Mastering with WAVES

[BDowell]

I have been told that Waves makes very good software for mastering. I use Sonar 8 and I was wondering which Waves software I should look at. They are priced pretty high so I don't want to make a mistake. I'm also relatively new to home recording so any advice would be appreciated. thx

[Midiman]

I have read some articles about the Waves line of products and from what I read, Waves seems to have some pretty good plug-ins for mastering. However, the suites are very expensive as you've already stated. I think I saw somewhere a bundled package called Mercury??? My Advice to you would be to talk to others on the forum who may know a lot more about this subject than myself. You might want to know a whole lot more about the use of the product and the effectiveness of it before you shell-out the kind of cash that is attached to "Waves". Peace!


Midiman

[Audio~Geek]

Isn't there a book or DVD with that EXACT name?

Waves makes all types of plugins, clean, modern, vintage emulation etc.

Waves has demos so you can try them yourself.

[Lateralus359]

I have the Waves Diamond bundle and it's got some really cool plugins BUT it's seriously expensive. It was almost 3000 euro! Maybe you'd be best off buying the smaller plugin bundles with the l2 ultramaximiser and the renaissance set of plugins. The renassiance set is definetly one of the best around. If your only looking for a good eq and compressor your prob best looking at the oxford sonnox eq and maybe the sonalksis compression. A lot cheaper than buying something for 3000 and then not using all the plugions in it.

[BDowell]

Originally Posted by Lateralus359

I have the Waves Diamond bundle and it's got some really cool plugins BUT it's seriously expensive. It was almost 3000 euro! Maybe you'd be best off buying the smaller plugin bundles with the l2 ultramaximiser and the renaissance set of plugins. The renassiance set is definetly one of the best around. If your only looking for a good eq and compressor your prob best looking at the oxford sonnox eq and maybe the sonalksis compression. A lot cheaper than buying something for 3000 and then not using all the plugions in it.

Thanks for the reply (everyone!). I will check this out.

[BDowell]

What is your recommended preamp? under say $500..

[takka360]

Nothing! you get what you pay for.
If you pay $500 you will get $500 SOUND, SIMPLE.

[garageband]

What is your recommended preamp? under say $500.

The Summit 221-BA is lovely. The Eureka is nothing to scream about but it's way solid and has a very nice compressor, so nice for a vocal channel strip. The Grace 101 is a mega performer.

The used market on eBay has cratered and you can get some amazing things for very little.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by BDowell

What is your recommended preamp? under say $500..

Along with garageband, I'll vouch for the Grace 101. IIRC, I got it off ebay for around $400. Very quiet.

Also, the FMR RNP is a dual preamp for $500. I use it quite abit. It's great for stereo recording (acoustic guitar) and overheads. It's a little on the noisy side, but most of the time you don't have to crank up the gain.

[BDowell]

Originally Posted by takka360

Nothing! you get what you pay for.
If you pay $500 you will get $500 SOUND, SIMPLE.

Sure you do,.. I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night.

I purchased the Groove Tubes "brick" for $399 at Guitar Center. It's really nice.