Please add some thoughts here on whether you take into account if your music channels ‘summation’ or one shot stereo imaged recording will be mastered, what you do to it, if anything, at the pre master stage.
– me, for example:
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i know sometimes im taking far too much care in the production mixing stages to make sure i can stay 4 steps ahead of myself with too much of a mind on mastering at the end or sending it to be mastered. just mix in stages with outside machines into the mixer then daw/channel strip being added to and subtracted from as i go. … Not looking for help just your own experiences past of present. 
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The short answer is, I don’t think about polishing (mastering) my tunes at all until I get to that stage. Until I get to that stage any thinking in that direction is pretty theoretical because I don’t have a finished product to polish.
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thank you… this is just what needed to hear. very good sense.
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It is very easy to get lost in all the details. : )
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i got so stuck into caring too much about pre masters where i over read far too many gearslutz posts over 6 months on the topic
Haha, been down that rabbit hole myself. At least for me, if I get 20 different people to listen to a song I make that feels like a huge accomplishment so these days I try my best to focus on making something interesting even if it ends up a little raw in the end product.
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I appreciate your thoughts on this. Currently taking a break… sold a few things, brought a few new things… awaiting them all to arrive… the break will help me get out of over thinking.
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I focus a lot at the pre master stage… mastering for me only adds slight touches for overall enhancements…
I spend most of my time working out what type of saturation works best with each sound and the whole track as a whole…
I think I spend around 1 hour in the flow , establishing the songs concept, idea and character. Then I arrange and mix at the same time and this takes probably 3-4 hours… if I spend long periods of time on one song (like a week or month or ever year mixing) then I end up never being satisfied with it…
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very good man thanks for the input. i find it quite fascinating to hear others approaches. this is so similar to my flow too … im trying for a track finished within a day now and another three to see if i love it or it needs a another day or so but yes… taking too long is not my style either