How should I master my product?

[uberman]

I am finishing up my solo CD. I have been tracking mainly into a TASCAM 2488. This unit tracks great, clean...but I have never heard much mastered from a recording workstation. I know very little of the mastering phase and want to use a product that will have all the options spelled out for me and will do the tech work for me-I will let my ears be the judge of the final product. Is the 2488 up to snuff in the mastering dept? I also have WAVES and ACID programs galore, WAVES finalizer, CD Architect, etc. I need to know:
1. Should I use the 2488 for mastering the final product?
2. Should I ship it into my computer (I have a Echo Mia 24 bit soundcard) and use (which?) software to do do (it has to be a simple program)
3. Is there a good wasy to convert the digital master to Analog and then burn so it has a warm analog sound?
Your help will be greatly appreciated!
Mike

[Massive Master]

I hate to sound typical, but mastering a recording isn't something you just jump into... Mastering *your own* recording is basically self-defeating at best, and can do more damage than good at worst.

I know I (and other M.E.'s here) get a lot of flak about this (but I also know that I and other M.E.'s here don't master our own mixes)... Still, we're rarely listened to until you find out for yourselves.

Think of it this way - You just mixed it to make it sound the way you wanted. Now you're going to change it? Why didn't you do that while you were mixing? Any problems with room nodes or monitoring deficiencies are now going to multiply if the same system is used in the same room by the same person.

On to what you should use - But the same thing applies... You use whatever you need to get the sound the way you want it. But again, it should've been mixed that way.

I know that's not exactly what you were expecting to hear...

But more specifically to your questions:

1. If it gives you the sound you want.
2a. If it gives you the sound you want. 2b. The program that does what you need it to do. SIDENOTE: If I were you, I'd sell the Waves plugins and get a better set of converters. The Waves plugs are around $4,000. If you sold them for $2500, you could get a nice set of Lavry or Apogee conversion and maybe a UAD card. Which leads me to...
3. Only if your converters are worthy of the task. Then, you have to use the hardware that gives you the sound you want. "Warm analog sound" doesn't just happen magically when a signal is converted to analog.

THAT ALL BEING SAID: Someone is about to jump in and tell me that I'm full of it, and you can do everything you want with a set of plugins on nearfield monitors - Which I actually encourage you to do. But not for the reason of creating a production master (which is actually for another thread, as it really has little to do with the sound), as much as finding out what you'd do differently during the mixdown, so you can apply that knowledge to your next project.

[masteringhouse]

I generally agree with John, there are exceptions to the mixing and mastering by the same person rule but they are usually mixers who have been at it for quite a while. For example, Phil Nicolo (an engineer here in Philly) won a Grammy and did the whole project from tracking, mixing and mastering.

An ME is an audio consultant, someone who sees your mix from a totally objective point of view, not to mention a different room, different set of monitors, gear dedicated to the mastering phase, etc. If you are going to master on the same gear used to mix, then any deficiencies in your room and monitoring environment (not to mention ear) are just going to be repeated.

That said, most folks on this board are strapped for cash or want to try their hand at mastering.

For warmth I would recommend mixing to the best analog reel to reel you can beg borrow or steal.

From there use the best A/D converter you can get a hold of and feed it back into your workstation. The Waves bundle should be fine for "economical" mastering if you know how to use it and can listen with an objective ear.

Mastering isn't magic, it's just a well-developed skill at making audio sound it's best.

[distortedrumble]

straight from the files of he who has failed. i tried mastering a track i did, i thought everything was perfect on it at the time. 1 year later after more experience, i hear it and i realize that there was too much bottom end on the guitars that was added by me. the bass was up louder than it needed to be (added by me) and the vocals sound dull, dry and a little muffled....i thought what i had was going to make the club jump....i hate hearing the song now because i did such a bad job "mastering" it. i hate it enough to go re record every damn thing in the song over again cause i cant find the original "unmastered" copy anywhere...i shoulda gave massive master or mastering house the 100 bucks or whatever to master it right the first time.

[uberman]

I already know what a ME is-I have spent hundreds of hours in a mastering studio
www.recordinglair.com
and I know why I need one, what they do, the process, etc etc etc. I was asking for somebody who has done theyre own mastering from HOME and what Product they used, not a lecture on what mastering is or is not-I have cut three professional recoding CDs, recorded in one studio in another state, mixed at a studio dedicated to mixing by a mix engineer, and mastered by a studio mentioned already designed specifically for mastering. Now, I was looking for a way to get around the usual costs but it appears you all are in the same boat.
BTW: It is 'mixed' to exactly what I want already but in the digital realm. I only want to evenly compress all tracks to flow and convert to analog to warm it up.