It's GOLD "Jerry"!

Thank you SO much for this thread :)
 
Bob Bone
 

Don't agree with No 8.  I have mastered many of my own mixes and very well might I add.  The secret is leaving plenty of time eg one or two weeks between mixing and mastering.  Then you do approach it with a fresh set of ears. You don't really remember much. (or I don't anyway)
 
In fact I could argue in favour of mastering your own mixes. If you have got a real good idea of how you want the final master to actually sound you can mix towards it and then when you are mastering later on you can master and finalise that sound even further.  Sometimes a different mastering engineer will drift away from what you may have had in mind.  Too often the case.
 
You can mix after tracking too but also leave one or two weeks just to get over the whole tracking experience. That is what he does not mention. But it does require patience though.

I'm on the other side of the fence Jeff. I'll send my songs to my mastering engineer just to get that fresh set of ears. My philosophy is that it can't hurt for someone else to have a listen and pick up on something that I may have missed. I'm not saying it can't be done, and I'm sure almost everyone has mastered their own mixes, it's just that I really value someone that knows what sound I usually aim for, and can help me achieve that if I'm not quite there. There is also the issue of listening in completely different room, which is relevant to those of us that mix in a room that is not ideal.

Some good points made by rebe1007. Especially hearing your mix on another set of speakers.
 
A good mastering engineer will only do a great job and a better job of mastering than you only if they are right on the same page as you and they know exactly how you want it to sound in the very end.
 
Sometimes the client does not get that across very well to the ME and in fact he ends up moving away from what the artist is hearing in their head and only make it much worse. Mastering is one art where this can happen so easily. Mixing too I guess but usually they are around during that process more.
 
I have been on the other end of the stick too and got a great mix from a client and I thought I knew what they wanted and mastered the album according to how I was hearing it in my head and I thought it was pretty damn good. Only to find they hated it!
 
In the end I ended up doing a really great job for him and he is thrilled now. But what really helped was the reference tracks that I was getting. It is really important. If there is a track you just love, the ME will really appreciate it a lot. (Well I do anyway, if they say don't give me any ref tracks the chances of them getting it totally wrong increases indeed!) I certainly appreciate it and once I got it a light bulb went off and I got what they were after.
 
Interesting too was the first three ref CD's I was given were not right either. (even though the artist thought they were) When I tried mastering like what I heard from the ref CD's I was still off base. It was not until the 4th or 5th reference track the penny just dropped. 
 
All I am saying is if you are lucky enough to be able to master your own tracks well and there are a few that can, it saves a whole lot of hassle. Otherwise if you can’t then use a ME for sure but make it very clear to them how you want it to sound in the end.  And don’t accept something that you feel is not right either. You are paying damn good money. Make them work for it. Speak up and make them do it again. I mastered that album 3 to 4 times before I totally nailed it for the artist. That is what point 8 does not mention so much.