The impact this will have on your final production is often times overlooked and grossly underestimated. Generally It’s a big “no no” to have your mixer master your music. The Real Professionals don't do it this way - why should you. I’m sure there are rare exceptions out there, but it’s not the clear consensus. To the skeptics I say – true there have been decent CD’s done this way, but you will find 90% of them failed to meet there full potential. The mastering engineer is an experienced professional who lets you know what needs to be tweaked to achieve the best, finalized, optimized sound possible for your music. Again you could earna 6 year degree learning what this last sentence is all about. This is exactly why the Mixer should never be the Master.

The bottom line – the more professionals you have working on your production the more perspective you will get. Having said that generally it’s never a good idea to have a Studio Engineer mix the music, or have your mixing engineer master the music, or have your guitar player who owns his own basement studio do everything to save some case. If all the above is from one individual then it is more than likely a greedy attempt to stroke all your cash as your heading out the door, or someone trying to be over ambitious. So do yourself a big favor, have each phase of your production assigned to a different professional. Trust me you will not regret what the final product will sound like. Besides it’s how the pros do it.

I asked Rick Fisher a top Mastering Engineer on the West Coast in particular why the mixer never be the master? Do you know what he said? "Because he already knows where all the dead bodies are buried." I couldn’t have said it better myself.