i have been mastering house and techno using Waves plugins for about 2 years now. mostly just for amatuer stuff and things i have produced as well.

i understand that the best solution is getting someone else to master your stuff but to be honest when its getting played out in a club its annoying to have someone else in the loop and expensive if you are always doing one offs and not making money off any of it in the first place.

so my question was this... what is the best way to get into 'real' gear instead of plugs?

will a unit like a Focusrite mixmaster or the Avalon 747 or the mindprint dtc get me beyond where i am at with plugs?

i am happy with my plugins but need to buy a mic preamp and outboard compressor /eq for my drum submix due to a new way i am composing and figured that some of the above units might serve multi purpose.

will i get any better 'sound' out of analog gear or should i just stick to plugins (which i am doing fine with now)

either way is fine with me but seeing as how i have to buy a good stereo bus compressor/eq anyway i am open to spending a few more bucks for something that i can use for the final master as well.

after all its club music, not rock bands (much more critical application there) so i suppose i am fine with what i have now :-)

jamey