Mastering guide/info

[velvetomatoe]

Hey everyone. I'm doing some home recording with Adobe Auditon 1.5 and I'm nearing the dreaded mastering time...I'm not too familiar with it so I was wondering if there are any good guides out there. I've done a search here in the forum to get some ideas but I was just wondering what you guys had lying around. Also what is a good program to master with? Should I just use Audition or should I look into an alternative? Any help would be awesome.
Thanks.

~Kevin~

[Dogman]

If I were you, and you want to do the project yourself, I'd just do it in Audition. Do you have any plugins besides what came with Audition? I've had good luck getting some of my mixes to sound good with some extra plugins. If you want pro quality, get someone to help you that really knows their stuff. If you want to do this yourself, you will learn a ton doing it yourself. If you need more help, just ask, as I or someone else will try to help.
Ed

[velvetomatoe]

Thanks very much. I'm really familiar with Audition so I figured I'd stick with what I know. I'm just getting into the whole mastering process so I really appreciate the support and like you said can hopefully learn a bunch about the whole process. It doesn't have to be perfect, it's just a project I've been working on with a friend so I can have a copy for myself and friends. Nothing major so if I screw it up I can always keep working at it. Thanks again for your support, I'm sure I'll be coming back here often. Are there any books or articles you might reccomend for getting started? As far as the plugins, I have a few. Are there any particularly useful ones you'd reccomend? or any free ones I can look into? Thanks again.

~Kevin~

[92_]

You might wanna check out the website of Izotope. They have, atleast they used to have a sort of "mastering guide" to get you started. They use their own mastering suite as an example but the rules apply as an overall guide.

[Dogman]

Go here and there are a bunch of plugins. Many free. http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/PLUGINS_VST/

Also, do a search for vst plugins on the board, as I have found some that other people use that work well for me. As 92 stated, check that site out, and any others that are offered.

As far as the plugins, they are easy to install, just remember to refresh your plugins list whenever you install new ones. I have had good luck with the classic plugins, and the GranComp ones as far as ease of use. Check em all out though, as they are fun to try.
Ed

[caryindy]

http://www.tcelectronic.com/default.asp?id=1457

Click on 'download the article' lots of great information there.
The Izotope article is pretty informative too.

[RhythmRmixd]

Originally Posted by 92_

You might wanna check out the website of Izotope. They have, atleast they used to have a sort of "mastering guide" to get you started. They use their own mastering suite as an example but the rules apply as an overall guide.

I second the Izotope guide. Good stuff.

[velvetomatoe]

Excellent. Thanks everyone, I've been sorting through the links and from a brief overview it seems like really good stuff. I'll be sure to come back if I have more questions (which I will) Thanks again

~Kevin~

[ryanlikestorock]

If you're going to go this route, I'd buy T-Racks. It's a decent program for $250-300. Definitely a few levels above the Audition plugins.