I am considering purchasing either the Waves C4 Multiband Compressor, Sonalksis DQ1 or iZotope Ozone to add to the plugin collection here here for polishing up my tracks. Can someone who is familar with these comment on which is best or add any recommendations? Thanks in advance for any recommendations on either of these plugs or something better suited for polishing up a final mix.
Jimmy
Mastering Effect Recommendations
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- KVRist
- 138 posts since 1 Oct, 2004 from Atlanta, GA
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- KVRist
- 290 posts since 25 Dec, 2003 from Bay Area, CA, USA
The Sonalksis CQ1 and DQ1 are great. I would recommend you check out Voxengo's Soniformer, HarmoniEQ, and Elephant Limiter. These are some of the best plugins out there, and all can be bought for $200.
Soniformer is an amazing multiband tool, but it does not follow the concept of something like Waves C4. It uses 32 linked bands, spectral analysis, stereo widening, is easy to tune, and has a very functional and quick GUI. To me, it also sounds better than the C4, but both of these tools take very different approaches to multiband compression. The DQ1 sounds very smooth and the dynamic nature of the filters can add life to material, but overall I prefer the sound of HarmoniEQ. It sounds like no other plugin EQ I have heard, and is great for boosting the "air" frequencies (even up to and beyond 25Khz). Elephant is one of the best limiters on the VST market and offeres a lot of modes to suit different material as well as oversampling and nice meters.
To add something extra, you might like the AnalogFlux suite, which has the great TapeBus plugin. This thing can add a nice gelled polished sound to final mixes. It really increases the density of the audio in a pleasing way and can be driven harder to get an aggressive sound. The Ozone suite also has saturation, but I think TapeBus is the best plugin for adding glue to a mix. Voxengo updates all their products fairly frequently and the developer is always open to suggestions, making his plugins a good investment.
Sorry if I sound like a Voxengo salseman, but these would be my top choices for mastering tools in the native VST format. You might also look into a single-band mastering compressor like Voxengo's Polysquasher or the Sonalksis SV-315.
Soniformer is an amazing multiband tool, but it does not follow the concept of something like Waves C4. It uses 32 linked bands, spectral analysis, stereo widening, is easy to tune, and has a very functional and quick GUI. To me, it also sounds better than the C4, but both of these tools take very different approaches to multiband compression. The DQ1 sounds very smooth and the dynamic nature of the filters can add life to material, but overall I prefer the sound of HarmoniEQ. It sounds like no other plugin EQ I have heard, and is great for boosting the "air" frequencies (even up to and beyond 25Khz). Elephant is one of the best limiters on the VST market and offeres a lot of modes to suit different material as well as oversampling and nice meters.
To add something extra, you might like the AnalogFlux suite, which has the great TapeBus plugin. This thing can add a nice gelled polished sound to final mixes. It really increases the density of the audio in a pleasing way and can be driven harder to get an aggressive sound. The Ozone suite also has saturation, but I think TapeBus is the best plugin for adding glue to a mix. Voxengo updates all their products fairly frequently and the developer is always open to suggestions, making his plugins a good investment.
Sorry if I sound like a Voxengo salseman, but these would be my top choices for mastering tools in the native VST format. You might also look into a single-band mastering compressor like Voxengo's Polysquasher or the Sonalksis SV-315.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 138 posts since 1 Oct, 2004 from Atlanta, GA
brianbrian, thanks much. What you say is very informative and useful here. I have almost all of the Voxengo products and always use some of them in all of my new mixes here. I totally agree with what you mention as their plugins are about as good as they come and they are very affordable...I would recommend Voxengo to everybody here also...I also like to use alot of other plugs from other manufacturers to mix it up a bit and have quite a many here in the toolbox...I tried the demo products of the ones that I inquired about and could not make up my mind as to which one would work best...I liked something about each one but think the Ozone beats them out...Sure wish the Waves C4 did not cost so much but I also notice it is 48 bit processing where the other two are 64...that to me leaves Waves out of the picture...anyway thanks agian for the reply! I just did a remix of a song for my wife tonight using Ozone ( i broke down tonight o bought this one!! grrrr) and Voxengo plugins...the song is called "Fly Away" and is at www.soundclick.com on the artist page for Valerie Lynn.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 138 posts since 1 Oct, 2004 from Atlanta, GA
just listened to my mix for the song "Fly Away" that I mention above and wanted to comment that after listening with refreshed ears..LOL.(long day today mixing)...the main vocal has abit too much sparkle, for a better word, to it...i used Voxengo HarmoniEQ on it and it is brilliant!!! I just over did it abit.HarmoniEQ is the best sounding eq I have ever used here.