Mastering Strip

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Yep, I'm basically asking for a magical do-it-all tool.
I know it doesn't actually exist. But, I am curious if there are any mastering strips (or just a handful of good mastering tools) to help with cleanliness of the track.

While I'm not trying to be a leader of the Loudness War by any means, my tracks often are several db quieter than a lot of tracks (even by artists here on KVR), and I don't think I can push my limiter any more without getting some gnarly pumping. So, what are your recommendations? Any preamps? Channel strips? Limiters? Compressors? Clippers? EQs? all of the above, and then some?

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Depends on your platform. Depends on your music. Depends on your budget, too.
I'm on Windows, so:
Izotope Ozone;
T-Racks, originally designed as a stand-alone mastering tool.

I'm sure there are a bundle of others. Personally, I prefer mixing (no pun intended) and matching.

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My personal gotos are all from Plugin Alliance (currently on sale!)...

Elysia Museq (very heavy on the cpu/asio load);
Elysia Alpha compressor;
bx_XL (limiter/saturator).

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Toontrack EZMix2. You can get some Mastering Packs for it.
Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

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Ayorinde wrote:My personal gotos are all from Plugin Alliance (currently on sale!)...

Elysia Museq (very heavy on the cpu/asio load);
Elysia Alpha compressor;
bx_XL (limiter/saturator).
bx_XL looks pretty damn good from the few bits of stuff I've watched on it. Gonna give it a whirl and see what I think.

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Ozone 6. :tu:
There are some version 5 licenses floating around the Market Place, just get one and upgrade.

I used to have a linear phase EQ, a bus compressor, Barricade, another clipper/maximizer and ultimately SPAN in my chain, that was all I needed. Now that I have Ozone, I see (and hear) what I was missing all this time. Was a bit wary of this "huge price but it can do it all" principle at first, but it delivers. Great metering possibilities, great individual processors and definitely a big step up from the EQ/Comp/Barricade/Maximizer/SPAN approach.
I don't work here, I just feed the trolls.
My sales thread @ Market Place
My website with lots of free stuff:
Sampled drums and instruments | Clipping plugin | Shure SRH840 EQ correction presets | SFZ syntax mode for Coda2

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another happy Ozone guy here - but have found it works best for the final mix down b/c it's a bit of a cpu hog

during tracking and initial mixing; I'll insert a native(LIVE9) channel strip on the master bus, render the tracks and then apply Ozone for a "final" mix
expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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Ozone 6 will do it all. That upgrade was fantastic.

.-.
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Alienware i7 R3 loaded with billions of DAWS and plugins.

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Mister Natural wrote:another happy Ozone guy here - but have found it works best for the final mix down b/c it's a bit of a cpu hog

during tracking and initial mixing; I'll insert a native(LIVE9) channel strip on the master bus, render the tracks and then apply Ozone for a "final" mix
Yeah, my hesitation on it is that I don't really like the idea of bouncing it to an external software. If it does have a VST version, I'd rather just plop that into the master bus.
I'll definitely give it a try. Is there a demo? Or should I go nab a studio for an hour or two to doodle around with their copy? cause...I'm not dropping that money without giving it a try first :lol:

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Ozone 6 comes as a standalone application as well as a plugin, demo available from their website.

The Advanced also comes with its individual processors (EQ, Maximizer, etc.) as single plugins, as well as a Dynamic EQ (integrated + single) and iZotope Insight. Not sure that Insight would be worth the $499 for me on its own, but It's great that it comes with the Advanced bundle because that saves some cash.

Gad, do I sound like a fanboy now. :hihi:
I don't work here, I just feed the trolls.
My sales thread @ Market Place
My website with lots of free stuff:
Sampled drums and instruments | Clipping plugin | Shure SRH840 EQ correction presets | SFZ syntax mode for Coda2

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chokehold wrote:
Gad, do I sound like a fanboy now. :hihi:
I don't blame you. It's a little bit intimidating with the amount it can do, but biting of tiny chunks at a time I'm really impressed at what it can do...it kind of is the "Magical-do-it-all" master plugin I was asking for. Now, now...hear me out. This may sound a little toooooo avant garde....but, Ozone 6 + bx_XL post?

I like what bx_XL does with it's limiting. I've been playing around the past little while with these 2 working in tandem - and sure, it's a little tough to get them to play nice together (right now they are beating up on my CPU rather than each other) but using the more...dynamic preserving methods of the Ozone6 limiter, while using the midlow/midhigh/side limiting of bx_XL - doesn't exactly help make the track LOUDER (I found that no matter how hard I tried, the loudness stayed almost consistent unless I started squashing the track) but what it does do is help give the whole track a somewhat bigger presence overall (which also gives a slight precieved increase in loudness, though measurements show that there isn't.)

...now it's time to preview how badly I f*cked up my track with all these new fangled methods since all I could hear while demoing it in my DAW was stuttering...

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ntom wrote: Yeah, my hesitation on it is that I don't really like the idea of bouncing it to an external software. If it does have a VST version, I'd rather just plop that into the master bus...
exactly : I replace the native channel strip on the master bus with Oz VST and tweak to taste

best of luck
expert only on what it feels like to be me
https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/tracks

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Well if you want an all in one solution it is pretty much Ozone. I've been able to get good results with that...

Running individual plugs on the master bus can give better results though. Once you learn the EQ technique, Compression technique, Saturation technique, Clipping technique, and Limiting technique that works for your music then you will find Ozone may not work as good as individual plugs.

There is so much stuff out there for processing it is crazy now. You can spend days "A" "B"ing stuff and find that your original mix was better. While all the choices seem great they can also be your downfall for actually putting out finalized products.

It's kind of like when I tell my guitar player to just settle on a damn amp and go with it.

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monkeymanx wrote:Well if you want an all in one solution it is pretty much Ozone. I've been able to get good results with that...

Running individual plugs on the master bus can give better results though. Once you learn the EQ technique, Compression technique, Saturation technique, Clipping technique, and Limiting technique that works for your music then you will find Ozone may not work as good as individual plugs.

There is so much stuff out there for processing it is crazy now. You can spend days "A" "B"ing stuff and find that your original mix was better. While all the choices seem great they can also be your downfall for actually putting out finalized products.

It's kind of like when I tell my guitar player to just settle on a damn amp and go with it.
Appreciate, but also I'm aware of this :) Been doing music for a good while now, and my usual excite, eq, clip, limit technique works pretty well for...moooost cases. My most recent project needs a little bit more tweaking into the nitty grittier side of things, and I think, as mentioned above, Ozone and bx_XL give me some pretty neat digging into the grit of the sound.
But, really only time will tell, I suppose. I'm demoing both, and if they don't help as much as I am hoping they will, then maybe I just need to refine my traditional excite, EQ, clip, limit chain. All of that stuff is single band for the most part, so maybe I just need more multiband stuff. Who knows :shrug:

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