Home Studio "Quick Mastering" (Hip Hop) question...

[G-3]

Hey guys quick question. Just picked up a second hand Avalon VT-747 as payment for some work done. My question, having not introduced it into my chain yet, and with no plans to insert anything else for now, is... as a "general recommendation" in mixing down rough session masters should I go:

a: DAW ---> 747 ---> T.C. Elec. Finalizer (the old one) ----> CD
or
b: DAW ---> Finalizer ---> 747 -----> CD
or
c: none of the above

Can these two items work well together if used properly, or would the recommendation be to go with one or the other for best results? Again these are "rough masters" to give the artist something nice to listen to after a session. All of the "real mastering" at the end of the project will be farmed out to a professional M.E.

The Music is mostly Hip Hop, and some R&B.

Thanks guys.

G3

[e-cue]

Choice A.

The Finalizer will give you the digital limiting you'll want to get your CD's loud compared to a commercial release.

[G-3]

Thanks for the feedback e-cue.

[genericperson]

if you put the finalizer after the 737 you are going through an extra da-ad conversion.

unless you have a love affair with the finalizer for some reason, you should be able to get those same effects in the daw on the master inserts, and then just run it straight to the 737.

nice "payment" for your work! avalon makes great stuff.

[Jules]

Welcome to August 2005!

[Sirocco]

Welcome to July 2006!

[DeathGripProd.]

I think that pre-mastering is great. I always pre master stuff ITB for clients that come into my studio. It takes me 10 minutes to get something that sounds good with T-racks plugin in PT. That way when a client leaves my studio, they get a cd with a track that is loud but doesnt peak, wont blow out speakers, and sounds good enough to play for people immediately, which should be the goal, to get the music out to the people!

Alot of people will swear by outboard gear, but with T-racks I can pre-master a track in about 5-10 minutes... It amazes some of my clients how fast it can be done. Then after a test listen on some real small cruddy speakers just to double check the mix-master, It gets bounced out and burned. Adding about 15-20 minutes to the end of a session, but totally worth it to the client.

Poppa Pill

[Traxx]

All ima say is...if used correctly honestly, that 747 and good plugs(plus excellent ears) is all you need to master a song and have it sounding professional. My masters sound better than some "professional" mastering house's and ppl don't understand why. First question they ask.."you go to school for this" Others after they found out i did the master... is like "oooh" well this and that could have been better and thats after they were first saying how great it sounded when i said such and such engineer mastered the track. My weapons of choice...Avalon 747 and a few key plug's(which i won't name and its not T-Racks..nothing against that program either) Hope this helps...Great unit man... I wouldn't trade it for anything. Sweet deal for you but that person who paid with that is an idiot....