Do your mixes really need a full mastering?

[Darth Fader]

Having huge respect for your mixing skills and knowing that I'm never going to hear mixmasters of the many No.1 hits you've engineered I just ask myself one question (most questions have already been answered by the fantastic other threads):

How big is the contribution of the mastering engineer to your mixes?

(I presume your mixmasters already sound "THERE" - and everything the mastering engineer has to do is sort of subliminal).

?

[Dave Pensado]

I use mastering as a safety net. Most of the time, Brian Gardner or Eddy Schryer does my mastering. They do very little compression or EQ, but get the overall level up. I don't use stereo buss compression, so this surprises me. I also have asked them to let me know if a particular studio is making me mix worse or better.

[Jose Mrochek]

Originally posted by Dave Pensado
I also have asked them to let me know if a particular studio is making me mix worse or better.

Please let us know their answer. Did you mean, the difference in gear from studio to studio.. or the vibe of the different places and how it affects on you ?

[T_R_S]

Originally posted by Jose Mrochek
Please let us know their answer. Did you mean, the difference in gear from studio to studio.. or the vibe of the different places and how it affects on you ?

Control Room Acoustics would be my guess.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by Dave Pensado
I use mastering as a safety net. Most of the time, Brian Gardner or Eddy Schryer does my mastering. They do very little compression or EQ, but get the overall level up. I don't use stereo buss compression, so this surprises me.

So how do you feel about the massive amount of limiting that occurs in mastering? Surely you can't be thrilled about having 7-10dB of limiting piled on and having a mix get smashed flatter then Kansas.

[jazzius II]

I'm interested in this too!

[Jay Kahrs]

Bump.

Dave, ya out there?!?