Monitors ADAM S3A Three-way active with ribbon tweeters // DYNAUDIO AIR 6 Two-way Digigital AES // PMC TB2S-A Two-way Active // GENELEC 1029A // YAMAHA NS10 Powered Bryston 2B SST // Dynaudio Sub Air 1 active sub woofer //

TUBE AND VALVE AVALON VP 747 sp spectral-opto and EQ // MANLEY Stereo variable MU // TLA 5052 valve processor // MANLEY Massive Passive master EQ // Behringer modified Tube composer//Tube ultra G EQ // Tube ultrafex // GML 8200 EQ // Drawmer MX 50 de-esser // SPL Vitalizer MKII // Millennia TCL2 // AVALON AD2055 CL-A EQ //

Solid State PRISM SOUND Maselec MEA - 2 EQ // TC ELECTRONIC MASTER 6000 processor multi I/O // WEISS EQ1LP // WEISS DS1 comp/linit // SSl X-logic G series Compressor // Alesis Master disk 9600 // HHB Burn it 830 - Plus // Alesis AES / ADAT X8 I/O FI4 // Behringer stereo denoiser // Lexicon pcm 91 // Tc Electronic M5000 // Z-Systems z8-8 // The TC M6000 include software 3.60 CD mastering MD-4-MD-3 , GML algo, Brickwall 2 limiter. Stereo to 5.1, Deesser, 5 band compressor MASSENBURG EQ, Decompressor,reverb & delay // Tc finalizer express.

XLogic G Series Compressor The XLogic G Series Mastering Compressor unit is a 1U rack mounting stereo compressor. It utilises the classic SSL G Series centre compressor design elements within a SuperAnalogue design topology. This brings the dual benefits of spectacular audio performance with a universally acclaimed compressor characteristic

TLAudio prosessor The TL Audio 5052 Stereo Valve Processor is the latest addition to the best-selling Ivory 2 series. The 5052 provides everything you would expect from a high quality ‘channel strip’ product, and then doubles it - making it the ideal system front end and the perfect stereo mixdown and mastering device

Digital I/O AES/EBU-ADAT-SPDIF-OPTICAL There are other connection formats usually found on professional gear, but sometimes seen on "higher-end" consumer gear: the AES/EBU, a standardised format for digital transmission developed jointly by the Audio mastering Engineering Society and the European Broadcasting Union and defined by standard IEC-958, which uses a 3 pin, balanced XLR-type connector and 3 conductor, 110 ohm impedance cable; multi-mode AT&T or ST-Glass (pictured left), and single mode laserlinque (a proprietary format developed by Theta Digital, I believe) both using a locking bayonet connector and a glass fiber-optic cable.DVD-Audio compilation, Mastering and Authoring
High Resolution multichannel up to 24/96
High Resolution Stereo up to 24/96
Dedicated Stereo Mix or Downmix options
Mastering and Re-Mastering
Output to CD DAT DVD or DLT
Input from Vinyl - Cassette - CD - DAT - MiniDisc
Full range of DD encoding for DVD and CD DTS Encoding.

AD/DA Converters PRISM SOUND Dream ADA-8XR // APOGEE BIG BEN all digital format Master clock C777 // MOTU 2408 mk3 Aes-adat-spdif- // Motu I/O 24// // Apogee UV22HR algo // POW-R Dithering // Drawmer D - Clock wordclock // x2 AMD 64 Bits double 4200 + USB 2 - firewire computer (1800 gig HD) FSB 1000 3Gig DDR2 memory - video 256 Mb DDR double view graphic card and RAID // Plextor premium CDR // Universal audio UAD1 ultra pack // Powercore // Panasonic DVD-R cardtridge // Tascam DA3mk2 DAT // Ultra curve pro 10 band DEQ 24/96 // Tascam DV-RA 1000 DSD // Sony Minidisk // Power conditioning by Eta and monster cleaner // x 2 pro Ultramatch pro AES - AD/DA - all formats //

MANLEY Varial MU It is one of the very few compressors that has become a real standard in Mastering studios and contributed to most hit records over the last decade and probably the next

MANLEY Passive Passive EQ Engineers who have already gotten hold of the MASSIVE PASSIVE have told us: "Why does it make everything sound so much better?", "It's organic and orgasmic.", "It's a f%#king powerhouse.", "It's unlike any other EQ.", "This is IT. The sound I've always dreamt of but couldn't ever get until now.

The MEA-2 is a stereo or 2-channel, four-band precision analogue equalizer with variable Q/shelf, frequency and cut/boost controls on each band.The MEA-2 Precision Stereo Equalizer is designed for recording and mastering applications where ultimate sonic performance,musicality and precision are needed

Tc Electronic Master 6000 In the summer of 2004, packed with a choice selection of precision tools for the mastering engineer, Mastering 6000 was added to the 6000 family. Mastering 6000 contains the new MD4, a 5-band dynamics processor with
phase linear reconstruction that can operate in dual mono, stereo and MS modes, and has DXP low level detail enhancement capability.Additional processing includes BrickWall Limiter 2 to prevent distortion and listening fatigue, MD5.1 multichannel expander, compressor and limiter, Toolbox 5.1 format conversion and Monitor Matrix.It is a matter of course that all of the legendary algorithms from Reverb 6000 and other optional licenses can be added to Mastering 6000 if required. The ease of control will be apparent when using the TC Icon Remote or their software equivalents for Mac or PC. As you would expect it is fully compliant with networking, sharing and time code automation or built in workstation automation. The lack of intelligent level restriction has turned mastering into a loudness war rather than a quest for getting decent audio quality out of a potentially well sounding media. The war has become so furious that equipment downstream of mastering is not able to pass or reproduce the audio material without adding significant distortion to it, thereby causing early listening fatigue at the end listener. info@audioplexus.com

AVALON 747sp The opto-compressor features a minimum signal path design utilizing sealed silver relays for all signal routing and by pass functions. The optical attenuator acts as a passive level controller with a Class A, variable gain make-up amplifier. Full dynamic control from soft compression to hard-knee limiting can be achieved with master threshold, ratio-compression, attack and release controls. Gain reduction indication is a large analog VU meter. Low frequency and high frequency contour parametric spectral controls can be routed into the side-chain path for enhanced frequency dependent compression with variable frequency and threshold levels. SC listen provides side-chain listen mode for monitoring.

DVD-Audio compilation, Mastering and Authoring
High Resolution multichannel up to 24/96
High Resolution Stereo up to 24/96
Dedicated Stereo Mix or Downmix options
Mastering and Re-Mastering
Output to CD DAT DVD or DLT
Input from Vinyl - Cassette - CD - DAT - MiniDisc
Full range of DD encoding for DVD and CD DTS Encoding
Full range of DTS encoding
DTS - DVD or DTS - CD
Mastering and Authoring
Multitrack Mixdown and Production
Final mix in any format required
Output to CD-R DAT DVD-R DLT MiniDisc or file format
Any format and resolution up to 24/192 Khz

While mastering on your PC can give good results, I certainly wouldn't claim that it gives results as good as those achieved by a professional mastering engineer. For a start, you're unlikely to have a state-of-the-art monitoring system that's flat down to 30Hz or less to accurately judge the bass end. You won't have tens of thousands of pounds worth of esoteric EQ, compression, reverb, and other goodies to tweak your sound to perfection.

Most of all, however, you're unlikely to have the same level of expertise, objectivity, and impartiality. Good mastering engineers are renowned for their 'golden ears', and their skills are acquired through years of training and experience.