New to Mastering? Get this software!! 
by Steve Austin from Conway, Arkansas USA, May 2008
Music Background:  Semi Pro Drummer, fledgling composer and engineer

I needed software to add the final touches to my recordings(i use a Fostex VF160). This software is INCREDIBLY Easy to use, as it emulates analog equipment in look, use, and sound. The presets which come already loaded are great guidlines for a beginner, i've been able to find a preset that puts me in the ballpark on everything i've processed thus far (plus you can save your own settings after you've tweaked the presets).Â_Not only was it great for adding the icing to the cake from my VF160 recordings (i judged the results againt professional recordings by Kansas, Yes, and U.K, and they stood up well), Just for giggles i dug out some cassettes of jam sessions i had with various friends back in the mid-eighties. These recordings were either made on a boom box condensor, or a cheap Radio Shack stereo condensor, (i don't remeber which for sure)not to mention they were 20 plus years old, but at any rate they weren't very "listenable", (no bottom end, overbearing boxy mids and tinny ear piercing highs). I imported them to digital format using Audacity and added a little reverb, then threw them to T-Racks,selected the brick-wall preset, rolled off the lows from 40 Hz down to kill the rattles,boosted everything from 40 to about 800 Hz to add bottom, cut everything from the middle of the spectrum for a bit for clarity and to reduce the BOXEY sound, used the hi-mid with narrow bandwidth setting to kill an annoying hum at about 17K, and rolled off the rest of the highs significantly. Everything else (compressor, limiter and output)i left at the preset settings, just torqued the enhancer to widen the field and monkeyed with the saturation a bit to fatten it some. The results ain't gonna win no grammys (after all, it WAS recorded with a boom box), but now these recordings would be usable as demos, and are quite easy to listen to. Etreamly Clean highs, warm, unobtrusive mids and fat bottom. Point being, if T-Racks works this well in a restoration type application, i have no doubt that when applied to my VF160 tracks, I'm gonna be able to put out a CD that will fool everyone but perhaps the most well trained ears (and perhaps even some of those will be fooled as well!!!)If you're a novice to mastering, this is your software. It is and will remain my mastering software of choice for some time to come.Â_Â_Â_

Write Your Own Review!
We all love gear, and we all love talking about gear with our friends and bandmates. Why not share your thoughts with the hundreds of thousands of customers who regularly visit Sweetwater.com? Write your own customer review on this product! To begin, just Click Here!