Hi guys,

I don't mean to be a pest but I would like to take a moment and describe/share my current mastering method with you pro mastering engineers which I would like to leave wide open for some constructive criticism. So please if you spot anything you feel is not right, please do tell? This is appreciated.

Step1:
Once the mix is just right and the track is not clipping at all and there is a nice amount of headroom, I start with the sonnox inflator. I push it to the max which then usually causes the output on the plug-in (and the master bus) to clip. So to avoid the clipping i drop the input gain on the inflator (but i don't touch the amount of effect of the inflator, I leave it full) until it does not clip anymore (I only drop the input on the inflator to just stop the clipping, I don't drop the input gain anymore than I have to).

Step2:
I then do mid&side eq in ozone 4, most of the time I also do a low cut (40hz) and high cut (16000khz). Here I'll make sure that I have improved the tracks tone, I also do very slight alteration usually no more than 3db up or down on selected frequencies. Now usually after EQing because I have added gain, the master buss will start clipping again slightly. To stop this from happening I then drop the input gain on ozone 4 (I don't touch the eq tone settings) until the actual plug-in and the master bus has stopped clipping, again I only drop the input on ozone as much as is needed to stop the clipping no more no less.

Step 3:
I now add the PSP master compressor. Usually my ears get nice sounding results with setting close to the following: ration 1:2:1, attack 25ms, release around 130ms, with these setting in place I drop the threshold until I get about -3db's gain reduction on the VU meter of the mastering compressor, I also make use of auto gain switch on the mastering compressor, which adds a bit of gain to the total output. Now again after this, there are again a few peaks here and there that are going over on the mix bus. Because they are very slight I then flick the switch of the build in limiter on the mastering compressor, stopping the peaks in their tracks.

Step4:
The last thing I do is add 2 limiters to the chain, I usually start with logic's build in limiter and only add 1db gain, with lookahead all the way up, then I add the final limiter to the chain, the ozone 4 limiter, I then push this one until I get an average of about 3db's gain reduction and usually by then it's reaching for around -10db's RMS.

Now that being said, here is the criticism of the master I get: "sounds softer than other commercial CD's" not much but it does sound a bit softer. What on earth is wrong with my method? Where can I get more loudness? What's wrong with the chain? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.