UAD Precision Mastering bundle & Mastering Programs (Mac)

[rich robinson]

Hey Guys,

Can anyone give any advice on plug-in and software options… I’ll try and explain my situation as best I can without rambling…

I frequently record bands in local studios and take the sessions away to mix. I’m an Audio Degree Student and don’t claim to know all there is… I’m a learnin’ as I go!

What happens is we track in a commercial studio to make use of the live spaces, mics and pres…. Then once the tracking/DIing is done… we take the session away and I mix entirely in PT (002-Mac) at my humble little home studio. I often re-amp the bass and guitar parts to save studio time. otherwise I work almost entirely in software and mastering is pretty much done myself as the bands can’t afford to send it to a PRO or SEMI-PRO mastering engineer.

The reality is that I do all the ‘pre-mastering’ on the master bus as I mix. Usually I bounce the mixes without the bus compressor/limiter plug-ins… drag all the mixes into a new PT session and check my EQ/Level balances against the others. I have used Soundforge on PC but I don’t have a PC in my home studio to analyse/process or arrange track orders etc.

My main plug-ins are the standard pro tools EQIII stuff, Vintage Warmer, Joe Meek optical, a Bombfactory 1176 rip-off, and Maxim. Occasionally ill put a mix into logic’s multi-band although its a real hassle jumping back and fourth to ram it between both DAWs.

Due to the rise in projects I am undertaking, I have been looking to expand my mixing & mastering plug-in arsenal and look into a program more suitable for mastering than PT. (Unless anyone has any tips for mastering within PT?)

I have been looking at a number of MEAT & POTATO Plug-in options:

The TC Powercore – seems good.
The Waves SLL Bundle – seems over-rated.
The UAD-1 expert pack (specifically the precision mastering bundle, 1176 and Neve stuff - I've heard about possible latency issues on my system).

Gear:
Mackie HR824s
G5 power mac: (2gHz core-duo 3g ram)
loads of HD space
002 rack + PT LE
Logic Pro
toast titanium 8

What mastering software is available at a reasonable price – that sits comfortably around the price-range of equipment I already own? This would be used for plug-in-processing with the UAD stuff, cross-fades, and analysing the tracks phase, stereo width, RMS levels etc.

Does anybody recommend any other plug-in packages that may help beef up my mixes within pro tools other than the ones mentioned above?

I’m also looking to purchasing Auto-Tune 5 to fix those – near enough perfect (It’s late… that will have to do) vocal takes.

Any recommendations or advice especially on the mastering side would be very handy.

Cheers.

Rich

[Luna Sound]

Hi Rich

It sounds like you already have the software you need. PT and Logic are both very capable stable hosts for your plugin processing. Also if you have Logic then you should also have Waveburner which is good for assembling and burning your cds.
I don't have any latency issues with UAD and Logic. UAD make some good plugins and the price is reasonable. Bear in mind that many (not all) of their plugins such as their 1176 are often more useful when mixing than when mastering.
The powercore can be good but some of its best mastering plugins have to be bought seperately and are expensive.
If you're looking for good plugins then check out a demo of the Sonnox eq.
Check out Medlodyne before buying Autotune.