i have also heard good masters for 150 pounds for a whole album...
i think what'a happening at the moment is that the mastering business is saturated - home mastering really only kicked off in the last 5 years as people figured out it wasn't a 'black art' and the quality of the equipment and the room didn't 'really' matter... Kind of irritating when i have spent nearly 10k us on my monitoring alone...
But not really. Mastering in some cases IS indeed a black art and here is one of the situations where having experience and good equipment pays off.
i find it 'easy' to make a bad mix sound good, the tricky part is to make a good mix sound great... I have heard some WEIRD stuff happening while maatering a good (or bad) mix - this is where the 'black art' comes into the equation, which basically consists of a number of tricks and techniques gathered through years of work... And that ain't worth 150 bucks
Also knowing your tools inside out is also what i would call 'black art'... It's all about knowledge, experience, attention to detail and communication with your client. Being honest helps heaps too.
there's also the fact that the ME is the final link between a project and consumers and this is a big responsibilty. Ever heard dodgy track markers on a good cd? Annoying isn't it? Have you ever had a pressing plant rejecting your master? I's not all about making it sound loud and good...
james, i got a copy of the latest version of peak kindly donated to my by bias. I has definitely improved a lot since v4. Not 100% converted yet, but i'm starting to use it more and more. Thanks for the tip.