basic mastering question

[peat]

i have done all my mixes in protools hd
and im pretty happy with them
i have at my disposal a recording studio with some nice analogue gear
including
2 neve 3315 mic pre's
urei 1178 stereo compressor
urei LA12 limiter
and the console is a soundcraft 2400B
there are also apogee converters

so heres what im thinking
from protools run into 2 channels of the console
insert the neves eq section and the 1178
then stereo out to the apogee
then spdif back into tools
and there is my mastered mix

is this the best thing to do?
what else could i do?
should i just master in tools?
i thought using all this nice analogue gear would give me a bit of niceness/warmth
what settings should i have on the neves and the urei?
just have them all completely flat, as my mixes are pretty well balanced
just run the signal through them to get the sound of them on it?

thanks in advance for your help.

[Thirteen]

What you are proposing seems to me to be trying to add warmth and the sound of your analogue gear to your final mix. This is completely different to mastering. Mastering is about putting your mix into a purpose designed accoustic environment with specialized equipment and an engineer that can then hear any issues and imbalances in your recordings, and can fix these issues, as well as optimising levels.

Just running your mix through an EQ and compressor won't master the mix. However, it will colour the sound, which is what you are looking for.

[peat]

yeh i know its not really mastering
while it is me running my mix through some gear to colour the sound
im also going to use that gear to further balance my mix and a/b it with some mastered recordings to get the balance right

i was just wondering if this is an ok thing to do

[Thirteen]

It could be a good thing, particularly if you have a bit of the "digital" sound going on from working in PT with plug-ins. The console would be the weakest link, if you can bypass it you might get less noise, but what you are proposing makes sense, it is just a matter of being careful of keeping all of the gain stages in the chain at unity, putting a touch of compression in with the 1178, and if the Neve's have EQ then using them to add a little sheen and warmth, and then seeing if you prefer the result to the original.

[rick]

my answer is more of a question
does it sound any good when you plug things in that way ..?

[Mark Bassett]

Are you working at DG's?

[peat]

rick,
i dont know how it sounds as i havent tried it out yet
i was just wondering if it would be an ok idea
would it give my sound anything in your opinion?
im gonna try it this week some time

mark,
yup, DG's it is
great place

[Mark Bassett]

Good on ya mate, enjoy the ride........