kotelnikov.
Also Limiter No6 is incredible.
Also crept into a few of my masters, but I prefer singles. I'd probably use the modules more if there were singles

re: MS
is a great tool. but do it gently and carefully else you might f**k up more than you solve.

[plexuss]

My recommendation for a mastering chain is based on what I use myself:

Sound Theory Gullfoss [mastering]
Kirchhoff EQ or FF ProQ3 or DMG Equilibrium
Tone Projects Unisum
[ other processors to colour/tone]
Leapwing CenterOne
Leapwing StageOne
Mathew Lane DrMS
Hugen Monofilter [if needed]
klanghabitat cassiopeia
[Demoing AA Diamond Saturator as a mastering processor - I generally do not like adding too much distortion during mastering but this processor has a lot of control and so far I prefer it to Tone Projects Kelvin for mastering]
IK Tape Machines 80 [456 / 30ips / clean levels ]
DMG Limitless
PA ADPTR MetricAB
PA SPL HawkEye
Youlean Loudness Meter

[Igro]

Not sure why a musician needs to care about mastering. Musician has acces to raw tracks/channels. Musician should care about mixing process. Achieving good quality in that. Mastering is for not well done mixes and that's a different story.

[Erik_Lucas]

Not sure why a musician needs to care about mastering. Musician has acces to raw tracks/channels. Musician should care about mixing process. Achieving good quality in that. Mastering is for not well done mixes and that's a different story.

I agree with this.

[plexuss]

Not sure why a musician needs to care about mastering. Musician has acces to raw tracks/channels. Musician should care about mixing process. Achieving good quality in that. Mastering is for not well done mixes and that's a different story.

Yes that is an option. There are many ways to produce music. Mastering is one of them. Find the workflow that works best for you. Remember however, it may not work for other people and their approach should be considered as well.

[Boy Wonder]

I'm surprised I haven't seen Sonible mentioned in this thread yet. I kinda like smart:limit and smat:comp 2 m'self. Also, I consider Adapt Sculpt a winner. No?

[Fannon]

Not sure why a musician needs to care about mastering. Musician has acces to raw tracks/channels. Musician should care about mixing process. Achieving good quality in that. Mastering is for not well done mixes and that's a different story.

Not really a pro here, but that's roughly how I approach it: I only put a "glue" compressor on master track (usually from beginning) and once I want to export the song, an Ozone with usually just a maximizer to get the right loudness. I try to only activate Ozone when exporting and try to fix anything else in the mix or maybe a master track EQ.
But I'm sure everyone who really knows about mastering will find this primitive and would greatly prefer the rendering without FX on the master bus if they need to do it properly.

Not sure this is the right way, but that's what I puzzled together from hearing various oppinions.