Analog/Hardware Brickwall Limiter for Digital Mastering

[digitaldrummer]

look for a hardware "mastering processor". there are lots of them out there. They might not do all the things a plugin can, but sounds like you are ok with that (maybe even desire that)... and they have knobs and buttons and not a mouse.

for $100, this might even be worth trying (or there may be a stack in your local pawn shop)

https://reverb.com/item/48283543-behrin ... -finalizer

more...

https://reverb.com/item/49350035-behrin ... -processor

https://reverb.com/item/44983890-tc-ele ... -processor

[trodden]

TC Electronics Finalizer Express? Digital, but TC always made good sounding boxes with digital innards. And the "Express" version is going for under $500 all over the place.

I totally had one of these back in the day. I haven't thought of it for years. It was the "Wizard Series" TC Finalizer. Definitely would work for the OP. But like many people have stated, plugs are cheap and easy.

[Snarl 12/8]

I didn't know whether to start a new topic or extend this one. Since this thread is all background info for what I need, I thought I'd start this way.

So, it looks like I need stereo editing and mp3 making software. What would you recommend? I'd like one program that would let me edit intro and tails, normalize, compress and then export MP3's all from one program. I have 97 mixes I've done on my Denon SSD recorder that still need that last bit of processing to get out into the world.

What would you recommend for a stereo editor? I'd say $200 is my max budget. I've tried some free software, but I'm getting a feeling that it's not worth the price. I'd rather spend my time and ($$$) getting to know how to use something more "industry standard" if that's available in this price range.

Thanks,

ck

PS Audacity would work ok for this except for 2 issues. It doesn't let you realtime see what your plugins are doing, you have to render, listen, undo, etc., etc. And it converts all the audio to a proprietary file and creates all kinds of directories for itself on the hard drive. I'd like to edit and compress WAV's natively and then export to MP3 from there.

[The Scum]

Steinberg Wavelab and Izotope Ozone are two of the more common mastering-specific programs. Both are sold at at several feature/pricepoint graduations - it looks like the most basic of each is a very simplified version for podcasters, so you might aim one level above that.

It looks like Ozone is on sale - $125 for "standard" at Sweetwater today.

I used to use Wavelab regularly, but haven't in quite a while. It seemed like it was improved by high-quality add-on plugins, so you might budget for that, too.

There's also the option to use a regular DAW and add mastering-type plugins to it. Most decent DAWs anymore have an easy "save mix as MP3" option. Grab Reaper, toss in something like Voxengo Elephant and a decent EQ, and off you go.

[Snarl 12/8]

There's also the option to use a regular DAW and add mastering-type plugins to it. Most decent DAWs anymore have an easy "save mix as MP3" option. Grab Reaper, toss in something like Voxengo Elephant and a decent EQ, and off you go.

I bought a reaper license right before I gave up on ITB. I guess I'll try that at least once before checking out the two you recommended. I forgot about it, because I just think of it as tracking/mixing software, and it wasn't that intuitive for me, iirc.