Hi,

I am currently recording songs in Cubase SX and would like to do some basic mastering to get to red book CD standard for CD replication...what plug ins do I need, how much are they and how do I use them ?

Any advice would be appreciated

You're asking for (potentially) years of training on a forum post.

I'll quote myself from another post - It's not completely the same subject, but much of it is applicable to this post...

quote:

The ear adjusts to change very quickly - It's not a time for experimentation. You do what the mix tells you to do. You use the chain that will get the mix from point "A" to point "B" in your head.

YES there is a particular chain you should use - Which you should know after hearing the mix. YES there are particular settings you should use - Which you should know by hearing the mix. YES there is a particular order - Which you should know by hearing the mix.

The point is to listen, evaluate, do. If you know your tools and you know what you're listening for, the mix will tell you the chain and the rough settings. But you need to have a fairly clear goal in mind before you start assembling that chain - or else, you're experimenting again.

Other than that, burning the disc is the easy part - CD Architect, WaveLab, Samplitude Master - Any will burn to specs. But it's not necessarily that simple either...

My first bit of advice is to consider whatever John may suggest.

As far as what plugs and how to use them...

Aren't you mixing your tunes as well? Are you using any plugs for mixing? I'm asking because your questions are very broad and I'm just trying to narrow it down a bit. Do you have plugs and experience with them already?

I guess I don't really distinguish between mixing plugins and mastering plugins per se. Obviously, there's some types of processing that I wouldn't normally associate with mastering (delay, for example). There are a number of bundled programs out there marketed for mastering like T-Racks, Ozone, etc. I've played with them a little, but don't use them myself.

In my mind, if you're mixing and mastering yourself, most of the corrective things needed are better suited on the mix side anyway.

Best,
Steve

Hi Steve,

thanks for getting back to me. I don't use any plug ins for mixing at present I am pretty happy with the results I am getting just using cubase SX though I am sure professionals would disagree, in a perfect world I would pay to have a good sound engineer mix and master for me alas funds will not permit.

I guess I am looking for that extra polish to my mix to enable me to record half decent masters for red book audio replication....and also normalising to increase gain a tad would help.


Pete

Given your descriptions of what you're doing and what you want, I think you'd be quite pleased with the results you could get from Ozone. Izotope has a nice (very basic) mastering tutorial that you can download and with a little experimenting with the presets, I would bet you'd find something that you'll like.

Thank you for getting back to me...I will check out Ozone Izotope

Cheers Pete