My aim is to provide clarity, depth, width and height to your mix.
It's the final chance in setting the stage for your track and to solidify the experience you want to impart on the world. In the realms of Experiential Media a master usually pertains to Music but finds it's roots in finalizing any medium for print. For instance in Film the final bounce of the entire soundtrack is called: The Printmaster.
The art of mastering is often mischaracterised as just getting something to sound as good as possible, as loud as possible. And while that is certainly the case in certain genres it's more about understanding loudness and psycho-acoustics - the brains' perception of sound and how sound signals translate through different media.
Mastering is about the art of sculpting a sonic landscape maximally enjoyable to human perception. Because we often feel that louder is better, more impactful, the aim is always to go as loud as I can without crossing the line of compromising the sound quality. Where that line lays depends greatly on the genre of music and distribution media.
When mastering music I go with an all analog chain or go completely in the box. Mostly I prefer a healthy mix of both.
You can't replace a certain glue - textures of analog things like Vacuum Tubes. Nothing analog however can produce phase coherent digital precision like a solid Linear Phase EQ.
Any of part of my kit can ultimately be put to use in getting your track where it needs to be and ensures it will adhere to any standards that are required, both on- and offline.