Let's talk Mastering

[ElDiablo1878]

At a very basic level, I understand what mastering does. But apart from a bad master having"clipping", how do you differentiate a good master from a bad one?

And what are your favourite mastered metal albums/mastering houses?

cheers

 

[MrBongo]

No audible distortion.
No compressor pumping.
No ear-piercing, far-too-loud presence area (high-mids).

Very rare to find music that doesn´t have at least one of the above.

The latest Opeth sounds very good. Other than that I can´t think of any atm