I don't want to run tracks through a Daw. iZotope Ozone removed Stand Alone option, and I have been using Mixmeister Fusion to tweak YouTube downloads.

 

Steinberg WaveLab Pro

 

AAMS

 

T Racks

 

IK MULTIMEDIA - Lurssen Mastering Console --> www.ikmultimedia.com/products/lurssen

 

For an all-in-one -couple of knobs -the magic happens under the hood, I really like this one. The mojo is dialed in nicely. It isn't at all a go to if you want precision nuance and control (ie, you know what you're doing). But for a mixing dummy like me, it's perfect Sounds much better than t-racks if you're first step in t-tracks is to hit analyze with a preset reference and just go with it (as opposed to creating your own chain therein), in my experience.

 

TC electronics Finalizer.

 

TC finalizer. Harbaal equalizer system to correct songs

 

Most of these options are all going to be somewhere in the middle of a DAW and a standalone mastering environment.

If you configure them to compare with a Wavelab-like workflow answer, you have Pyramix and Sequoia. For Mac, the only choice is obviously Wavelab Pro. Most people aren't concerned with an entirely standalone application, but I will stick pick Wavelab anyway. Way too many hours on it to consider switching. If these options didn't really work for me, I'd just go back to Ozone 9. It's only 6 years old; not like you are firing up some Soundforge 4.5d...

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2025 at 8:13 PM

Yep, I would stick with Ozone 9, really it's not that old.
If you go the sample editor route: I used to like WaveLab but switched over to Acoustica from Acon Digital. (comes in mac flavor as well)
I like the faster and cleaner GUI.
But I get it, its just not as slick as a one window solution like Ozone 9

 

BX_Mastering Studio is the one I’m into a lot these days. It’s free, simple (and fairly tweakable), and good.

 

Wow, every post has a different solution! I'll posit nuut!

 

Ill add Finalyst but you need Reaktor Player

 

Calling Wavelab a ‘wave editor’ says you haven’t really used it, or not in a very long time. Wavelab Pro 11/12 is a full mastering environment with audio montages, precise clip editing, fades, batch processing, loudness metering, restoration tools. Ozone 9 is a plugin suite for quick polish, but it’s self-contained and can’t handle full project workflows. You can load Ozone modules in Wavelab, but never the other way around.

Most people think Ozone = mastering because it can make a single track sound louder or shinier—like paying $5 to have SoundCloud “master” your upload. That’s not mastering. Mastering is running a full project, making multiple tracks consistent, and preparing them for release. Wavelab does all of that. Ozone just makes one track sound nice.

Not that Ozone is bad, but Wavelab left it in the dust about 10 or 15 years ago.

 

Mastering the Mix - EXPOSE 2 as an analytics tool + processing in Wavelab Pro is my way to go on a mac.

P.S. Sometimes, if deeper forensic tweaks are necessary, Spectralayers turned out to be very useful (at least if you don't have access to the mixing project).

 

Last edited: Oct 28, 2025 at 11:27 PM

Ozone 12 + Studio One for final mastering

 

HOFA DDP Master Pro is another interesting option - especially if you'd master for any physical distribution like CD and vinyl that accepts ddp image as source, it would be practically mandatory tool anyway

 

if you are on Windows already, why would you pick Hofa over Sequoia or Pyramix? Just assuming you aren't going to be spending the extra $3000 while deciding...