Mastering - advice for a Newbie

[ShaunS]

Hi everybody,
funny story,
(for those of you who remember what it's like to be a clueless beginner ....)
I did my first submission a couple of weeks ago, three individual pieces for a dramedy Cue , followed shortly after by a couple of pieces for a horror Cue.
Unfortunately, I was oblivious as to the subtle art of mastering. And I mean - nothing. (yes I know... embarrassing).

So the signal was garbage and the screeners sure enough weren't too impressed. I reached out to Taxi for some help and Craig (the head screener) was kind enough to provide a detailed breakdown as to the mechanics of the problem, and steps on how to fix, including some advice regarding manual settings.
I've just done my third submission and at least that side of it should now be ok. (Helps if they can hear it!)

just a question for you all -
Craig recommended a Mastering plug- in
I've done a little research, Landr gets a pretty good wrap. Not cheap, but I guess you get what you pay for.
I was just curious, do most of you do your own mastering? if not what mastering plug ins, if any, are you using?
would welcome any feedback - Cheers ShaunS

[BradleyHagen]

With the advent of AI in many of these plugins, ESPECIALLY the mastering plugins, you can absolutely do this yourself with little to no experience. LANDR is cool, but it is a subscription service that is rather pricey, and you are very limited as to what you can control over the process. I would recommend Izotope Ozone 11 Advanced. It is AI/Machine Learning based, so you can just play your track into this plugin, and it comes back with a great starting point on your Mastering. There are tons of Youtube vids about each module, etc, and you can drill down very deep into and make your own tweaks, etc. The only downfall, is that it is VERY CPU heavy, so you need a pretty fast machine.
There are a few others as well, like IK Multimedia T-Racks, Waves, etc, but they just don't hold up to Ozone IMHO. Also, Slate Digital has a new one out now, but I have not been able to try it yet. Hope this helps!

[cosmicdolphin]

Most people I know do their own. Most of them use Ozone and many of them use the AI Masetering Assistant to get them in the ballpark. Also most of them add the mastering plugin into the session and switch it on near the end of the production process , so you don't have to bounce out a Wav and then open some other program to master it. That gets old real quick when you supply a lot of library music.

Sonically Ozone's auto mastering sounds a little like the results you might get from Landr etc. but is way more flexible as it's fully tweakable after it's done it's thing.

[BradleyHagen]

telefunken is correct....you probably do not need Ozone 11 Advanced right away, but if you can make it happen, it is VERY deep, and you will be able to learn all of the modules, and how they relate to the mastering process.

[ShaunS]

thank you all for your responses, - really really helpful and much appreciated. (Micheal is right, you are a great bunch)

when I'm experienced in a few years and know what I'm doing (hopefully), I'll make sure I return the favor and help some poor souls who like me are residing mostly in the bewildered zone.
Cheers
ShaunS