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Hi i was wondering if any of you have used T-Racks 3 ? if so how does it rate as a mastering suite? thanks

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Massive Mastering Tue, 05/01/2012 - 16:47

I found it incredibly handy for mixing -- Not so much for mastering... When it comes down to it, it's a bunch of plugs that you'd rarely ever use in a mastering situation. Except for the "Classic" (bright yellow!) stuff -- And that Pultec-ish EQ... That wasn't too bad. A MS mode if I'm not mistaken - Very handy.

And not that those plugs are bad -- They're quite good. The FC is great on a drum bus or bass guitar (just like the original) but sort of "eh" for mastering purposes (just like the original). The opto is very nice on vocal tracks, but again, generally worthless in a mastering scenario. The Pultec on the other hand -- Which WAS "questionable" for mastering purposes (try to find two of them that actually sounded the same) is pretty cool in that plug. It doesn't sound as "real" as UAD's (which IMO, is the single greatest emulation ever created) but it's quite good - And the MS mode sort of puts it over the top as far as just being handy is concerned. The LPEQ is okay (and again - How many mastering guys use linear-phase EQ's - It's rhetorical - although I actually know one that does).

On and on I go (waiting for replacement mixes to arrive). Anyway -- Those bright yellow jobs aren't bad for the quick-n-dirty stuff. I'd argue that most DAW's have similar quality DSP, but they're still useful. Never tried the maul-the-band limiter though, so I can't speak on that. I tend to quickly run from anything that says "multi-band [xxxx]" and "mastering" in the same sentence.

equivalence82 Sat, 07/14/2012 - 10:25

Yeah I agree, for a mastering situation its okay but definitely better for mixing. I use the FC and Pultec plugs on my subgroups in a mix, for this the plugins from T-Racks are very useful. They can bring out a mix and make it fatter! so I'd recommend it from this standpoint. On the mastering side, the TRacks is good but you don't want to drive these plugs too much or you will start to introduce digital distortion, just have to back off the ratios and thresholds really. but otherwise I can still recommend it for mastering if you know how to use them, and know how to set up the chain correctly.

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