sell the waves bundle..... it's worth $3,800 so you should be able to get some money for it..... you should then have about $5,000....

or even better...

take your music to a mastering engineer and have it done professionally...

With $2,000, you cannot buy much unfortunetely. I would go in the used gear direction because here a gain...2k available.

Of course everything is a question of taste also but I would start to buy a decent d/a for the monitoring part. You can find decent ones around 2k used. Or maybe you can find a compressor (used) around that type of money but it will be hard. There are plenty of stuff you can get for a lot cheaper but you mention a Mastering chain.

Otherwise, if you want to go totally digital then you can continue in the plugins avenue but here again, good plugs are very expensive.

mtcw

Cheers.

I would save your 2K and wait until you have some more money to work with. A good pair of monitoring speakers and a good DAC would be a minimum of 3 to 4K and then if you want a good compressor and a good eq the price would go up from there. Best of luck but I too would suggest you spend your 2 K (or less) on hiring a good mastering engineer and then save save save your pennies for some good equipment in the future.

MTCW

2k isn't much, But I would do like Thomas said and put it into your monitoring chain.

Michael Fossenkemper wrote: 2k isn't much, But I would do like Thomas said and put it into your monitoring chain.

I'd do like both of them said, also adding some room treatment :)

I agree about either selling the Waves stuff or just waiting until you have more money, because good hardware and/or software won't help much in an inaccurate room through inaccurate speakers. You will probably get better results with a controlled room and full response speakers, even with mediocre gear (then, of course, you can save up for better gear too!).

i dont do mastering for all the resones posted here. but if you have your heart set on it, i would buy the biggest UAD1 which has a whole slew of digital mastering equipment, and mabey a seb 2000vu to color the sound. but the best thing you can do, if this is a impotant project to you, get it masterd be some one else. you will get the benifit of years of expieriance, and a set of ears that doesnt know what it sounds like now.

Don't listen to these guys!!! I can easily set you up with everything you need at Stevie B's "Just Like It Fell Off the Back of a Truck" Mastering Equipment Emporium.

Check out these prices on what I think is all you need to get started -
all fitting rather nicely into your total budget of $2000 -
EQ's:
Manley Massive Passive - $50!!
Millennia NSEQ - $40!!
Weiss EQ-1-MKII - $40!!

Dynamics:
Cranesong STC-8M - $70!!!
API 2500 - $20!!
Pendulum OCL - $80!!
Weiss DS-1 - $50!!

Monitors:
B&W Nautilus 802's - $150!!
Bryston 4BSST - $80!!!

DAW:
3GHz Pentium 4 machine w/ Plextor Premium CD-R, Sony DVD-/+R burner, DLT & Lynx AES 16 - $75!!
Sequoia 8 - yours for only $30!!
(ain't that cool - you can even keep using your Waves stuff!!)

Transports -
Sony MCI JH110B w/ 1/4" and 1/2" head stacks & completely rebuilt electronics! - $25!!!
Tascam CDRW-2000 - $10!!!
Panasonic 3800 - $5!!!

Console:
Crookwood iMon - $90!!

Kimber, Mogami & Canare Cabling for the entire rig - $50!!!

Hey total it up - and you even have a little bit left to contract my cousing Schlomo to help you with the build out on your room!

ummm -- errr -- just make sure you give me a count of "100" before you open the boxes - just kind of a superstition I have - and ummm - the reason the boxes are so light is the new proprietary antigravity packing peanuts we use inside them so that shipping costs are lower.

ummm - contact address? Well - we've never ever ever had any warranty claims on our stuff - so I think you'll just be fine.

Cash only - all payments final.
Have a nice day.

:P

Best regards,
Steve Berson

TotalSonic wrote: Don't listen to these guys!!! I can easily set you up with everything you need at Stevie B's "Just Like It Fell Off the Back of a Truck" Mastering Equipment Emporium.

Check out these prices on what I think is all you need to get started -
all fitting rather nicely into your total budget of $2000 -
EQ's:
Manley Massive Passive - $50!!
Millennia NSEQ - $40!!
Weiss EQ-1-MKII - $40!!

Dynamics:
Cranesong STC-8M - $70!!!
API 2500 - $20!!
Pendulum OCL - $80!!
Weiss DS-1 - $50!!

Monitors:
B&W Nautilus 802's - $150!!
Bryston 4BSST - $80!!!

DAW:
3GHz Pentium 4 machine w/ Plextor Premium CD-R, Sony DVD-/+R burner, DLT & Lynx AES 16 - $75!!
Sequoia 8 - yours for only $30!!
(ain't that cool - you can even keep using your Waves stuff!!)

Transports -
Sony MCI JH110B w/ 1/4" and 1/2" head stacks & completely rebuilt electronics! - $25!!!
Tascam CDRW-2000 - $10!!!
Panasonic 3800 - $5!!!

Console:
Crookwood iMon - $90!!

Kimber, Mogami & Canare Cabling for the entire rig - $50!!!

Hey total it up - and you even have a little bit left to contract my cousing Schlomo to help you with the build out on your room!

ummm -- errr -- just make sure you give me a count of "100" before you open the boxes - just kind of a superstition I have - and ummm - the reason the boxes are so light is the new proprietary antigravity packing peanuts we use inside them so that shipping costs are lower.

ummm - contact address? Well - we've never ever ever had any warranty claims on our stuff - so I think you'll just be fine.

Cash only - all payments final.
Have a nice day.

:P

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Looks like a fair deal...but do you deliver? :roll:

Sorry for the previous post - don't mean to fun at anyone's expense - just couldn't resist for a second.

You don't mention what kind of monitors you have - but some really nice deals on used full range stuff can often be found at http://www.audiogon.com

Sometime what can be found there for $2g's is pretty darned nice - just make sure you audition before purchasing

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Yes, audiogon does have some nice gear, sometimes too good to be true. But you don't have much protection or recourse if things go south. Like Steve said, you really have to check the stuff out before you lay down the cash. I've been burned as many times as I've made out.

Michael Fossenkemper wrote: Yes, audiogon does have some nice gear, sometimes too good to be true. But you don't have much protection or recourse if things go south. Like Steve said, you really have to check the stuff out before you lay down the cash. I've been burned as many times as I've made out.

Very good points - scammers are definitely out there. I would never use Audiogon for anything other than a "local pickup".

Also - it really really helps that for whatever you decide to get that it not have propietary drivers that are no longer made. i.e. - One of the EMIM's on Europadisk's RS4.5s was going south by the time the place was heading towards shutting down and it was driving me crazy. "Luckily" the doors got locked before I had the unenviable task of trying to find a replacement.

Best regards,
Steve Berson