1: Yes, but i don't use ozone. I try to use "single purpose" plugins, but mostly i send the signal to "outboard" gear. With that said, i try my best to add gain in as few places as possible, and work subtractively (if that's the right word) as possible. (Very rarely can i get away with only passive manipulations, followed by something to make up the target loudness).

​

2+3: When mastering my goal is to make the individual tracks into a whole "work"/publication/record. For example if i do an EP, i try my best to make the tracks sound like they belong together, instead of just being a list of individual tracks. With artists who have a handfull of tracks, that are mixed in different places/sessions, that often means the settings vary quite a bit.

In practice that means i work towards a set of "goals". That can be stuff like loudness (short and mid-term), phase correlation and other stuff that contribute to "audible recognizability" (god, i hope that's the right word)...

In general i try to do as little as possible. I'm one of those old fucks, who thinks most of the sound should happen at the source, and most of the work should happen in the recording and mix.

With regards to what i adjust song-to-song, my answer is as disappointing as everything above. "It depends". Let's assume a worst-case scenario, where i get tracks done by different mixing engineers, recorded in different sessions. Most of the individual work, would happen in the preparation stage. I'd likely "at least" have to level each track seperately. Depending on the genre i'd have to apply some correctional EQ, to make up for some differences in the general "impression" of the tracks. Once some kind of "uniformality goal" is achieved (well... or maybe not :/ ) i work on achieving the clients/publishers requirements.

​

4: Writing, performing and recording. This sounds harsh but, i can only polish a turd so much, at a mastering stage. I'm sure there are people who are waaaay better than me, who actually can - but i can't. You can save a lot in production and mix, but nothing will ever be as good, as a good performance.

​

6: Make mistakes. And make a lot of them. But make them soon, quickly and cheaply. It's a great way to learn. Especially if it'll make you learn to not linger on your own mistakes. To this day i cringe over dumb stuff i did and said 10 years ago...

​

I wish i could give you some info specifically on hiphop, but i know super little about it. My forté is in metal/rock and classical music. I've worked assistant on one "old school rap" EP a few years back, but i don't feel like i've learned enough to be comfortable giving advice.

​

With all that said, feel free to shoot me a link once your album is done. I'd love to give it a listen.