External mastering on VS-2480

[RKB]

I recently upgraded from 3 linked VS-880's to a VS-2480CD. I really like the sound quality, although in some respects the VS-880 was easier to navigate. (I use the LCD panel instead of the built-in display, but the manual references only the built-in display and on-board buttons)

My question has to do with mastering on the VS-2480CD. I've looked at the mastering tools on this thing, and they don't seem as intuitive as with the Finalizer that I've used in the past. I use the mastering room to create my final mixes down to the vtrack 16 on tracks 23-24. How easy is it to send the output out to the finalizer via the digital outputs, then route back into one of the other tracks? With the VS-880, monitoring and everything was automatic. This monster looks to be a bit more challenging.

Or are the mastering tools on the 2480 that much better than a finalizer?
(I'm not a pro when it comes to signal processing and multi-band compression. I usually just use one of the presets on the FInalizer as well as the EQ)

Thanks for any suggestions. Be gentle, I'm not an engineer. Just trying to produce the best sounding product I can in my little home midi studio)

 

[mikey@thecave]

well i would say it would be easy to do that...
vsplanet.com
for help with the 2480

 

[PHILANDDON]

Hey MKB,

What's the finalizer? I had a Boss 1600 and recently upgraded to the VS-2000. I'm used to using the mastering tool kit. On the VS-2000 you get a mastering took kit with the machine and I bought a VS83 card which has a 56 bit version of the mastering tool kit. The card can also accept plug-ins. I do acoustic music---country basically. I called Roland and asked them what they thought the best plug-in for mastering this type of music was and the guy thought the "FINALIZE" option on the T-Racks plug-in was the best and easiest to use. Is that what you're talking about?

By the way, you might not need to use the digital outs on your VS2480. Have you tried doing your final mix in the mastering room, then using track exchange to move the mix to set of stereo tracks and then going back into the mastering room to do your finalization?

--Neil

 

[RKB]

The Finalizer is a rack unit by TC Electronics designed for mastering applications. It has dozens of pre-set mastering settings, so I usually select, for example, CD Mastering, and it gives me the defaults which I can then tweak as needed. Includes multi-band compressor and EQ, as well as limiter, gate, etc., and the panel is very easy to read the input, output and gain reduction to get right below 0dB on the master.

The digital output would be only if I decided to use the external Finalizer to master. That way I can keep the digital chain complete without introducing any extra noise or signal degredation.

If I do decide to use the mastering tools internally on the 2480, then of course I'll just bounce and use the mastering room as you suggest. No point in sending the signal outside the box if I don't have to.

Guess I'll just try it both ways, see which gives the better result, and go from there.