During "post" as it is sometimes referred to, the producer is responsible for all of the final details. This is basically putting the "icing on the cake" or the "gravy" if you will.
1. editing
2. mastering - Preparation of our final stereo mix for distribution making final adjustments to the overall sound - (incl. editing out unwanted
sound, EQ overall song, compression, if needed, for final format).
The song is now ready for its final format (ie. AIFF, MP3, Wave, Liquid Audio, Real Audio, Web Streaming, CD, etc.).
Don't minimize the importance of mastering. It is absolutely essential to preparing a commercially viable product. If you skimp on this step or decide to skip this step all together, you'll find that your project simply wont sound as good as other commercial records on the market. And let's face it, even if you are only going for an independent release, your project will still be competing for the consumer dollar.
What will make your target consumer spend their downloading dollar or $10 bill on your project versus the new Top 4o release? The producer should definitely think about marketing questions such as these when producing a record, but whether or not to master is an absolute non-negotiable.
