Mastering - software plugins & hardware

Hello everyone,

My question is can I apply master compression from a software plugin whilst mixing down on hardware?

I have a mpc1000 running through a Soundcraft 8 channel mixer, with a Alesis 3630 compressor applied to two of the channels (usually drums).

I record the finished product into my Mac via a Focusrite USB interface (using audacity).

I want to be able to master compress my beats during the final mix before I record, but don't want to pay out for another compressor, so I thought I'd use a plugin, but applying master compression AFTER its recorded ends up messing up my final mix, so ideally I need to apply it DURING the final mix.

Is this possible? And are there any particular plugins people can recommend?

Any light shead on this would be much appreciated!

Do you have a mixer software for your audio interface? Some of them allow you to use plugins in the chain while recording.

I recommend ditching Audacity and using REAPER (which offers input fx) instead.