Best Mastering Plugin for Orchestra?

[critterchris]

Could anyone recommend a good all purpose mastering plugin that is well suited to orchestral / soundtracks? I tried the iZotope Ozone 4 demo which has some nice features but wanted to see what everyone else uses before buying. Also the VSL Suite looks promising.

[keithjfuller]

good monitors, altiverb, and a solid understanding of EQ. I know this is aimed more towards mixing rather than mastering, but so is the VSL suite and the other stuff you mentioned.

from what i've heard with mastering is that you just send it to some guy who is a good at mastering, because its not easy and not worth spending the time on for the money it costs.

my $0.02.

[rbowser-]

"...you just send it to some guy..." well, if it's a recording which is definitely going to a commercial market then one could do that.

Meanwhile, the majority of us are recording our music "on spec"--for our own pleasure, to demo, for many reasons which may never make us any money. We're not going to be spending money on a Mastering Engineer - I haven't yet anyway. When A Big Company plans on releasing some of my music, I'll gladly leave the Mastering in the hands of their technicians. But until that time, I'll limp along Mastering my own material the best I can with the plugins in programs like Sonar and Sound Forge.

Randy