Mastering is the final step to attaining a professional-sounding recording. It’s the glue that makes a record sound like a record; it creates consistency across an album, and it prepares your music for distribution. If you look inside a world-class mastering studio, you’ll see an array of EQs and compressors and thousands of dollars worth of esoteric hardware. Most of us don’t have thousands of dollars on hand, and many of us (including many top mastering engineers) prefer to work in-the-box. That’s where mastering plug-ins come in. Whether your mixes call for digitally precise sculpting or analog-sounding punch, mastering plug-ins can deliver the radio-ready sound you’re aiming for.
iZotope
Ozone
If you have a conversation about essential mastering plug-ins, one will invariably come up – iZotope’s Ozone. First released in 2001, Ozone is a collection of top-tier software mastering tools. While Ozone was originally devised as a way for home recordists to achieve commercial-sounding recordings, over time it has become a staple in professional mastering studios worldwide. Now at version 7, Ozone employs cutting-edge technology to deliver the sonic texture of vintage analog gear with the exacting control of analog-modeled DSP. An exhaustive preset bank makes it easy to perfect your sound, regardless of genre or your skill level. And if you opt for the advanced version, you get additional controls and features, such as the Vintage Compressor and Vintage Tape Modules, as well as Codec Preview and mastering-grade metering.
RX
Removing unwanted noise is often left to the mastering engineer. That’s where iZotope RX comes in. It has been dubbed the “photo editor of the audio world,” renowned for its ability to magically erase buzz, clicks, hiss, and more with a single mouse gesture. The standard version of RX provides industry-standard audio repair tools aimed both at music producers and post-production engineers. The advanced version adds several powerful post tools, including a module to ensure compliance with loudness standards.
Waves
Grand Masters Collection
Waves is a world leader in audio production plug-ins, and their Grand Masters Collection is a mainstay in professional mastering environments. This indispensable collection includes the venerable L2 and L3 plug-ins – two industry-standard loudness-maximizing tools. You also get linear phase EQ and compression for surgical audio manipulation, analog-modeled devices for sweetening tracks, and comprehensive loudness metering. The Grand Master Bundle delivers stunning transparency, control, and sonic excellence.
Waves SSL 4000 Collection
While it’s not technically a mastering bundle, the Waves SSL 4000 Collection has found its way into many pro mastering studios, thanks to its inclusion of the G-Master Bus Compressor. Based on the hardware compressor of an SSL 4000 G console, this compressor has long been a mastering engineer’s secret weapon for gluing mixes together. When you’ve got your tracks sounding right and they just need that extra bit of magic to tie them together, run them through this compressor plug-in.
IK Multimedia
T-RackS
In 1999, IK Multimedia released T-RackS, the first analog-modeled desktop mastering solution. This all-in-one approach to mastering was a godsend for home-recording musicians, making it possible to add professional polish to tracks that were recorded under less than ideal circumstances. T-RackS Classic builds on the legacy of the fantastic original T-RackS software, giving you convenient and comprehensive metering plus plug-in and standalone operating capability. Deluxe adds five more processors to your arsenal. Grand provides you with an additional 16 processors that you can use as individual plug-ins, as well as a useful metering suite. And if you’re looking for a complete mastering solution, T-RackS MAX offers a comprehensive stockpile of useful plug-ins, many modeled after world-class studio gear.
Lurssen Mastering Console
IK Multimedia’s Lurssen Mastering Console emulates the entire mastering processing chain employed by top mastering engineers Gavin Lurssen and Reuben Cohen. This powerful mastering tool delivers realistic emulations of tube and solid-state equalizers, limiters, de-essers, and compressors. You can choose from 25 mastering templates created by Lurssen and Cohen for specific musical genres, using the same workflow as they do in their mastering studio.
McDSP
ML4000 Native v7
If there’s one tool that a mastering engineer can’t live without, it’s a brickwall limiter. McDSP’s ML4000 does this and more. It’s actually two dynamics processors in one – the ML1 mastering limiter and the ML4 multiband gate, expander, and compressor. Many professional mastering houses have used these robust dynamics engines to provide the power and control to pump up stems and final mixes, giving them that vital “finished” sound.
Sonnox
Oxford Inflator and Oxford Limiter
Cornerstones of the mastering industry for years, the Sonnox Oxford Inflator and Limiter have a unique way of making everything you run through them sound louder and more vibrant. The Oxford Inflator provides an increase in apparent loudness without an obvious loss of quality or reduction of dynamic range, while the Oxford Limiter has won over many a “golden ear” who previously maintained that he or she could “hear digital.” Whether you’re achieving transparent level control or all-out level maximization, these two plug-ins from Sonnox deliver the goods.
FabFilter
Mastering Bundle
Another suite of plug-ins that has become incredibly popular in the pro mastering community is FabFilter’s Mastering Bundle. This collection features FabFilter’s Pro-Q, Pro-MB, Pro-L, and Pro-C – all of which can be found in the plug-in folders of many top mastering engineers. What makes these plug-ins essential (besides their killer sound) is that they play well both with each other and with the other plug-ins in your mastering arsenal.
“Essential” is a subjective term. A tool that’s indispensable to one engineer might not be to another. That’s why, in addition to the incredible-sounding plug-ins covered above, Sweetwater also stocks powerful software solutions from Flux, Slate Digital, Brainworx, Softube, and more. So what mastering plug-ins are you going to add to your bag of tricks? Call a Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700, and discover the tools that will elevate your recordings to the next level.
