The most essential and/or special(ist) UAD-2 Mastering Plugins?

[marcouad]

Top 3 or 5 or more if you want.

Thanks

 

[Matt Hepworth]

Top 3 or 5 or more if you want.

Thanks

I'm not an ME, but I've been tasked with mastering quite a few records (including a few I'm really proud of) I tend to use a couple options depending on the style. The Weiss MM1 is one. I also tend to use the Massive Passive a bit. Even the old Precision EQ still gets a little use. The bx_digital V3 also. On rock stuff nothing quite tops the FGX for me. I've used it since release and know exactly how to get what I want out of it. If something is problematic I'll use either the Pro Q3 or Pro MB from Fab Filter. If something needs a little special sauce, the Ampex, though that's pretty rare to be used outside of the mixing process for me.

 

[marcouad]

I'm not an ME, but I've been tasked with mastering quite a few records (including a few I'm really proud of) I tend to use a couple options depending on the style. The Weiss MM1 is one. I also tend to use the Massive Passive a bit. Even the old Precision EQ still gets a little use. The bx_digital V3 also. On rock stuff nothing quite tops the FGX for me. I've used it since release and know exactly how to get what I want out of it. If something is problematic I'll use either the Pro Q3 or Pro MB from Fab Filter. If something needs a little special sauce, the Ampex, though that's pretty rare to be used outside of the mixing process for me.

Thanks Matt. That is an eye opener.

 

[UniversalAudio]

Top 3 or 5 or more if you want.

Thanks

Mastering is about 30-40% of my commercial business and I have been doing it for MANY years.

A few I use quite often are:
BX Mastering EQ. I like its elliptical filter and M/S features.
Ampex 102 of course.
Hitsville Mastering EQ
K-Stereo See this clip for an exaggerated example.

 

[Alexxon]

K-Stereo See this clip for an exaggerated example.

This one is truely unique and powerful, didn’t saw something like this elsewhere.

 

[UniversalAudio]

This one is truely unique and powerful, didn’t saw something like this elsewhere.

Thanks!!!
I have showed SO MANY tips and tricks online and hope to get them into more visible forms in 2024.

 

[marcouad]

Mastering is about 30-40% of my commercial business and I have been doing it for MANY years.

A few I use quite often are:
BX Mastering EQ. I like its elliptical filter and M/S features.
Ampex 102 of course.
Hitsville Mastering EQ
K-Stereo See this clip for an exaggerated example.

Thanks, Drew - good to hear from peeps who have been using the same tools successfully for a long time

 

[sirthought]

bx_digital V3 is helpful, but in this case I would buy the native from Plugin Alliance, because it sucks up you sharc chips. Then again, that might not matter once you get to the mastering stage. It's not exactly an exciting EQ but super useful for problem solving at this stage, should you find a problem that needs solving, and you don't want to go back to mixing.

The Precision K-Stereo is beautiful and I wish UAD would make this one native, as we don't need it for tracking.

There are several UAD-2 compressors that I think you can choose in mastering, and it just sort of depends on which flavor you prefer for the material. Neve 33609, Manley Vari Mu, and even the colorful Chandler Zenner. The Manley is much cleaner than the Fairchild Variable Mu 670, which is what I would prefer in this task usually.

 

[marcouad]

bx_digital V3 is helpful, but in this case I would buy the native from Plugin Alliance, because it sucks up you sharc chips. Then again, that might not matter once you get to the mastering stage. It's not exactly an exciting EQ but super useful for problem solving at this stage, should you find a problem that needs solving, and you don't want to go back to mixing.

The Precision K-Stereo is beautiful and I wish UAD would make this one native, as we don't need it for tracking.

There are several UAD-2 compressors that I think you can choose in mastering, and it just sort of depends on which flavor you prefer for the material. Neve 33609, Manley Vari Mu, and even the colorful Chandler Zenner. The Manley is much cleaner than the Fairchild Variable Mu 670, which is what I would prefer in this task usually.

Very interesting thoughts. I’ve just seen the Plugin Alliance version is £20 at the moment. I’ll check out your other suggestions I have a thank you coupon which means any two for £75

 

[mrufino1]

Mastering is about 30-40% of my commercial business and I have been doing it for MANY years.

A few I use quite often are:
BX Mastering EQ. I like its elliptical filter and M/S features.
Ampex 102 of course.
Hitsville Mastering EQ
K-Stereo See this clip for an exaggerated example.

STOP POSTING AWESOME STUFF LIKE THIS! I demoed it and bought it about 45 minutes later (after hearing the rendered mix). Man, what a nice final polish, just 1db up on the side, ambience recovery with all of the buttons in and no increase on the dial, and a little filtering.

This is the same mix that I tried sound city on. Where it started to where it finished was a beautiful thing.

 

[UniversalAudio]

STOP POSTING AWESOME STUFF LIKE THIS! I demoed it and bought it about 45 minutes later (after hearing the rendered mix). Man, what a nice final polish, just 1db up on the side, ambience recovery with all of the buttons in and no increase on the dial, and a little filtering.

This is the same mix that I tried sound city on. Where it started to where it finished was a beautiful thing.

There are VERY few "tricks" in audio production (it's mostly about focusing on the fundamentals), but sometimes.........

So glad you found it useful.

 

[Alexxon]

I personally think Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor is a must for me, but might not be a must for other people. I just like the Shadow Hill’s way of working and it’s sound: a very flexible VCA with another OPTO module, plus three coloring options with different focus for you.

 

[mrufino1]

There are VERY few "tricks" in audio production (it's mostly about focusing on the fundamentals), but sometimes.........

So glad you found it useful.

I prefer not to think of it as a trick but of “fully harnessing the power of the equipment.”

But seriously, even though it was only going to be $25 with the thanks coupon, I checked some other things out that I have to see if the effect was similar and it was similar but not similar enough, there is a gloss to this that wasn’t there with some other imaging plugins. Kind of like the depth that is obtained by putting the hitsville eq on the master buss, even if it’s set to do much in the way of eq.

 

[Gary D]

I personally think Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor is a must for me, but might not be a must for other people. I just like the Shadow Hill’s way of working and it’s sound: a very flexible VCA with another OPTO module, plus three coloring options with different focus for you.

I love the Shadow Hills MC, either that or the Capitol on most occasions.

 

[marcouad]

Mastering is about 30-40% of my commercial business and I have been doing it for MANY years.

A few I use quite often are:
BX Mastering EQ. I like its elliptical filter and M/S features.
Ampex 102 of course.
Hitsville Mastering EQ
K-Stereo See this clip for an exaggerated example.

I have Ampex and Hitsville. Thought about UA BX Mastering, and someone above said to checkout Plugin Alliance
So the best deal for me turned out the Mega Subscription at £9/month for a year = £108
So I get to use/try anything from 180+ plugins over that year and then choose any 3 of them to keep. I dropped 3 that sounded very good and interesting to me right now in the basket - Kirchhoff-EQ/dynamics, THX Spatial Creator and BX Masterdesk Pro - and it came to £370 at their offer prices.

Seems a bit of a no-brainer - BX Masterdesk Pro is the same cost at the subscription + 3 Plugins