Hi!
I'm new to Mastering The Mix company. I noticed their sale here:
https://audiodeluxe.com/collections/mastering-the-mix

Could you tell me if Mastering The Mix have some amazing plugins definitely worth buying?
(I already have Soothe2, Ozone 9 advanced, Neutron 4, PSP, Waves, etc)

I'm especially interested in your opinions about LIMITER, EXPOSE 2, RESO, MIXROOM and BASSROOM.
I'm wondering if plugins in these bundles are game changers or just "another plugins":
https://audiodeluxe.com/collections...oducts/mastering-the-mix-eq-excellence-bundle

https://audiodeluxe.com/collections...mastering-the-mix-mastering-essentials-bundle


thanks!

 

also, can RESO do anything Soothe2 cannot?

 

They are all on the same level as simple free plugins. Amateurish at best.

 

Not in my opinion. "Limit" is pretty good, would put it in B+ tier. "Bassroom" is meh. "Levels" is fine - but your DAW should already have something similar. "Expose" can be useful in some situations, they (used to) give it away for free pretty frequently though. Definitely not worth $32.

 

Very usefull plugins when you don't have a top-line monitoring hardware. I blindly trust them for eq-ing and metering on the master bus. Also the Limiter has two very interesting controls, NRG and Punch, that can add some "last-minute character".
Try putting Mixroom and Bassroom after your master eq and follow their suggestions. Then put the Limiter after your final limiter, without pushing it and play with NRG and Punch.
Reso and Punch are plugins that work somehow "behind the scenes". They don't have significant audible results but are extremely useful resolving frequency issues during the mixing phase.

 

Do you think LIMITER is as good as Ozone9 in terms of sound quality?
When I mastered a song with Ozone9, adding LIMIT after Ozone9 could add more punch without loosing loudness?

You don't agree with Lieglein and xorome that BASSROOM is nothing special?

 

You have better stuff available to you.

 

Clone - such as? Mixroom and bassroom are especially useful when you can load in your own references. Fuser is great because not only does it address frequency masking but also phase issues

 

I look at most mixing plugins per "processor type". Be that reverb, eq, clipper, limiter, compressor, saturation, modulation, tape emulation. I do not mind if plugins have additional functions, but I will not keep something around if it's main function sucks and it has some ok additional features. I like multi-fx much more for creative production, not for Mixing; plugins like Devious Machines Infiltrator as a Creative type example. I do not want a plugin that is an ok clipper, with 6 other functions. I want it to be a great clipper, and if it does 5 other things then so be it.
"All-in-one" style plugin bundles always have some weaker components, even Fabfilter.

Maybe you want an AI answer loaded with stuff to test for yourself 1 by 1?

Just to scratch the surface.


Reference: ADPTR Metric AB. All day long. Included with the PA everything bundle for Mac.
Levels: Izotope Insight 2.5 and Klanghelm VUMT. Personal Preference. Youlean is very nice and free. Span/Span+ , Olymoon loved that plugin.
Bassroom: For something easier to use, I would pick Tone Projects Basslane Pro. Any listed alternative is better.
Mixroom: Sonible Smart EQ. Sonnox Claro, Fabfilter Pro-Q4. Air and Highs, Claro and Maag EQ4.
Expose: Maybe the only one I would keep, but 100% not necessary and easily replaceable. At least deserves more than 1 line of text.
Animate: Infected Mushroom/Polyverse Wider is decent. I also like Fiedler Splat! (in PA everything bundle), but it is more based around Haas Effect. Ozone Imager. Sonalksis Stereo Tools.
Reso: Soothe2. Gulfoss. ThreeBodyTech Specraft, Toneboosters Equalizer Pro.

Phase issues you mentioned: Voxengo PH-979, but always manually first if possible.


I want to find alternative plugins for every plugin in the Mastering The Mix Bundle
ChatGPT said:

Spoiler

Here’s a list of popular plugins from the Mastering The Mix bundle and high-quality alternatives for each, grouped by their function. This includes both free and paid options where possible.

️ 1. REFERENCE – Compare your mix to a reference track
Alternatives:

• ADPTR Metric AB (Plugin Alliance) – Best alternative with advanced metering and comparison.
  
  
• iZotope Ozone 11 Reference panel – Built-in and highly capable.
  
  
• MeldaProduction MCompare – Great for blind testing A/B.
  
  
• Free: Youlean Loudness Meter + Manual A/B Routing – Less automated, but usable.

️ 2. LEVELS – Metering plugin for loudness, peaks, stereo field, etc.
Alternatives:

• Youlean Loudness Meter 2 (Free + Pro) – Very detailed LUFS, True Peak, dynamic range.
  
  
• iZotope Insight 2 – Deep metering across the board.
  
  
• NUGEN VisLM + Stereoizer – Industry-standard for broadcast and mastering.
  
  
• SPAN by Voxengo (Free) – Can be customized to show loudness and stereo field.
  
  
• TBProAudio dpMeterXT – Another solid loudness and dynamics meter.

3. BASSROOM – Target-based EQ focused on low-end
Alternatives:

• Oeksound Soothe 2 or low-end focused dynamic EQs – Handles problem frequencies smartly.
  
  
• iZotope Neutron EQ w/ masking meter – Great for carving space.
  
  
• Tonal Balance Control (iZotope) – Reference low-end in real time.
  
  
• Gullfoss – Intelligently balances tone across spectrum.
  
  
• Sonible smart:EQ 4 – AI-based tonal shaping.
  
  
• Free: TDR Nova (dynamic EQ) + reference analysis manually

4. MIXROOM – Intelligent EQ for mids/highs with target curves
Alternatives:

• FabFilter Pro-Q 3 – Not intelligent, but surgical and highly visual.
  
  
• Sonible smart:EQ 4 – Adaptive and AI-powered tonal balancing.
  
  
• iZotope Neutron 4 EQ + Sculptor – Auto-learns tonal balance and adjusts.
  
  
• Gullfoss – Automatic EQ balancing across the whole mix.
  
  
• Free: Crave EQ (demo) or TDR Nova manually with reference matching

5. EXPOSE 2 – Final quality control: loudness, phase, clipping, etc.
Alternatives:

• iZotope Insight 2 – Broad metering.
  
  
• NUGEN MasterCheck – Loudness, codec emulation, inter-sample peak, etc.
  
  
• ADPTR Metric AB – Also offers loudness, phase, and codec previews.
  
  
• Free: Youlean Loudness Meter + PluginDoctor (for clipping/dynamics inspection)

6. ANIMATE – Multiband transient shaper / stereo widener / harmonic enhancer
Alternatives:

• Soundtoys Decapitator + MicroShift + Devil-Loc – Modular saturation/expansion.
  
  
• Waves Vitamin or Aphex Exciter – Multiband enhancement.
  
  
• Eventide SplitEQ – Frequency-based transient/sustain shaping.
  
  
• Newfangled Elevate Bundle – Adaptive multiband transient shaping & limiting.
  
  
• Oxford Inflator – Subtle loudness and harmonics.
  
  
• Free: Kilohearts Transient Shaper + Airwindows Exciter plugins

7. RESO – Resonance suppressor
Alternatives:

• Soothe 2 (Oeksound) – Gold standard for dynamic resonance control.
  
  
• TDR Nova – Free dynamic EQ with sidechain and visual feedback.
  
  
• Dynamic EQ in FabFilter Pro-Q 3 – Great manual control over ringing peaks.
  
  
• SurferEQ 2 (Sound Radix) – Follows pitch and dynamically controls resonances.

Summary Table
Mastering The Mix Best Alternative(s)
REFERENCE ADPTR Metric AB, MCompare
LEVELS Youlean Loudness Meter, Insight 2
BASSROOM Tonal Balance Control, Gullfoss, smart:EQ 4
MIXROOM Pro-Q 3, smart:EQ 4, Gullfoss
EXPOSE 2 MasterCheck, Insight 2
ANIMATE SplitEQ, Decapitator, Elevate Bundle
RESO Soothe 2, Pro-Q 3 dynamic EQ

 

EXPOSE 2 is useful post-mix - the rest, as everyone says, not so much.

 

Thank you for your input as always clone! Hope you are well

 

You can pretty much replace Bassroom with Sonible SmartEq applied to 320hz crossover if you want the reference thing, but i find Maag to be the best tweakable eq for fixed freqs like Bassroom. The band interactions and stepped gain make it sound the most interesting and musical of the 3 options IMO.

 

I’m assuming you’re referenceing the maag eq4?

great discussion!

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Fuser best in class for what it does (kick/bass) by a mile?

The other stuff is a bit gimmicky and can be disregarded IMHO. I had good results with Bassroom but ymmv, it didn't stay in my workflow at least.

 

Most of their stuff have equivalent in other brand, if you want that "automatic AI" thing, Sonible is probably better.

But they have some good stuff, as mentioned above, Fuse is great for masking issue, the phase knob make it a bit more complete than other "only EQ" things (but like most of things, if use incorectly it can make things even worse than just a bad EQ).

Expose is great for render comparaison, it can show you where your track is compare to your reference (and/or compare to some "standard" curve reference). It's also a great tool if you mix/master an EP or album, as it can show you the global picture of your project, very usefull to see the main color of the global project (and see wich track seems to be off compare to the rest).

Other plugins are ok, but maybe brand like Sonible will give you similar result with a better interface. The best would be to try the demo for a few hour at least, maybe you'll enjoy their GUI more.

 

it's not that the plugins are "bad", but they are handing you a cookie cutter workflow as if you want to mix some practice song from start to finish. So when anyone who does not subscribe to the whole "workflow" is using them in a chain; it is like taking 3 ingredients from one recipe and throwing them in another when you only needed 1 of them. They no longer make much sense to use. You are not using overlapping features, somewhere in your chain. The MTM are more "broad strokes", rather than detailed about every little characteristic.

Think about the best plugin of each processor type you really want on a channel strip based workflow. Individual high-end third party plugins will have much deeper parameters and control over them, for every processor type you load up.

Example, such as: DAW stock EQ->saturator-> full featured EQ->compressor->clipper. What is the best EQ you have as the tool you need for that specific channel? Are you ever going to think to yourself, "it's time to put "Mixroom" in this strip"? I'm not. You have a chance in that spot in your chain to make it sound how you really want it, exactly; with Pro-Q4 (example), and this thing is taking up an insert slot instead.

If I were to subscribe to this kind of mixing, I would probably just use Neutron. It's everything these plugins can do, available on every channel. When every channel has a Relay plugin instance on it last as an insert, those channels all report back to "the mothership" Neutron plugin.
None of these AIO and AI approaches will cookie cutter mix for you, using your best plugins suited best for each current channel; because it does not even know what you have, besides itself. ChatGPT does, if you upload it your plugin inventory as a text file, and have it save it.
Ask it for a suggested chain, and you can set every little detail manually yourself, by listening in context with the other material. You would be learning your plugins (and the reasons to use them) in-depth. In comparison, these plugins are a crutch.

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2025

Levels + Animate
Reference if you you can access valid reference tracks
Reso if Baby Audio Smooth Operator Pro is too expensive

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2025