Mixing

Mixing is all about getting tracks, layers or instruments to work together as a balanced song. The mixdown process is all about making sure all the parts are in place. Vocal layers need their proper space to fit in the song and instrument tracks need to be carved out and properly panned to allow the vocals to shine and not lose clarity. A good mix should easily flow into the mastering process. 

Before a mix is finished, time should be taken for mix referencing to get perspective. Mix referencing means comparing your mix critically against other songs in your library, previous mixes, or other versions of your song in the same project. Listen for the key aspects of your mix like frequency range, dynamics and the levels of each element. Hearing how your mix compares to other professional work can give valuable information about what needs to change to get a polished sound.

Listening in different listening environments is another important mix referencing technique—especially if you’re mixing in an environment with little or no acoustic treatment. We reference your mix on different sound systems—studio monitors, laptop speakers, earbuds, car stereos and phone speakers to help decide if your mix is finished and we’ve made it sound as good as it possibly can.

What we do for you.

There’s two ways we can get your mix done. 2-track mixing, which includes the vocal files and the beat—or multi-track mixing, a full fledged thorough mix where you send us each tracked out instrumental file and each vocal layer. This allows for the best mix possible which more precision as far as panning, stereo separation and balance. We allow for up to 50 tracks maximum per song for mixing. PLEASE, do not send us individually cut punch-ins, sections, multiple takes etc. Your files need to be fully tracked out and spaced in order so when we load them in the DAW everything is aligned with the proper placement and timing. MAKE SURE, that you attach as a compressed .zip folder. Do not send each individual file one by one.

We can clean up more imperfections for you with full trackouts as well. We’ll manually dip out empty areas that might contain unwanted sounds, reduce breaths, sibilance (hisses or harsh S’s, SH’s & T’s), and take out pops, clicks and mouth clicks. Personally, we find it very irritating when a song has loud breaths or harsh S’s, it makes the recording sound amateur. There are tools that automate this that we use from time to time but we prefer to sometimes do this manually for more control so there isn’t any energy loss.

Multi-track mixing offers better results but is also much more time consuming. For this reason the fee is higher. We allow you to choose what works best for you. Keep in mind we do offer discounts for multiple songs.