Here is a good video that goes over the role of the "Mastering Engineer," in this case, Mandy Parnell:
Quite fascinating that she almost always works in analog domain. Digital files are played, EQ, Level, etc. is applied in analog domain and content re-digitized! So a generational loss is introduced.
Can somewhat see why though. Digital manipulation requires careful attention to headroom because you can easily increase levels and cause clipping. In analog, this is not nearly as much of a problem and at any rate, the results can be heard immediately.
And then there is the convenience of having lots of knobs to change with tactile feedback than mouse clicks.
Definitely worth a watch.
Quite fascinating that she almost always works in analog domain. Digital files are played, EQ, Level, etc. is applied in analog domain and content re-digitized! So a generational loss is introduced.
Can somewhat see why though. Digital manipulation requires careful attention to headroom because you can easily increase levels and cause clipping. In analog, this is not nearly as much of a problem and at any rate, the results can be heard immediately.
And then there is the convenience of having lots of knobs to change with tactile feedback than mouse clicks.
Definitely worth a watch.