gullfoss eq.
That plugin is such a cheat code

 

The bettermakerEQ seems to be a modern Push/Pull EQ like/based on, Pullteq eq's

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2020

I can't say this either, I've no clue which one is the best, but alpha, as a plugin, is for sure a nice one.

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2020

I like Roger Foote's P4S ME for as a wide range color compressor and the P3S ME as a wide range utility box that can do clean to light dirt. I am not sure there is such thing as a perfect 'Mastering' compressor. Different horses for different courses, compressor output really depends what you are feeding it and if it is capable of giving you what you want. If you are not interested in color, there is a plethora of perfectly clean digital compressors and equalizers that will give you just that.

I think the bests we can all do in such a scenario is find what works for each of us and what we like to use and get the best out of our choices.

 

Automatic Dynamic EQ:
Gullfoss & Soothe2

Static EQ:
Brainworx digital v3 for M/S EQ
MMAT thEQrange for surgical EQ
Weiss EQ also.
Plugin Alliance AMEK EQ200 - so good.

Compressor:
Acustica Audio absolutely.
Weiss DS1
Unisum
Plugin Alliance eylsia Alpha
SPL IRON (the beast!!)
Vertigo VSC-3 (Vertigo Official plugin)

 

For sure the best are not the ""feed me and I´ll do the job" AI like consumerist rubbish, think Gulfoss, Soothe and TBpro DSEQ. In my master there´s always Ozone (5), it has all the Eq+Comp that I need. Good luck.

 

Mastering compressor ITB... check this out: https://www.sonorissoftware.com/product/mastering-compressor/ To me is very transparent in the same ballpark as TDR first itteration of Kotelnicov: TDR Feedback Compressor II.

 

Ok i might sound like complete noob but tbh i am quit digging the TC Electronics Finalizer. Damn it sounds nice with just few clicks.

 

Depend on the material imo!
Every plugin (lest's say hardware emulations) has a sweet spot, some of them are clean and some come's with harmonic distortions! so you should to know spec of them!
I usually don't go with 1 eq, i use different eq's for different band,
For example:
-Alexb SoundTec 432 Vintage Parametric Disk Master eQ has nice sweet spot on high frequency to my ear!
-AA Purple for low frq
-Ely X Qualizer love it! it's aggressive and to much color and character, I recommend you to try the High pass filter ;)
Alexb Stuff are very good!
-I like those specific frequencies on AA Erin, (Erin is amazing, even the comp work's great)
-I heard a lot of good things about AA Pensado but i didn't tried it yet,
-UA massive passive
- Alexb GM9GE



AA El Rey (Be careful of hd and low bump, so massive this one!) If you try to bypass the plugin (from on/off button) and just pass the signal through it, you still can hear the color!
AA Ivory (i love it)
AA Magenta (Mu spot)
PA Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Class A (Glue, Color, Go parallel for transient)
UA Fairchild (color and attack)
UA SSL 4kG (Glue)
Brainworx bx_townhouse Buss Compressor (Glue)
Tape's (I definitely prefer UA tapes) works great comp job sometimes!

I'm sure that I forgot to mention other great stuff, apologies about that guys!
There are definitely more cool stuff but i have to say that might one of them works great on a track but it doesn't work that good on another track(it is really depend on mix and materials)

Blessings,


Edited: I forgot about Softube Weiss DS1 MK3 which is amazing too!

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2020

There are no such things.

 

plugins that arent "designed for mastering" can be just the right thing you need if the situation calls for it

there is no best cause every track needs a different treatment, there are so many tools i'd have a hard time listing them all

t-racks master eq 432, t-racks stealth limiter maag eq4, acoustica plugins, ff pro-mb and q3, waves linmb, ozone, elysia alpha comp, bx_refinement, all the pultec emulations, ssl bus emulations......

 

When it's all about mastering stage, there is few eq for add character. 'Cause mastering is all about adding character and loudness within the certain rules ofc. In my humble opinion best eq's for mastering are:

1-) Pultec OFC!
2-) Manley Massive Passive
3-) MAAG
4-)Bx_V3 for mid side etc.
5-) Actually any type of analog emulated or real analog eq why am i listing all of that?

About compressors, any bus compressor will work. SSL-G bus, Api 2500, Vertigo, Bx_townhouse bus compressor and ofc elysia alpha master compressor.

End of topic any type of plugin/gear will work depend your imagination.

 

Because they have different characters and color and most important different curve

 

Jizz Christ, I use Marquis and Deft for colouring tracks [so I agree No Avenger]... Mastering is all about transparency, to leave the mix sounding as good [or bad - just kidding] as it sounds, and to try to either make it sound a tiny bit better, or to make it sound closer to other songs if what's being mastered is an album or EP, or a compilation of different bands [this one is the hardest].

In my experience, all you need for mastering is a transparent linear phase EQ, a transparent limiter, and a good loudness meter. That's it. You can add a transparent compressor like Polysquasher or Soniformer [multiband] before the limiter, if you're mastering for loudness, or even a nice clipper, like OVC-128, for example. I'm not affiliated with Voxengo, but I really like and know how to use his plugins. That's also a big part of the equation - know your tools, and there are no "magic tools", only a little better or a little worse, especially when it comes to ITB mixing. Hardware is a bit different story.

But really, in the end it all comes down to the mastering engineer, speakers, and room acoustics.

Cheeers!

 

I haven't used the software version, but the hardware is a bit of an aliasing factory... I can't understand why people still pay big bucks for that. Well, maybe because it's easy to use, what you pointed out. It really is, and you get good sounding results despite the weird aliasing. Maybe some people like it exactly because of it? As they say - what matters is the end result, and people are surely not listening to music on hi-q equipment any more, or even listening to the music in piece, as people used to do decades ago.

 

Same here, but we've used the hardware a lot for mastering previews, or when high-end mastering wasn't an option, for the client. I always found the M5000 sounded better, maybe because of the algos, maybe because of the converters, don't know.

 

I just started using the warm audio bus comp and 2 warm audio eqps on the 2 bus sounds really damn good! If you have some cash you can find them for good prices online!

 

DSEQ and Pro-Q3,
also Elysia is pretty good, but adds color

 

I guess ya mean 2bus eq? I still don't get why anyone would use eq so generally? I mean, I use multiband compression there, sometimes. But aren't ya supposed to eq tracks / channels / we individually to create space? It feels a bit like using pan globally or smtn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Spoiler

I feel similar about using liek xyz FOTM compressor globally, instead of as a couple of sends (ie kick comp / kick+snr comp) or w/e

 

you dont use master compressors for glueing together your track, you actually want it for the beautiful intersample modulation artifacts