Master the stereo out bus?

A

andybhoy

New member
Hi guys - this should actually perhaps be in the noobie section, but it's about mastering so...

I have a small home studio - FireWire mixer, cubase 6 and mostly vst plugins - some purchased and some freebies.

I have a few free mastering vst plugins and a trial of ozone 5...

Should I be putting ozone 5 as an insert on the stereo out bus (once mixing, levels, eq etc has been applied to each track and I'm happy with the results). then export.

Or should I be exporting the stereo out to a wave (un mastered) then reopening that wav into a new project and applying ozone to that track?

As I listen to my tracks on different audio systems and hear how it sounds on different speakers etc, I go back and make changes - sometimes re recording parts... So, should this be done with the mastering vst on the stereo out (as I'm doing)? Or disable it till I'm ready to export again?

Thx for any tips you can give!
 
There are different schools of thought on this one. Some say to mix thru, let's say, a master buss compressor/limiter to see what it will sound like when mastered. After that, bypass the comp/limiter and export your mix. This may work if you plan on sending it to a mastering engineer. It sounds as if you plan on mastering yourself, so I'd say try both techniques (print one with and one without Ozone). The one without master buss processing, open in a new session and apply Ozone then. Compare both "Ozone'd" mixes. After awhile, you'll begin to develop your ear as to how to tweak your mixes for mastering. Good luck!
 
I agree with him.
Some people bounce it unmastered first, some just use the master buss. Try doing one of both, and see which sounds better to you. (Personally, I'd prefer bouncing to a single unmastered track and then open a new mastering session. That way, you can use more plug-ins without crapping on your CPU.)
 
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