mixing/mastering equipment debate!!!

most recording software such as the one i use(cool edit) have compressors,limiters,gates,effects,
reverb,eq, and everything else so that prevents alot of people from buying outboard(or software, ex.waves) equipment for these mixing mastering needs.what do you guys think? i was thinking about buying the tc finalizer but basically what it is is a compressor with eq and faders along with other basic things.im looking to buy a preamp and many come with compressors and stuff which i wouldnt need if i get the tc.now im going to spend like $350 on a mp20 or something and $550 for a used tcfinalizer,it would be around the same price to get the avalon VT-737SP in good used condition and i would be chillen. i could master a song with it right?as long as it has eq and a compressor and such i could master with it and i could use it for the bangin ass preamp it comes with too.


ok this is probably in my budget, coming back into reality... used tc finalizer 500 bucks, new rode ntk 400 bucks, new presonus mp20 for 300 bucks equals... $1200 dollars...doesnt sound bad for an intermidiate mic/mixing/mastering right?i could use cool edit for reverb and effects.
its just that i want it to sound like a commercial track so bad i think the avalon and a c414 could do it along with my dedication and skills.

btw just thinking(lots about this...dont wanna waste my dough on bs),
for those who have used the tc finalizer is it really that good.I know i have read good reviews but id like to hear from you guys, also anyone here tried the dbx 376...that has a preamp,a compressor and an eq so it kills alot of birds with one stone but i dont like the comments some guys and gurls have said about the preamp.i think i read that the compressor kicks ass but the preamp was kinda lame. everything ive read about the mp20 has been positive feedback, i hear that its crisp and dry and that is exactly what im looking for.ill add color if i want color you know! i think i seen a brand new 376 go for 400 on ebay so its not too shabby on the price havent heard much about how good it sounds with the ntk tho.

Mastering is hard as hell. I mastered my first record myself, and it turned out ok, but still pretty shitty compared to what someone who's better than me could have done. There's no magic box that will do it for you.

If I had money burning a hole in my pocket I would spend it on getting as good sound as possible into my recording device of choice, and leave mastering to a mastering house. But that's just me.

Sup homie. I have a 1 bedroom apartment so I don't have ANY outboard gear. My whole setup consists of, Triton classic, ASR10 and MPC2kxl, that's it. EVERYTHING else I do is on PC. 2 cheap karaoke mics back in 1995 that I bought in a 7-11 in Japan (they were in a 2 pack for 9000 yen about $85), Sound Blaster audigy platinum 1, Sound Forge, Vegas Video and MANY different plugins do the job for me as far as recording to pc, multitracking, processing (chopping, eq, filters etc.) mastering then burning. I don't have as many "toys" as other people and I never will cause I'm happy and very content with what I have.

I've read many times in these threads "it's not what you have but what you do with what you have", that right there explains me perfectly. I produce/create/master/burn all my own stuff and have NEVER taken any on my OWN creations to a studio. There's no need for me to do that when I have the knowledge to do it myself.

digital_bastard - "There's no magic box that will do it for you" is VERY true.
Even though MILLIONS of peeps will still search for that box. The box (hardware or software) is real, the settings are yours to tweak.

mastering houses are expensive as well! mastering a whole cd with 16 tracks will run up on you real quick! do a couple of cds and you will save in the long run by learning and buying the equipment, of course i might never be as good a pro but atleast it will sound exactly how i want it to sound. Na but you right you right in many aspects and plus it is time consuming.

but tell me this... you mixdown your songs right?if you do, i dont feel like there is a real big difference between mixing and mastering! mixing is like mastering each SOUND/Instrument and then blending them together properly, and "mastering" is doing that to the whole song without the blending part!, you get me?
so if you mix down your jumpoffs i dont think its that hard to master them.

but if you just make a song and then send out all the individual tracks and let a mastering house mix and master your ish then thats a whole different story but thats respectable too.i dont know, i wanna be in control of my music!! if im making the beats,writing the lyrics,spitting the lyrics,writing the lyrics for the hooks for rnb singers, promoting the cd, and doing everything else why not mix and master everything myself.
if your gonna let someone master for you cuz they are pros why not pay someone to give you a beat cuz they are pros and then you spit and write on your track, and then for that matter pay a pro emcee to spit for you and then pay a promotion team to promote for you. I know im acting stupid but i think if your in control of every single part of your music why should mastering it be any different?


and yo doggie you spit the damn truth and so does that other guy but no matter how hard you try you can never sound like a professional commercial song without some of the equipment, of course skills and experience goes a long way but its just really tuff. i feel like if i use the compressor thats in my cool edit no matter how much i tweak and ish itll never eva be as good as if i tweak really hard on a tc finalizer or another compressor that im thinking bout buying, ya smell me?

oohotcarameloo wrote:but if you just make a song and then send out all the individual tracks and let a mastering house mix and master your ish then thats a whole different story but thats respectable too.i dont know, i wanna be in control of my music!! if im making the beats,writing the lyrics,spitting the lyrics,writing the lyrics for the hooks for rnb singers, promoting the cd, and doing everything else why not mix and master everything myself.
if your gonna let someone master for you cuz they are pros why not pay someone to give you a beat cuz they are pros and then you spit and write on your track, and then for that matter pay a pro emcee to spit for you and then pay a promotion team to promote for you. I know im acting stupid but i think if your in control of every single part of your music why should mastering it be any different?

I think you are mixing up the artistic aspect (writing songs, producing music, and performing) with the technical aspect (mixing and mastering). Granted you as the artist know exactly how you want your stuff mixed and mastered, but you have to be knowledgeable about the terminology and procedures. (I'm not saying that you are not) I personally don't use any outboard gear for mastering/compression w/ the exception of my Bellari RP503 preamps/compressors/EQs on my vocals. This is my process step by step. First I take the beat and track it into my software, depending on my mood it could be Adobe Audition, ACID 4.0, or Nuendo. Second I edit each wave in Sound Forge, if it needs compression this is where I tweek it. Next I lay my vocals down over the instrumental, I start with the hook and then go on to the verses then any intros or outros. Then, I do any dropouts i.e. for the verse I may just have the drums and bassline and one instrument then for the hook I bring everything back in. Once the song has been mixed sufficiently I export it as a wav making sure that the levels do not surpass 0.0 on my meter. I name the wav whatever the name of the song is followed by "raw" (this lets me know that this song has not been mastered yet). After I do this to all of my songs I burn a disc of the raw songs. I take this "raw" disc and import it into Sound Forge for editing. I go through each song to see if it needs any EQing then I normalize the whole project. Lastly I highlight each song one at a time, copy and paste it to a new window, save it as the songs name, and burn it to a disc. Hope that helps you out.

I had a studio owner listen to my CD that was mastered in T racks and he was blown away at how clean it was.

elmacaco wrote:I had a studio owner listen to my CD that was mastered in T racks and he was blown away at how clean it was.

That's what I was getting at. Many of those pro mastering houses use some of the same plugins that we here in the forums might have on our PC's/MAC's, they just have more experience and know how.

T-Racks is hella nice.

yea ive heard lots of good things bout t-racks and waves.Making music is technical too, its not all about being artistic it has lots to do with knowing what your doing.Mastering is an art too. But na ya make sense i think i could mix down my own ish with my own software atleast for now!
i think im just going to buy a compressor, eq,preamp combo strip for the ntk.thanx guys

I have a 737. It's only one channel so it's definitely not for mastering, unless you have 2 of them. It's a dope as preamp with the works. I use it for all my vocals, tracking bass, guitars, all that stuff.

I'm also mastering my beats on pc with cubase/wavelab and I must say I'm really satisfied with my output. And I think if you don't want to make REALLY professional shit you can shurely get away only with software.(Although I'm not saying you can't sound professional with software; hell no!) Nevertheless I'm thinking about copping a hardware tube compressor for mastering, since I'm an analog-head! (I just like to tweak potis and faders and not click around with my mouse) Is there any specific one that someone can recommend? (I'm still going to school so no 2000$ shit...)
PEACE

Yep...

T-RACKS !!!! -- Bang for buck that little beauty..

Once your Audio is on your PC leave it there....!!!! Unless you have very expensive AD-DA convertors and a Tri-lion dollar mixing console you are gonna loose quality going back to hardware realm and add extra his and noise....

I just downloaded a demo version of t-racks. This shit is ill, man!!
I always messed around with a guitar amp plug in (or somethin') in cubase to get that smooth tube sound, but t-racks really pumps up my beats.
This shit will keep me satisfied for a time...
THANX MADNESS

Peace