[Mike Caffrey]

I don't understand why there's a belief that a mastering engineer is going to be better at stereo buss compression than a mix engineer.

Since most people do compress their stereo buss, you could argue they have less experience compressing an uncompressed stereo buss than a mix engineer.

I think Drew said if you're good at compression and EQ, go ahead an do it. I agree, but I think if you're bad at it, you'll have already butchered the mix with bad compression and EQ, so why worry.

If you're not good at it, why are you doing the mixing in the first place?

So, let's make the assumption that a person asking about compressing the stereo buss is good enough at using compressors and EQs that they're able to adequately mix the track. Go ahead an do it.

There are a couple of fail safes. One - there's a producer right? Or at least someone in that role. Second, there's the artist. Third, there's whoever is paying you. IT's also possible that all three of these are the same person. Do your best and if they love it, you're done. It doesn't matter how it sounds if it sounds the way they're paying you to make it sound.

Fourth, print a version without the stereo processing. If you've got comrpession and EQ, print all permutations - nothing, comrpession only, EQ only, and both compression and EQ together. It's not going to take you too many projects until you get tired of the extra work and have heard the various options and you'll be able to cut it down to one or two versions.

Theoretically, with digital, a masterting engineer should do nothing. Historically, mastering has been about making the Duplication Master. So, once people no longer cut to disc, you sent your tape to a specialist who would make changes that were necessary for the format. For instance, too much low end could bounce the needle off the record. So they'd filter or compress.

Then think about the era where a mix was going to be released on 8-track or cassette as well as vinyl. What about adding a little extra top, or tweaking the noise reduction?

So now you've got someone making artistic changes relative to the format. And yes, people heard comrpession from radio stations and asked for it during the mastering stage, but conceptually the artistic work in mastering was to translate the mix effectively to it's distribution format.

If you're working at 16bit/44.1, theoretically, the mastering engineer doesn't have to alter it in any way to suit the format. Just sequence and QC the PMCD.

So theoretically, you should be mixing the song the way you want it to sound when it's released.

Now, I'm sure people want to point out that mastering engineers have better gear or better monitoring environments. That's possibly true depending on the studio your mixing in. But to argue that the mastering engineer's job is to finalize the sound of the record artistically, independent of the format, is to assume some kind of shortcoming at the studio level, like bad skill, monitors, or gear.

If that's in fact the case, rather than worry about whether or not to compress the stereo buss, fix the shortcoming. Mix someplace else, or have someone else do it. That's the real answer and is kind of what people are saying when they suggest leaving stereo buss compression for the mastering engineer. If you're not capable of comrpession the stereo buss properly, maybe someone else should be mixing.

But, going back to our assumption, that the mix engineer is good, or at least adequate, that means go ahead and mix it to sound like the client wants it to sound when it's released. If because of budget restrictions, or experience there is some kind of shortcoming at the mix stage, then the mastering engineer can do a little extra to compensate for that. In that case, you have to evaluate and shortcomings of that particular mix context and make the stereo buss decision based on that, not some kind of generalization of whether or not to compress the stereo buss.

Do you think Calbi or Athens would prefer a Michael Brauer mix without stereo compression? Of course not, that's part of the mix. Would they prefer an uncompressed mix from someone who had compressed it poorly? Of course.

Stereo buss compression is part of the mix stage, not the adaptation to the format.

It can also be part of the mastering stage as part of the adaptation to the format or to compensate for mix stage shortcomings.