I know for bigger projects a person should let the experts master. But it's alright I think to play around with getting the best sound possible for smaller projects that you don't plan on sending to the mastering experts. In Pro Tools, you get to put a master track which is the summation of all the active tracks at once. If you're sending it to an expert to master, you shouldn't put any effects on this one. But if you decide to play around with it, what do you put on this track, and in what order?
I've been putting a compressor, brick wall limiter, and EQ, on. Having never taken lessons on mastering, I know I should try to listen to the music as much as I go thru the motions. Does anybody else want to share their techniques here? I'm sure I could learn a lot.