Mastering????

i use a program called t-racks...you just import your final bounced wav. from pro tools into the program and mess with things...its got a compressor, limiter, and EQ and some other cool things on it... i haven't done much on it(only mastered 3 tracks). Its really an aquired skill, as my mastered wav.'s generally sound worse than my original version. However, the program is quite easy to use and a lot of people i've spoken to have recommended it(thats why i got it). The thing i noticed about the mastering process is that everything is relative, so by boosting the overall volume certain other aspects are effected. Its a pain in the ass.

I agree it is a pain and one of those things that is very touch and go if your a amatuer. I would love to sit in on a mastering session and find out what all those tube compressors, fancy eq's and stuff do to the original mix down from the studio. I am sure that t-racks does a good job (i've only used the demo which puts a beep every 5 seconds in your .wav but it does seem to add that fat and loud sound that a normal pro cd has. If there is an expert out there please help us???? dooni

By today's standard, mastering is a process that used compression, EQ, and Limiting to clean, tighten, smoothen, fatten, etc. a 2 track mix. Usually, mastering is just a subtle icing on the cake' move. Making sure each song on an album is the same volume and same tonal balance is an important part of mastering. You can easily master in PT, and the waves stuff is used all over professional mastering houses. I have used T-racks, and it sounds good. A lot of people like the renniassance comp/eq with the L1 ultramaximizer. Another popular one is the TC finalizer, and other really expensive tube gear. Monitoring is very very very critical in mastering, and a lot of houses have pairs after pairs of any kind of speaker you can think of. It is worth it to have your mixes professionaly mastered.