Should the mastering be performed at the same studio right after recording the tracks and making mixdown of them?
No. Mastering should always be performed by a specialist dealing with this area of music production all the time. That gives the advantage of objectivity. do not waste time trying to do it yourself- you will loose you energy needed for working as an artist, a performing musician, composer or arranger. the mastering specialist has experience and objectivity when it comes to mastering, and his objective look at mixdown is very important. If for example, the same person does tracking, and then mixing, there always will be some kind of subjective perspective on such material. Therefore, the best mix should be ideally made by a different person than musicians recording a song. This is all about team work and concentration on own thing, the more you want a really good mix the sooner you should pass it into hand of a mixing specialist. Trust him. He will know what to do and will help achieving your music a new, better dimension. In case of the mastering the best benefits also come from passin
