Yeah, guys, I know for sure that if those guys wanted to start doing mastering now, they wouldn't rush out for the Finalizer. It was good at the time. And I think it actually does have a sound of its own. If you already had good mastering skills and wanted to try to find the specific sound Andy gets, yeah you could buy one. Bet hell, if you have the Waves plug-ins now or the TC ones, youre going to have an entire arsenal of options. Its not the Finilizer that you are liking on those recordings, its the actual frequencies picked, and the amount/type of compression, etc.
Plug-ins are more versitle, and you can use them on every track while mixing. Not just a one trick box like the Finalizer.
When I started doing a lot more mastering and decided I wanted to specialize there, I thought I needed the same gear that the pros had. And now that I know what Im doing Im glad I do, but plug-ins these days are amazing.
Do you guys know who Bob Katz is? Phenominal mastering engineer. Now he uses Weiss digital outboard boxes but for years he used plug-ins. I would hear some awesome masters he put out and would ask him what kind of 10,000 dollar eq or comp he used. And he would say "oh, I just used the Waves Q-10 eq and the C1 compressor." That goes to show how its the ears, not the gear.
Colin