[Mackrochips]

I'm biting my lip right now not to name names, but one of these well-spoken of mastering engineers from Brooklyn mentioned above totally blew off an associate of mine this past week- as in text messaged them 45 minutes before the scheduled appointment and said they couldn't do it! The mastering engineer would not answer their phone, or offer any explanation, just a total flake- they just 'faded' this artist out, and never answered a subsequent email inquiring about the reason and POOR TIMING of the cancellation (the artist was on the way to the mastering appointment).
The bottom line is that my associate was an independent artist- paying to get one song mastered out of their own pocket- so the mastering engineer probably figured they could ditch them with impunity.

So when you make a mastering appointment GET A CONFIRMATION EMAIL containing exacts- sort of like a contract or friendly agreement. If it was the other way around and the artist blew off the mastering appointment they'd want half- or spread the word around that the artist was a slacker.

Many of these mastering studios have made such a huge investment in gear they have no choice but to cater to a more corporate clientele and are just 'not for' independent artists with no clout.
There is a big mastering engineer in the Boston area I could also name who I know is buried up to their ear drums in credit card debt- that would be an example of someone who would blow off an indy artist for a corporate client out of necessity.

Don't automatically equate Brooklyn with "indy-friendly" even though the average rate is like $15 less per hour. Also remember this thing called the internet where information is traded freely and reputations can take a dive when truths are revealed.