[Filthrill]

Originally Posted by Slug1

Don't mean to be a smart ass, but its whatever works for the job. I have several and use them in different ways in different situations. But I do favor certain ones for certain jobs. I love using the Massey L2007 on the two buss of a mix because its so freaking clean sounding. Its there really to catch peaks and just some gentle lifting. I don't like the L2 slam on a mix. The Massey is so not there but just does its thing. Its usually matched up with the Waves API2500 for gentle compression and gentle limiting. Its a nice pair for the mix buss when I'm mixing.

For mastering, I usually have the stereo 2-track in a PT session on my Mac Pro and send that out through my D/A into my analog chain and then capture that through my A/D and into another computer running my mastering DAW at 24/96. On the inputs of the stereo channel that I record to, I have the Flux Pure as a brick wall to make sure that there is no clipping at this recording stage of the analog processed track. FabFilter is another option used here sometimes as well because it has the nice intersample peak control. I think it seems to impart a little bit of sound though, where I can't hear a peep from Flux Pure. But I've used both and they are awesome limiters. Once I have what I think is the best captured version, I will insert a limiter on the master buss of my mastering daw, again only for any gain adjustment and dithering. Sometimes if I want to impart some mojo, I love the PSP Xenon here. I think the L2 is not bad here as well, especially if you're not slamming it, but just having it there for very gentle lifting. If the push was made at the analog stage and most of your gain make up was made at the recording stage, I don't need to push things up on the master buss. But for final bounce, I generally use Ozone limiter here usually in intelligent II mode and dither down to 16/44.

They are all a little different and I've come to think that some have better algorithms for different things. Some have better transient algorithms. Some have better gain algorithms. Some have better dithering algorithms. Some are completely transparent. Some add some mojo. Some have 'analog' modes that work in some cases.

So if I had to pick a favorite for mastering now that I've done some work and sent stuff to clients that they really liked, my vote would be the Ozone 4 limiter for gentle gain lifting, intersample peak control, transparency, and dithering algorithms. I've heard marvelous things about UAD Precision, Voxengo Elephant, and Sonnox. I'm also for some weird reason really interested in the Slate FX-G. It keeps calling me but I haven't pulled the trigger on it.

U sound like a tweakhead like myself. Someone who tries lots of different things & doesn't rule out any possibilities to use whatever works but still have ur favorites. A pretty "sound" (no pun intended) way of working. So just to be clear, u pretty much do analog processing 1st, right? I'm curious, what are some of the analog gear that u use? What type of settings on those? I'd be willing to bet ur mastering sounds really good & on par to the big boys.