What equipment I need for mastering albums?

[korpse pop]

Might be kinda stupid thread, but what gear/software etc one does need to do proper masterings? I have never visited a mastering studio. Mixing wise DAW and buch of plugins will do but what about mastering audio? What is typically used? I'm a PC user

 

[Ermz]

If you mean pro mastering, then outboard gear. All the mastering houses I've used have worked almost extensively outside the box, only pulling up a digital plug-in to do really surgical/automated stuff.

The other prerequisite, and I believe the more important one, is the years of experience and ability to hear in very high detail. Also, an attunement to your monitoring environment (ideally 'mastering grade' monitors) so you know how the product will translate.

 

[Black neon bob]

If you mean pro mastering, then outboard gear. All the mastering houses I've used have worked almost extensively outside the box, only pulling up a digital plug-in to do really surgical/automated stuff.

This hardware you speak of.. what be it?

I've been meaning to buy a TC finalizer for a while now, that would certainly do the trick i think.

Anthing else that is pretty standard in bigger studios?

 

[cobhc]

Would be a hardware limiter/compressor/eq etc. Basically pretty much all the plugins you'd stick on a master when you're doing it digitally, but their hardware versions.

 

[Emdprodukt]

The money you invest into the software and outboard gear you need could easily go into the mastering in a professional studio. My advice. As moonlapse said... you really need the experience and just a few plug ins wont do it. You need a treated room for such things and this alone can go into the thousands. Mastering your stuff in a professional masteringstudio isn't that expensive.

the cheapest way would be izotope Ozone used with presets but thats FAR from professional.

 

[Sly]

Yeah outboard mastering is what is found is 90% of pro mastering studios.
Great AD-DA converters, great monitoring environement, great outboard EQ and compression, and EARS !! You can do some home mastering but it will never be as good as a mastering done in a good mastering studio. I used Cutting-Room (Sweden) numerous times and they are amazing for metal

 

[Ermz]

This hardware you speak of.. what be it?

I've been meaning to buy a TC finalizer for a while now, that would certainly do the trick i think.

Anthing else that is pretty standard in bigger studios?

The Finalizer is widely frowned upon, from my experience. I don't quite know why, as I've never delved into its feature set, but I've yet to see one listed amongst any reputable mastering house's gear list, and the folks on gearslutz seem to really have it in for this unit.


The hardware tends to range from high-end AD/DA converters (Prism, Lavry, Mytek, Benchmark etc.) to custom made, high-headroom analogue consoles, to various comp/limiters and EQs. Also let's not forget usually custom-built speakers and a room built for mastering from the foundations up.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Typical chain where I intern:

Waves C4 (2 buss) this isn't always used.
Manley massive passive
Manley Vari-Mu (ALWAYS USED)
TC Finalizer.

Shit always sounds good to me.

 

[LSD-Studio]

1. perfectly tuned ears
2. perfectly tuned room
3. great set of monitors
4 few but good comp/EQ/converter

I'm doing most of the stuff otb ('cept surgical EQ and some multiband (I'm hardly using that at all though)

 

[ArtGarceau]

1. perfectly tuned ears
2. perfectly tuned room
3. great set of monitors
4 few but good comp/EQ/converter

I'm doing most of the stuff otb ('cept surgical EQ and some multiband (I'm hardly using that at all though)

I agree.

Great room -> an amazing pair of ears -> great monitors -> high quality conversion -> good comps/EQs -> mastering software that burns redbook, ddp, and creates the PQ list

It takes experience, understanding the science of audio, and a lot of money.

 

[benversluis]

Read "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz if you're seriously interested in mastering.

That being said, you need a good tuned room with some nice mastering-specific monitors. The few mastering places I've been have all had the Waves MaxxBCL unit, Massive Passive and Vari-Mu as well as a Finalizer. One of them also had a Manley Line-mixer.

 

[HatewerK]

1. perfectly tuned ears
2. perfectly tuned room
3. great set of monitors
4 few but good comp/EQ/converter

I'm doing most of the stuff otb ('cept surgical EQ and some multiband (I'm hardly using that at all though)

Hi dude, I'm currently mixing our 3rd record, and contacted a bunch of italian and foreign mastering studios for... mastering (this was easy). Almost every studio is being so kind to do a proof-of-mastering on one song, so that we can choose the best bang for the buck (the label is not giving us any cash for this stage, damnit )... i was wondering whether you could be interested in giving it a try - let me know!

 

[HatewerK]

I agree.

Great room -> an amazing pair of ears -> great monitors -> high quality conversion -> good comps/EQs -> mastering software that burns redbook, ddp, and creates the PQ list

It takes experience, understanding the science of audio, and a lot of money.

The same above applies to you obviously, if you'd like to! Just let me know too

 

[ArtGarceau]

The same above applies to you obviously, if you'd like to! Just let me know too

I have no problem doing a sample master for you.

 

[Radd]

Does or didn't James Murphy use a TC Finalizer? I thought he did and does some mastering. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[abyssofdreams]

Afaik Andy uses it too, the Finalizer that is.