What is Mixing?

What is mixing?

Great question!

In theory, mixing is the process by which we take all of the quality recorded tracks that you (the producer) provides to be processed before the mastering stage, so that all of the elements work cohesively together, sometimes referred to as "in balance".

The process looks something like:

  1. Songwriting
  2. Arranging
  3. Demo tracking
  4. Re-arranging
  5. Final tracking
  6. Mixing
  7. Mastering

As you can see, Mixing is late in the process of producing a song.  It is the step just before Mastering, and prepares the song for the process of Mastering.

Where bands can tend to go wrong is trying to circumvent the process, and instead try to alleviate problems by "fixing in the mixing", or even worse, "fixing in the mastering".

Although some problems can be addressed in both stages of production (Mixing and Mastering), the best time to address any problems are:

  • After Demo tracking
    • Address the arrangement if something doesn't seem to be working right
      • Psst!  This is why demo tracking is done in the first place!
      • Many bands mistake demo tracking for final tracking
  • While final tracking
    • Record it correctly the first time
      • If it doesn't sound good, don't keep it
      • If you need any help with recording, send me an email at RockMetalStudios@gmail.com so we can help

Submitting high quality materials allows the mix engineer to be creative with the mixing process, and inevitably saves time (and money) for you, the producer.

How much does it cost for you to mix my tracks?

I'll work with you for free on the first track to give you a hard estimate. 

I tend to book 10 hours of studio time per song on an album (at $25/hour = $250 per song), however, that's not true for every song.

A 12 minute song with one instrument is very different from a 4 minute song with 100 instruments.

Kapeesh?

Send me an email at RockMetalStudios@gmail.com so we can begin discussing your project.

We'll do the first track for free. 

Email me at RockMetalStudios@gmail.com.

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