Just what the digital doctor ordered, the TC Electronic Studio Finalizer is a digital domain mastering tool. The Finalizer is the off-spring of the TC M2000 Wizard unit and represents a cost-effective way to digitally master your final mix DAT tape in real-time without using a computer-based digital audio editor.

The Finalizer is connected between the console output and your DAT input to process your total mix. You can use the internal analog-to-digital converters or process using the analog ins and outs. So you can also master all-analog recordings with minimal signal path electronics. Since the Finalizer also has digital ins and outs, you can also "master" an already recorded DAT in complete digital domain. You would then hook the unit between a playback DAT machine and a recording DAT machine or CD recorder by way of the AES or S-PDIF digital ports.

The Finalizer has a five-band stereo equalizer and three-band stereo compressor/limiter/expander. There are many factory presets to get you started in achieving your exact sound. Other built-in features include: Normalizer to ensure optimum digital signal level, "groove" emulation, stereo enhancement, MS levels, de-essing and an optional, stand-alone fader for final level and/or fades. A number of analyzer functions are also provided such as a phase correlation meter and a high resolution peak meter.

Just like the M2000, the Finalizer uses a large bit-mapped LCD panel display to show signal flow and all effects in use. 20-bit, 105dB dynamic range stereo converters are used with 16-bit dithering and HP-TDF noise shaping. This means that the Finalizer will still be viable if and when the new 20-bit consumer format is introduced.