I record on an old Mac Mini/Digi002/PT8LE setup I bought from FM cakes years ago for like $300 total. It has served me well and I'm familiar with it. The OS and browsers are super old and maxed out, so I don't ever connect it to the internet (inundated with updates and stuff stops working if I do). So... I'm wondering is there's a quick standalone mastering situation I can use on my crappy windows 10 laptop with my mixdown stereo wav file. My other option is I have an old version of Reaper (not sure which) on that Mac Mini as well, if there's something good already built in to that I could explore that option.

The less I have to do the better. Preferably a preset that helps me with my low volume, but it would be cool if it also gently widened the top and bottom end slightly. Or if it just had a few EQ peaks that are maybe common places to cut/bump.

You can install Reaper onto a thumbdrive for portable use.

Tokyo Dawn makes some very good EQ and Comp plugins. The Free versions sound great and are almost all you need. The very reasonably priced pay versions are full featured and fantastic.

https://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/

As far as standalone apps for mastering, none of the good ones are free, and none of the free ones do as much as Reaper. But Soundforge, Wavelab, Izotope, Etc... All work well. I could never figure out why anyone used Audacity for anything.

Yeah you won't find a more GUI-minimalist (and good sounding!) plug in than the Air Windows stuff, but if you end up using Reaper the Xcomp (I think it's called) multi-band comp EQ has few decent master-y presets. The 'glue' setting on the regular ReaComp can be nice and subtle too.

Other than that there's always bumping up the volume on the master fader and rendering it 'til you find a sweet spot. TBH you can get away with a red peak or two over the course of the song without being noticeable.

Not free, but I think I got it for about 30$ during a crazy sale a year or two ago (looks like normal price is 299$ which is definitely steep.)

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... rdesk.html

It's really amazing.

on sale now

Izotope shit.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=8350

Thanks all for the suggestions so far.

Dumb question, as I'm not super computer savvy (I've never downloaded a plug in for example - and am not super familiar which types work in what). But that Airwindows thing is still a plug in which I can't use without a DAW, right? My best case scenario would be to find a plug-in I can download in 2021 that works in my 2011 version of Pro Tools (LE 8). Is that even a thing? Second best scenario is something I can use on it's own so I don't have to learn a new DAW. Last option is having to download a current version of Reaper (which I found confusing to use last time I tried an old version), just to use a plug-in.

It's been so long since I used PT. I think at V.8 they used audio units plugs. Not sure (for mac) what current plug in formats will be compatible with pre v.9/10 (when they opened up compatibility a little) Protools. Ironically, I think V.8 was the last PT version I actually owned, back in 2010-11 maybe.

Anyone else remember these PT details?

Edit: the more I try to look this up the more I think you should give Reaper (or something else) another try. Not sure you are going to find many newer plugins that are going to work with PT8. DAWs don't "vintage" well.

tommy wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:29 pmDumb question, as I'm not super computer savvy (I've never downloaded a plug in for example - and am not super familiar which types work in what). But that Airwindows thing is still a plug in which I can't use without a DAW, right? My best case scenario would be to find a plug-in I can download in 2021 that works in my 2011 version of Pro Tools (LE 8). Is that even a thing? Second best scenario is something I can use on it's own so I don't have to learn a new DAW. Last option is having to download a current version of Reaper (which I found confusing to use last time I tried an old version), just to use a plug-in.

Correct, it's a plugin rather than standalone software. I have no insight into PT, any version, but if you have Reaper that should run it, even older Reaper. Very easy to install, too, and without any asinine licensing scheme that will demand you have an Internet connection etc. I know it's not a standalone program but I think it satisfies your criteria.

tommy wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:13 am I record on an old Mac Mini/Digi002/PT8LE setup I bought from FM cakes years ago for like $300 total. It has served me well and I'm familiar with it. The OS and browsers are super old and maxed out, so I don't ever connect it to the internet (inundated with updates and stuff stops working if I do). So... I'm wondering is there's a quick standalone mastering situation I can use on my crappy windows 10 laptop with my mixdown stereo wav file. My other option is I have an old version of Reaper (not sure which) on that Mac Mini as well, if there's something good already built in to that I could explore that option.

The less I have to do the better. Preferably a preset that helps me with my low volume, but it would be cool if it also gently widened the top and bottom end slightly. Or if it just had a few EQ peaks that are maybe common places to cut/bump.

You could just Google Drive/Dropbox/Whatever it, and have someone do it with software they have.

Hell, I could take a crack at it just to see if a given piece of software gets you to where you want to go.