Popular Mastering Software and Plugins

…for podcast production: (fyi, this is not an exhaustive list)

• iZotope Ozone — I use this one sometimes. It has many modules including EQ, Multiband Dynamics, Maximizer, Exciter, Vintage Tape and more. You can also use each module as an individual plugin within your DAW!
• Auphonic — Mostly used by podcasters to level the final episode to the official unofficial LUFS standard (-16 LUFS for stereo and -19 LUFS for mono). And now Auphonic can actually add compression and limiting to make your episodes have a specific dynamic range measured in Loudness Units (LU). It doesn’t include EQ or any other processing, so I would consider this a stripped down version of mastering, yet very handy for the average podcaster for sure.
• Individual plugins chained together — You could put a bunch of plugins on your master buss in your DAW and adjust them to taste. These could include EQ, compression, limiting, etc. Personally, I usually use Aquamarine 4 (dual-stage compressor) on my Master buss.
• Plugins that come with your DAW — I think first of Adobe Audition which has lots of great processing right inside the program. You could just apply a mastering preset to the entire mix and voila. Other DAW’s have processing, too, so investigate what processing comes native with your DAW.

What do you use in your mastering step, if anything? 

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