^^ I didnt say the actual limiting cant be done yourself, I just said its not mastering, because its not. If all mastering consisted of was that, then ME's wouldnt have the jobs they do. If you had a track professionaly mastered and it sounded no better than your home attempts, then its down to the guy not doing his job properly, in which case, your right that doing it at home is just as good.
All Mastering means is, "To produce a master audio recording"... so I don't know why you don't look at a well Mixed down track that is limited at home (and it being the final version of the piece of music) to be the "master recording" of said music. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
I would agree with you that Limiting is simply 'AN' aspect of Mastering a tune... Mastering does 'NOT' have to encompass all techniques that can be employed at the Master stage. That's like saying Music isn't Music unless it has Piano in it. Crude Analogy but you get the point.
Mastering is whatever the Producer does at the final stage of his Production to end up with a 'final product' yes/no? Makes sense to me but what do I know..
This is my point: a well mixed down track needs 'nothing more' than a Limit to be finalized/Mastered... and Shane didn't do ANYthing I couldn't already do with Ozone at home. My Mix was flawless and if anything he might have squeezed the Threshold a bit more than me which was personal taste. It's not a matter of him not doing his job, it's a matter of the perception that "mastering a good mixdown is difficult and need only be attempted/done by a pro/engineer". It's a load of bollocks.
NOW... Mastering for Vinyl is a DIFFERENT story because of the low frequencies that need to be centered.
Mastering Digital music at home is and continues to be a reality for many, and people are making music that sounds as good if not better than what the 'pros' can do.
The cat has been out of the bag for a looooong time and established Engineers that once made a killing doing 15-30 mins of work on well mixed down electronic music are now pissed because a multitude of Home Producers don't need their services anymore.
Hell, you can see similar work being done in other forms of Art... look at Indie Movies and Games... it's only a matter of time before the big boys are dethroned.
You're entitled to your opinion though... I mean no disrespect... but I do feel 'very' strongly about someone else thinking they're going to bring my track to life (at the final stage/Mastering) when I'M the one who spent ages sculpting it. Such an important final aspect to a piece of art should be left to the Artist and no one else imo.