I usually like to give people encouragement in this area, even if also
cautioning about the differences between project mastering and pro.
However, the thougt of mastering solely with a masterlink sends a shiver
down my spine, especially if the source is something with potential like
the 24 track analog you mention. Even if you're not planning to EQ and
only looking to attain "modern levels" (hopefully within reason as some
modern levels are distorted flattened crap) and want to put songs in
order and burn a CD, why not use a simple DAW like Samplitude and get an
L2 plug-in for some limiting? Normalizing won't get you the level you
are after. There's going to need to be some limiting, and the masterlink
isn't what I would choose to do any processing. There's a better way to
accomplish your goal, even though your needs may be modest. I just can't
recommend processing inside that box, no matter how much I'd like to say
somthing encouraging. Your goal is reasonable; this particular tool,
however, is not really the one for the job.

--
Jay Frigoletto
Mastersuite
Los Angeles
promastering.com