Multi-producer albums are the hardest to master: forging sonic cohesion from tracks with different tonal characters

An album from a single producer, engineer, and studio has a consistent signature that masters relatively easily. A multi-producer album arrives with tracks that may be bright and thin, dark and muddy, or mid-forward. The mastering engineer must find tonal compromises that work across all of them while creating the illusion of a coherent record — Doug Sax’s ‘making what is really a cafeteria sound feel like a planned meal.‘

Examples

Doug Sax: several mixes from Nashville in different formats, a couple from New York dark and muddy, others bright and thin — he must find EQ that works for all without breaking any one.

Assessment

What makes a multi-producer album harder to master than a single-studio album?