Rev E, you make some excellent points about the mastering concept.
It has been my experience, especially in the higher learning curve days, that the mastering engineer just heard things in the mix that I didn't, or couldn't at the time. Also, him having the vast background to compare from was invaluable.
It is so easy to get caught up in what you think your material should sound like, forgetting that the end listener hasn't heard it a million times. They get that benefit of a first listen to the finale product. Often, the mastering engineer is hearing it for the first time too, and can make decisions about eq and compression that has a totally fresh perspective that the tracking and mixing engineer may not have.
I agree, if you are not trying to sell a lot of product, or submit masters to a label, and are just having some fun, or making demos, certainly the process of mastering is educational, and fun to try out. But when the ultimate quality is desired, you just can't beat what the pro's can do.
There is still the idea about qualitive differences between great stand alone hardware, and dedicated top of the line software mastering solutions, and what most of us can afford. Relying upon your PC to offer the same quality as what mastering houses offer just isn't going to cut it. Processing power on the PC, as well as better written algorythms in software needs to significantly improve to catch up with the current popular batch of mastering hardware used for professional recordings. The all in one solutions like the TC Finalizer are decent "project" boxes, but just still are not really at the level of other more "standard" mastering tools that cost a hell of a lot more. Like I said in an earlier post, Apogee converters cost as much, and sometimes more then the TC box does. How good can the TC's converters really be? You still need to include the chips for the DSP and what not into the price. Then when you consider that something like Weiss digital EQ, which doesn't even have converters, cost's more then the TC box by itself, well, you get the idea. I digital EQ that costs more then a all in one unit will certainly outperform it.
CJ, if you are up for it, try the TC box and do the mastering yourself. As long as you don't expect it to provide the same ultimate results of professional mastering, you will have a lot of fun learning about it, and certainly after a couple of projects at least break even. You may not quite get the same high quality mastering job done doing it yourself, but your education will continue. Really though, if you can rent or borrow the box and try it out, you will get a better idea of whether you are okay with the results of doing it yourself.
Good luck.
Ed