Mastering on a budget - FMR RNC?

[danbronson]

At it's pricepoint, is the FMR RNC a usable tool for mastering? Typically I go compressor -> clean EQ -> multiband compressor (if necessary) -> limiter. But it's all ITB and I'd like to get into outboard gear. Could I likely get good results by replacing that first compressor plugin with an RNC? Is there something at this price that's better (that would be good in mixing as well), or should I just use plugins and save my money for something better?

I'm doing this as a personal hobby, so please don't jump in with "just send it to a mastering facility".

Thanks for any responses!

[Doc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by danbronson

At it's pricepoint, is the FMR RNC a usable tool for mastering? Typically I go compressor -> clean EQ -> multiband compressor (if necessary) -> limiter. But it's all ITB and I'd like to get into outboard gear. Could I likely get good results by replacing that first compressor plugin with an RNC? Is there something at this price that's better (that would be good in mixing as well), or should I just use plugins and save my money for something better?

I'm doing this as a personal hobby, so please don't jump in with "just send it to a mastering facility".

Thanks for any responses!

Its not my first choice, but it might work for you. Its definitely better sounding than most digital compressors I have heard. However, I would save a bit more and go for something a bit better suited for dense program material, like the Drawmer 1968, or the Dramastic Obsidian, or the TK Audio BC-1, the Roll 755, or.............the multitude of other righteous buss compressors out there.

[skiltrip]

It's generally considered best to stay In-the-box unless you have really really good AD/DA conversion. An unnecessary trip out of the box thru DA and back into the box thru AD is going to degrade your signal (unless, again, you have top notch AD/DA, but you did say you do this for a hobby, so I'd think that wouldn't be the case).

I'd definitely stay in the box and use plugins. There are plenty of plugins that exceed the performance of an RNC especially for mastering purposes.

[Bob Yordan]

I have 2 FMR RNC in my mixing room and I hardly never used them in mixing. I prefer the benfit of total recall with VST compressor compared to the minor difference using a FMR RNC.

So I put one on the master L&R from a submixer for my external synths.

The other one can be accessed when routing the signal to 2 input channels on a summing mixer (Vintage Design SU1).

[ONDRAY]

I have both the RNC and the RNLA and use them for mixing, NOT mastering. If you want to try it out it won't hurt, I have. I found that the RNC really doesn't add any points and take away from the low end. The RNLA however was a little funner to experiement with, it has a quick release which was nice to test master with and didn't suck the low end out of the mix. Either way though I wouldn't use either for mastering, not worth the D/A - A/D trip.

Keep using plugs if you're not ready to spend some good coin on converters and analog gear. Also keep in mind the ANALOG sound isn't from a singe hardware compressor, it's from the whole signal chain. So one piece of kit isn't gonna make a big difference.