Recommend decent mastering tools for Cubase

[pescaglini]

As titiled, Im after a decent EQ and Compressor VST to run with Cubase SX3. Can anyone recommend some decent software? Thanks.

[klaukholm]

Sonnox EQ is pretty good IMO.

[MASSIVE Master]

Any sort of budget you're trying to stick with?

Anything in particular you're looking for?

[Kaigen]

In my experience, if you are trying to master your music, I think it's better to hire professional mastering guy. If you want to do something by yourself for some reason, one stop solution like T Racks might help you.

[Mo Facta]

Yeah, don't use Cubase to master. Rather get Wavelab. Or hire a pro. Whatever blows your hair back.

Cheers

[huejahfink]

Originally Posted by Mo Facta

Yeah, don't use Cubase to master. Rather get Wavelab.

May I ask why you feel this way?

[diogo_c]

^^ The "sonic part" can be done on Cubase, Logic, Protools, Sonar, Reaper...but the "disc part" can't be done on Cubase (burning the disc, pq codes, isrc, cd-text, ddp, whatever).

As I'm very confortable editing/automating stuff with Cubase, I'd totally do the "sonics" with it.

Do whatever suits you - "sonic part" on Cubase, "disc part" somewhere else.

[monsieur x]

I would feel very comfortable about getting excellent results with the Sonnox EQ followed by the Sonnox Limiter.

There is myriad other great choices as well though of course!

You will need another program for the final steps of assembling a CD though.

[Tranny-Cap-Tube]

Sonnox eq is great when used at 88.2 or higher. Sonnox Limiter also. Brainworx Bx Digital is a great mastering eq. Very clean with nice m/s features. Wavelab is good.

[huejahfink]

The Oxford limiter is good for masters, but I think that the EQ is much better suited to mixing than mastering. It sounds great for shaping individual instruments but is (for want of better terminology) too 'bunched-up and cloudy' sounding for general use on complete mixes.

You have not mentioned budgets so I will for now assume that they are tight!

I think that the DDMF LP10 is a total no-brainer for a cost-effective buy very capable bread-and-butter mastering EQ. Each band can be switched between phase types and as far as I'm concerned it is not rivalled even by plugins costing many, many times the (unbelievably low) price. I A/Bd the LP10 against the Sonnox "as a mastering EQ" and I thought there was literally no competition. LP10 also comes with a stereo version and a 'true stereo' version which can be run in L / R or M / S modes very easily. Before I bought the Algorithmix I was using this constantly with happy customers. I still do use it from time to time.
It really is so good for the price that you can't afford not to try it, even if you have a reasonable budget.

I haven't used it loads, but the Weldroid Courvoisier seems very capable as a digital mastering compressor, and it is free. It's not so immediately intuitive as the interface takes a bit of getting used to, but I've had some great results with it, especially for subtle mid-level squeezing. The Oxford Dynamics is also pretty good but if you are looking primarily for mastering comps then it won't hurt to check the Weldroid out first!

Team that up with the Voxengo Elephant and you can have yourself a pretty tight and perfectly capable limiter, compression and EQ combo very, very cheaply.

If you need high quality sample-rate conversion then I would use the free version of Voxengo R8Brain. It's loads better than the one that is built into Cubase.

For disc layouts and burning, I use CD Architect by Sony. It's pretty cheap and I have found it very reliable.

[baikonour]

Get yourself 2nd hand UAD-1 cards if you're on a budget (or a UAD-2 Quad if not) and spend some cash on their plugs (mastering series EQ, Limiter, Maximizer and multiband if you feel adventurous) Also the Neve, Pultec, Helios etc plugs are top notch

[antilog]

Originally Posted by diogo_c

^^ The "sonic part" can be done on Cubase, Logic, Protools, Sonar, Reaper...but the "disc part" can't be done on Cubase (burning the disc, pq codes, isrc, cd-text, ddp, whatever).

As I'm very confortable editing/automating stuff with Cubase, I'd totally do the "sonics" with it.

Do whatever suits you - "sonic part" on Cubase, "disc part" somewhere else.

Also I have yet to figure out how to map midi to plugins in Wavelab, which is doable in Cubase, so I am considering shifting the audio processing work to Cubase, and doing the final trimming and CD creation in WaveLab.

[mrlouie]

Originally Posted by Mo Facta

Yeah, don't use Cubase to master. Rather get Wavelab. Or hire a pro. Whatever blows your hair back.

Cheers

Cubase can let you master(work) a certain way that wavelab can't, even the new version of wavelab still cant do this.