What should I look for when getting my music mixed and mastered

[Don Denero]

Whassup everyone!

I have a question... I will be presenting some of material to a major and I want my recordings to be mixed and mastered by an industry pro.... not someone working out of a basement/garage/warehouse! What should I ask/look for in those who offer mixing and mastering services?

The genre of music is rnb/pop
number of songs 3-5

Second question is how long does the process typically take? days,weeks, or months???? Obviously joe down the street can do it 5 min and claim its as good as sterling sound but i would like to know from someone who has mixed and mastered for an artist on a major label.

Budget is an issue for everyone and of course I would like the best possible results. How much should I expect to pay to get 3-5 songs mixed and mastered by someoned who has mixed and mastered for a major label?

I would appreciate any advice.... trying to do quick recon before I start calling around.

Peace

[computa]

[James Meeker]

Okay, this is the real deal. In my experience some of this you're not going to want to hear or believe. I'm going to be dispelling some myths and misconceptions here, so bear with me....

First off the quality of the mix is going to depend on what went on before it got mixed. Obviously the audio quality of the recording for the beat and the vocals are going to be a major factor. Bad or weak sounds aren't going to "magically" be made heavy hitting and great. Sloppy performances, off time overdubs and bad delivery aren't going to end up amazing.

Needless to say, at no time should your beat or vocals have ever been a MP3 and upsampled to 24/44.1 or whatever. Rapping over an MP3 is a sure fire way to get garbage in the end, and I see guys do it ALL THE TIME!

Also, make sure that the beat isn't clipping all over the place. If you kick is redlining (clipping) in the audio file that's something else the engineer has to mess with. Leave plenty of headroom in the tracks! Make sure things sound right from the start. Don't write a track around a weak snare if you think that the mix is going to somehow save the day--it's NOT! Get a new snare in there with some power and spunk. Garbage in, garbage out applies at every step of the game.

Another thing is editing. Make sure all the edits are FINISHED before mixing. All extraneous noise between vocal lines is chopped out, you've used VocAlign already, things are lined up and ready to ROCK. If not, this is something more the mixing engineer is going to have to mess with... which takes time away from the real work, or adds to the end studio time.

Secondly, you need to provide the mixer with the individual tracks, NOT a mixdown of the beat. Individual tracks means the kick is one audio file, the snare is another, and so on--give the mixer all of the elements broken up (but in sync when lined up in a DAW).

Do not expect a great mix unless you have both quality and the individual tracks for the engineer. If you cannot provide those things, then forget about it for now--work with producers/beat writers that will give you the individual tracks in a .wav format (24 bit/44.1 or greater) or any other professional standard.

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

Okay, now that you've done your job this is what you should expect from a professional mixer.

First listen to some tracks they've done. Check out who they've worked with in the past. Expect to pay more money for people that are actually good. Ballpark figure around 50-75 an hour or so, although most people give discounts for buying blocks of time. The guys that are cheaper are usually not worth it. You get what you pay for.

The other thing to remember is a PERSON is going to mix this. Don't be as focused on where you're going to get the mix, in other words, the studio. If you "shop a studio" without securing WHO is going to be doing the work you could end up at a great studio that's worked with all these big names and have your track mixed by a novice engineer that had nothing to do with those big artists. This happens all the time so focus on the who the engineer is going to be, talk to them--they are the one that ultimately is going to make the track sound good or not so good.

Don't get hung up on the tools either. ProTools, Cubase, Sonar... whatever... these are just tools. It's the man behind the tools that is going to make the difference. Find the right guy and let them worry about the platform, the tools and so forth. That's what they get paid for.

Like I've been saying--it's all about the engineer's skill and taste. That's what mixes a record.

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

As far as the time factor goes if you want to do it right you're going to tackle one song a day. Expect 5-8 hours of work PER TRACK for the mix. You want the best right? This is about the minimum time to get something really hopping. An experienced engineer working on a hip hop track should be able to easily manage a song a day. Anybody that is going to take weeks of time is definitely someone without much experience and is still "messin' around" with audio. Find a pro that eats, sleeps and breaths audio... they'll knock your project out in no time!

When everything is mixed have the whole bundle of songs mastered. Do it on a different day when everyone is fresh.

The reason most dudes sound local is because they got a MP3 beat off the internet, spit some stuff they made up five minutes beforehand into the mic and keep the first or second take, throw some random adlibs up behind it and give someone less than an hour to mix and master it. That's the local sound. What I'm suggesting is that you just do the opposite of the local dudes... and you'll be amazed... you'll sound a lot more national just by following this advice.

Good luck, probably not what you wanna hear but I hope this helps.

[phillysoulman]

No truer words were ever spoken..a big AMEN

[computa]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Okay, this is the real deal. In my experience some of this you're not going to want to hear or believe. I'm going to be dispelling some myths and misconceptions here, so bear with me....

First off the quality of the mix is going to depend on what went on before it got mixed. Obviously the audio quality of the recording for the beat and the vocals are going to be a major factor. Bad or weak sounds aren't going to "magically" be made heavy hitting and great. Sloppy performances, off time overdubs and bad delivery aren't going to end up amazing.

Needless to say, at no time should your beat or vocals have ever been a MP3 and upsampled to 24/44.1 or whatever. Rapping over an MP3 is a sure fire way to get garbage in the end, and I see guys do it ALL THE TIME!

Also, make sure that the beat isn't clipping all over the place. If you kick is redlining (clipping) in the audio file that's something else the engineer has to mess with. Leave plenty of headroom in the tracks! Make sure things sound right from the start. Don't write a track around a weak snare if you think that the mix is going to somehow save the day--it's NOT! Get a new snare in there with some power and spunk. Garbage in, garbage out applies at every step of the game.

Another thing is editing. Make sure all the edits are FINISHED before mixing. All extraneous noise between vocal lines is chopped out, you've used VocAlign already, things are lined up and ready to ROCK. If not, this is something more the mixing engineer is going to have to mess with... which takes time away from the real work, or adds to the end studio time.

Secondly, you need to provide the mixer with the individual tracks, NOT a mixdown of the beat. Individual tracks means the kick is one audio file, the snare is another, and so on--give the mixer all of the elements broken up (but in sync when lined up in a DAW).

Do not expect a great mix unless you have both quality and the individual tracks for the engineer. If you cannot provide those things, then forget about it for now--work with producers/beat writers that will give you the individual tracks in a .wav format (24 bit/44.1 or greater) or any other professional standard.

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

Okay, now that you've done your job this is what you should expect from a professional mixer.

First listen to some tracks they've done. Check out who they've worked with in the past. Expect to pay more money for people that are actually good. Ballpark figure around 50-75 an hour or so, although most people give discounts for buying blocks of time. The guys that are cheaper are usually not worth it. You get what you pay for.

The other thing to remember is a PERSON is going to mix this. Don't be as focused on where you're going to get the mix, in other words, the studio. If you "shop a studio" without securing WHO is going to be doing the work you could end up at a great studio that's worked with all these big names and have your track mixed by a novice engineer that had nothing to do with those big artists. This happens all the time so focus on the who the engineer is going to be, talk to them--they are the one that ultimately is going to make the track sound good or not so good.

Don't get hung up on the tools either. ProTools, Cubase, Sonar... whatever... these are just tools. It's the man behind the tools that is going to make the difference. Find the right guy and let them worry about the platform, the tools and so forth. That's what they get paid for.

Like I've been saying--it's all about the engineer's skill and taste. That's what mixes a record.

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

As far as the time factor goes if you want to do it right you're going to tackle one song a day. Expect 5-8 hours of work PER TRACK for the mix. You want the best right? This is about the minimum time to get something really hopping. An experienced engineer working on a hip hop track should be able to easily manage a song a day. Anybody that is going to take weeks of time is definitely someone without much experience and is still "messin' around" with audio. Find a pro that eats, sleeps and breaths audio... they'll knock your project out in no time!

When everything is mixed have the whole bundle of songs mastered. Do it on a different day when everyone is fresh.

The reason most dudes sound local is because they got a MP3 beat off the internet, spit some stuff they made up five minutes beforehand into the mic and keep the first or second take, throw some random adlibs up behind it and give someone less than an hour to mix and master it. That's the local sound. What I'm suggesting is that you just do the opposite of the local dudes... and you'll be amazed... you'll sound a lot more national just by following this advice.

Good luck, probably not what you wanna hear but I hope this helps.

[Mudnoc]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Okay, this is the real deal. In my experience some of this you're not going to want to hear or believe. I'm going to be dispelling some myths and misconceptions here, so bear with me....

First off the quality of the mix is going to depend on what went on before it got mixed. Obviously the audio quality of the recording for the beat and the vocals are going to be a major factor. Bad or weak sounds aren't going to "magically" be made heavy hitting and great. Sloppy performances, off time overdubs and bad delivery aren't going to end up amazing.

Needless to say, at no time should your beat or vocals have ever been a MP3 and upsampled to 24/44.1 or whatever. Rapping over an MP3 is a sure fire way to get garbage in the end, and I see guys do it ALL THE TIME!

Also, make sure that the beat isn't clipping all over the place. If you kick is redlining (clipping) in the audio file that's something else the engineer has to mess with. Leave plenty of headroom in the tracks! Make sure things sound right from the start. Don't write a track around a weak snare if you think that the mix is going to somehow save the day--it's NOT! Get a new snare in there with some power and spunk. Garbage in, garbage out applies at every step of the game.

Another thing is editing. Make sure all the edits are FINISHED before mixing. All extraneous noise between vocal lines is chopped out, you've used VocAlign already, things are lined up and ready to ROCK. If not, this is something more the mixing engineer is going to have to mess with... which takes time away from the real work, or adds to the end studio time.

Secondly, you need to provide the mixer with the individual tracks, NOT a mixdown of the beat. Individual tracks means the kick is one audio file, the snare is another, and so on--give the mixer all of the elements broken up (but in sync when lined up in a DAW).

Do not expect a great mix unless you have both quality and the individual tracks for the engineer. If you cannot provide those things, then forget about it for now--work with producers/beat writers that will give you the individual tracks in a .wav format (24 bit/44.1 or greater) or any other professional standard.

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

Okay, now that you've done your job this is what you should expect from a professional mixer.

First listen to some tracks they've done. Check out who they've worked with in the past. Expect to pay more money for people that are actually good. Ballpark figure around 50-75 an hour or so, although most people give discounts for buying blocks of time. The guys that are cheaper are usually not worth it. You get what you pay for.

The other thing to remember is a PERSON is going to mix this. Don't be as focused on where you're going to get the mix, in other words, the studio. If you "shop a studio" without securing WHO is going to be doing the work you could end up at a great studio that's worked with all these big names and have your track mixed by a novice engineer that had nothing to do with those big artists. This happens all the time so focus on the who the engineer is going to be, talk to them--they are the one that ultimately is going to make the track sound good or not so good.

Don't get hung up on the tools either. ProTools, Cubase, Sonar... whatever... these are just tools. It's the man behind the tools that is going to make the difference. Find the right guy and let them worry about the platform, the tools and so forth. That's what they get paid for.

Like I've been saying--it's all about the engineer's skill and taste. That's what mixes a record.

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

As far as the time factor goes if you want to do it right you're going to tackle one song a day. Expect 5-8 hours of work PER TRACK for the mix. You want the best right? This is about the minimum time to get something really hopping. An experienced engineer working on a hip hop track should be able to easily manage a song a day. Anybody that is going to take weeks of time is definitely someone without much experience and is still "messin' around" with audio. Find a pro that eats, sleeps and breaths audio... they'll knock your project out in no time!

When everything is mixed have the whole bundle of songs mastered. Do it on a different day when everyone is fresh.

The reason most dudes sound local is because they got a MP3 beat off the internet, spit some stuff they made up five minutes beforehand into the mic and keep the first or second take, throw some random adlibs up behind it and give someone less than an hour to mix and master it. That's the local sound. What I'm suggesting is that you just do the opposite of the local dudes... and you'll be amazed... you'll sound a lot more national just by following this advice.

Good luck, probably not what you wanna hear but I hope this helps.

Yeah, I need to print this out and hand it to all new clients looking for mix work.

[ryst]

Originally Posted by Mudnoc

Yeah, I need to print this out and hand it to all new clients looking for mix work.

You and me both!

[Igotsoul4u]

well james. I think you've hit the nail on the head.

[phillysoulman]

JM Rules!!

[Trell Blaze]

How many votes would it take to make Jame's post a sticky? I'm dead serious about that.

Actually I think every rookie member should be required to read that post before posting any questions - it would probably answer 70% of their questions anyway.

Also, to the original poster, you should remember that mixing & mastering is not the same thing and are USUALLY not done by the same person, let alone at the same time. I say this because a LOT of people seem to put the two together just as you did....like "hey, how much u charge to mix&master?"

[Versatile255]

Originally Posted by Mudnoc

Yeah, I need to print this out and hand it to all new clients looking for mix work.

i was just thinking the same thing lol.

[Trell Blaze]

When I decide to go back into the world of public studios, I think I'm gonna blow that post up and make it a sign on my front door. You can't enter until you read it first...

[James Meeker]

Thanks guys, you know how to make a fella feel good!

[Versatile255]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Thanks guys, you know how to make a fella feel good!

just statin the truth man u spoke like a verse from the new testmament recording bible.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

All good points except this one i feel.

To bring other's people work in to try to mix up to is setting yourself up for disaster.from my experience. Especially if the production,performance or song is lacking and you don't tell the client this ahead of time. You'll just be chasing your tail and fighting with the client all the way. Also if the production sounds like a West Coast Doctor Dre sound and they bring in some Biggie "Ready to Die" or Jay z Cd's saying that's what they want to sound like is pointless.

I feel you should give the engineer the chance to take it where they see its going based on what's there. Of course you voice your desires based on what you'd like, but from experience they are either "gonna get it" or they are just the wrong person for the gig.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Okay, this is the real deal. In my experience some of this you're not going to want to hear or believe. I'm going to be dispelling some myths and misconceptions here, so bear with me....

First off the quality of the mix is going to depend on what went on before it got mixed. Obviously the audio quality of the recording for the beat and the vocals are going to be a major factor. Bad or weak sounds aren't going to "magically" be made heavy hitting and great. Sloppy performances, off time overdubs and bad delivery aren't going to end up amazing.

Needless to say, at no time should your beat or vocals have ever been a MP3 and upsampled to 24/44.1 or whatever. Rapping over an MP3 is a sure fire way to get garbage in the end, and I see guys do it ALL THE TIME!

Also, make sure that the beat isn't clipping all over the place. If you kick is redlining (clipping) in the audio file that's something else the engineer has to mess with. Leave plenty of headroom in the tracks! Make sure things sound right from the start. Don't write a track around a weak snare if you think that the mix is going to somehow save the day--it's NOT! Get a new snare in there with some power and spunk. Garbage in, garbage out applies at every step of the game.

Another thing is editing. Make sure all the edits are FINISHED before mixing. All extraneous noise between vocal lines is chopped out, you've used VocAlign already, things are lined up and ready to ROCK. If not, this is something more the mixing engineer is going to have to mess with... which takes time away from the real work, or adds to the end studio time.

Secondly, you need to provide the mixer with the individual tracks, NOT a mixdown of the beat. Individual tracks means the kick is one audio file, the snare is another, and so on--give the mixer all of the elements broken up (but in sync when lined up in a DAW).

Do not expect a great mix unless you have both quality and the individual tracks for the engineer. If you cannot provide those things, then forget about it for now--work with producers/beat writers that will give you the individual tracks in a .wav format (24 bit/44.1 or greater) or any other professional standard.

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

Okay, now that you've done your job this is what you should expect from a professional mixer.

First listen to some tracks they've done. Check out who they've worked with in the past. Expect to pay more money for people that are actually good. Ballpark figure around 50-75 an hour or so, although most people give discounts for buying blocks of time. The guys that are cheaper are usually not worth it. You get what you pay for.

The other thing to remember is a PERSON is going to mix this. Don't be as focused on where you're going to get the mix, in other words, the studio. If you "shop a studio" without securing WHO is going to be doing the work you could end up at a great studio that's worked with all these big names and have your track mixed by a novice engineer that had nothing to do with those big artists. This happens all the time so focus on the who the engineer is going to be, talk to them--they are the one that ultimately is going to make the track sound good or not so good.

Don't get hung up on the tools either. ProTools, Cubase, Sonar... whatever... these are just tools. It's the man behind the tools that is going to make the difference. Find the right guy and let them worry about the platform, the tools and so forth. That's what they get paid for.

Like I've been saying--it's all about the engineer's skill and taste. That's what mixes a record.

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

As far as the time factor goes if you want to do it right you're going to tackle one song a day. Expect 5-8 hours of work PER TRACK for the mix. You want the best right? This is about the minimum time to get something really hopping. An experienced engineer working on a hip hop track should be able to easily manage a song a day. Anybody that is going to take weeks of time is definitely someone without much experience and is still "messin' around" with audio. Find a pro that eats, sleeps and breaths audio... they'll knock your project out in no time!

When everything is mixed have the whole bundle of songs mastered. Do it on a different day when everyone is fresh.

The reason most dudes sound local is because they got a MP3 beat off the internet, spit some stuff they made up five minutes beforehand into the mic and keep the first or second take, throw some random adlibs up behind it and give someone less than an hour to mix and master it. That's the local sound. What I'm suggesting is that you just do the opposite of the local dudes... and you'll be amazed... you'll sound a lot more national just by following this advice.

Good luck, probably not what you wanna hear but I hope this helps.

Preach on my brotha!

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by Versatile255

i was just thinking the same thing lol.

I had one numbskull ask me if I could "masterize his shit"

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by Trell Blaze

When I decide to go back into the world of public studios, I think I'm gonna blow that post up and make it a sign on my front door. You can't enter until you read it first...

DITTO

[Versatile255]

im gonna blow this up as big as the poster you read when the doctor tells you u cover one eye and read the letters above.lol

[sevendaysoff]

i think reference CD's are great tools to help the artist relay what kind of sound he wants to capture in the mix/master.

for instance, i've mixed for a NY/storyteller type artist who likes a big anthemy sound, whereas for that type of sound (ny - lupe fiasco-ish) i tend to utilize less of the overdubs and focus more on the clarity of the words and flow of the track. most all southern artist want that big stacked/delayed hook, which is what this client wanted in this case.

i dont go as far as to analyze the spectrum of the reference mix but i point out distinct characteristics of the reference (such as big hooks, big adlibs, etc.) and try and to get a feel of how the artist wants the his track to feel.

[Don Denero]

Wow! I like the attention my first post recieved.... and so quick..... i thought it would be a week before someone would drop a line... but damn! you guys must live on this thing. Seems like I touched a nerve. People gotta chance to express their frustrations they have had with previous clients I suppose.

James, thank you for your answer, and thanks to the peanut gallery for the "hell yeah's"

All the requirements mentioned have been met except i have to confirm that the appropriate elements are in mono.

My final question is whether I have to worry about any of the material I hand in being ripped off. The drums on my tracks are especially unique. Similar to how the gated kick on Clipse's track "grindin" done by the neptunes was very unique for the time.... my drums have a very unique twist that is garnering alot of attention. I would like to protect my creative composition and would not want others to mimic. Should I be concerned? Is there any steps i need to take to protect my material? And yes of course the tracks are copywritten. I'm not worried about other artist borrowing or being influenced by what i create... of course thats a complement... i just worry about it being the case before I am given credit for CREATING IT FIRST... and my worst nightmare would be being another Timbaland v Janne Suni.

To recap, can any material given in to be mixed then mastered (notice the 'then' for the anal retentive types) be given to others without consent? What steps can be taken to prevent that? Do any need to be taken/Are any steps ever taken?

Thank you once again James for your insightful response. I look forward to hearing from you +/- peanut gallery

Peace

[Trell Blaze]

Originally Posted by Don Denero

Wow! I like the attention my first post recieved.... and so quick..... i thought it would be a week before someone would drop a line... but damn! you guys must live on this thing. Seems like I touched a nerve. People gotta chance to express their frustrations they have had with previous clients I suppose.

James, thank you for your answer, and thanks to the peanut gallery for the "hell yeah's"

All the requirements mentioned have been met except i have to confirm that the appropriate elements are in mono.

My final question is whether I have to worry about any of the material I hand in being ripped off. The drums on my tracks are especially unique. Similar to how the gated kick on Clipse's track "grindin" done by the neptunes was very unique for the time.... my drums have a very unique twist that is garnering alot of attention. I would like to protect my creative composition and would not want others to mimic. Should I be concerned? Is there any steps i need to take to protect my material? And yes of course the tracks are copywritten. I'm not worried about other artist borrowing or being influenced by what i create... of course thats a complement... i just worry about it being the case before I am given credit for CREATING IT FIRST... and my worst nightmare would be being another Timbaland v Janne Suni.

To recap, can any material given in to be mixed then mastered (notice the 'then' for the anal retentive types) be given to others without consent? What steps can be taken to prevent that? Do any need to be taken/Are any steps ever taken?

Thank you once again James for your insightful response. I look forward to hearing from you +/- peanut gallery

Peace

I don't know of any studios that would even let other ppl hear your work, let alone give it away. This is VERY bad business.

If word gets out that an album (epecially a major release) was leaked by _______ Recording Studios, who's going to go there afterwards?

Then again, I handle my own work more than anybody else so anyone with more experience in dealing with other engineers might have a better answer...

[Family Grind]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Okay, this is the real deal. In my experience some of this you're not going to want to hear or believe. I'm going to be dispelling some myths and misconceptions here, so bear with me....

First off the quality of the mix is going to depend on what went on before it got mixed. Obviously the audio quality of the recording for the beat and the vocals are going to be a major factor. Bad or weak sounds aren't going to "magically" be made heavy hitting and great. Sloppy performances, off time overdubs and bad delivery aren't going to end up amazing.

Needless to say, at no time should your beat or vocals have ever been a MP3 and upsampled to 24/44.1 or whatever. Rapping over an MP3 is a sure fire way to get garbage in the end, and I see guys do it ALL THE TIME!

Also, make sure that the beat isn't clipping all over the place. If you kick is redlining (clipping) in the audio file that's something else the engineer has to mess with. Leave plenty of headroom in the tracks! Make sure things sound right from the start. Don't write a track around a weak snare if you think that the mix is going to somehow save the day--it's NOT! Get a new snare in there with some power and spunk. Garbage in, garbage out applies at every step of the game.

Another thing is editing. Make sure all the edits are FINISHED before mixing. All extraneous noise between vocal lines is chopped out, you've used VocAlign already, things are lined up and ready to ROCK. If not, this is something more the mixing engineer is going to have to mess with... which takes time away from the real work, or adds to the end studio time.

Secondly, you need to provide the mixer with the individual tracks, NOT a mixdown of the beat. Individual tracks means the kick is one audio file, the snare is another, and so on--give the mixer all of the elements broken up (but in sync when lined up in a DAW).

Do not expect a great mix unless you have both quality and the individual tracks for the engineer. If you cannot provide those things, then forget about it for now--work with producers/beat writers that will give you the individual tracks in a .wav format (24 bit/44.1 or greater) or any other professional standard.

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

Okay, now that you've done your job this is what you should expect from a professional mixer.

First listen to some tracks they've done. Check out who they've worked with in the past. Expect to pay more money for people that are actually good. Ballpark figure around 50-75 an hour or so, although most people give discounts for buying blocks of time. The guys that are cheaper are usually not worth it. You get what you pay for.

The other thing to remember is a PERSON is going to mix this. Don't be as focused on where you're going to get the mix, in other words, the studio. If you "shop a studio" without securing WHO is going to be doing the work you could end up at a great studio that's worked with all these big names and have your track mixed by a novice engineer that had nothing to do with those big artists. This happens all the time so focus on the who the engineer is going to be, talk to them--they are the one that ultimately is going to make the track sound good or not so good.

Don't get hung up on the tools either. ProTools, Cubase, Sonar... whatever... these are just tools. It's the man behind the tools that is going to make the difference. Find the right guy and let them worry about the platform, the tools and so forth. That's what they get paid for.

Like I've been saying--it's all about the engineer's skill and taste. That's what mixes a record.

Make sure to bring plenty of reference CD's--albums that are similar to the sound you are going for. This gives the mix engineer an idea of where to take you track. You can also use these as a guide to how good your track is shaping up as he's working.

As far as the time factor goes if you want to do it right you're going to tackle one song a day. Expect 5-8 hours of work PER TRACK for the mix. You want the best right? This is about the minimum time to get something really hopping. An experienced engineer working on a hip hop track should be able to easily manage a song a day. Anybody that is going to take weeks of time is definitely someone without much experience and is still "messin' around" with audio. Find a pro that eats, sleeps and breaths audio... they'll knock your project out in no time!

When everything is mixed have the whole bundle of songs mastered. Do it on a different day when everyone is fresh.

The reason most dudes sound local is because they got a MP3 beat off the internet, spit some stuff they made up five minutes beforehand into the mic and keep the first or second take, throw some random adlibs up behind it and give someone less than an hour to mix and master it. That's the local sound. What I'm suggesting is that you just do the opposite of the local dudes... and you'll be amazed... you'll sound a lot more national just by following this advice.

Good luck, probably not what you wanna hear but I hope this helps.

THE BEST ADVICE I'VE EVER READ

[peeder]

I've again submitted a James Meeker post to the Tips and Techniques section.

In a perfect world, I'd agree that the artist should send fully edited, consolidated audio to the mixer...the mix will be very efficient that way.

However I find that the poor artists are so incapable of doing basic operations in a DAW that I'm just having them send me the whole garageband/logic/pt/etc. projects and I go in and fix things and bring them into Pro Tools properly.

Sure they pay more time but as I look at it, I don't see the rationale behind pre-damaging your music and then paying someone to try to fix it. There is less time spent repairing and more time simply removing insert caca and then mixing properly.

[phillysoulman]

I flat out refuse all two track beat sessions.
The tracks MUST be seperated out and recorded properly otherwise I will not be bothered.

[Trell Blaze]

Originally Posted by phillysoulman

I flat out refuse all two track beat sessions.
The tracks MUST be seperated out and recorded properly otherwise I will not be bothered.

Even though I'm currently not on that side of the biz these days - I still take jobs every blue moon - my one and only exception to that rule is if the 2track is mixed down tight as hell.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by sevendaysoff

i think reference CD's are great tools to help the artist relay what kind of sound he wants to capture in the mix/master.

for instance, i've mixed for a NY/storyteller type artist who likes a big anthemy sound, whereas for that type of sound (ny - lupe fiasco-ish) i tend to utilize less of the overdubs and focus more on the clarity of the words and flow of the track. most all southern artist want that big stacked/delayed hook, which is what this client wanted in this case.

i dont go as far as to analyze the spectrum of the reference mix but i point out distinct characteristics of the reference (such as big hooks, big adlibs, etc.) and try and to get a feel of how the artist wants the his track to feel.

Not for me.

If a potential client brings me a CD that someone else has mixed and tells me that's what they want their stuff to sound like, i just turn around give them the contact info for said mixers management and suggest that they hire them instead. Been through that too many times and it always ends up in disaster.

To try to chase someone else's sound knowing that the mixing is a small part and that everything up to it determines the majority is just not for me. Better they hear it form that guy and figure it out themselves. Now if they want a fresh spin or a different perspective than yeah if i like the track/production and i feel i can connect to it somehow i might give it a go. But if the client is totally hung up on achieving a certain sound and its not in the production itself than...

[ryst]

Originally Posted by thethrillfactor

Not for me.

If a potential client brings me a CD that someone else has mixed and tells me that's what they want their stuff to sound like, i just turn around give them the contact info for said mixers management and suggest that they hire them instead. Been through that too many times and it always ends up in disaster.

To try to chase someone else's sound knowing that the mixing is a small part and that everything up to it determines the majority is just not for me. Better they hear it form that guy and figure it out themselves. Now if they want a fresh spin or a different perspective than yeah if i like the track/production and i feel i can connect to it somehow i might give it a go. But if the client is totally hung up on achieving a certain sound and its not in the production itself than...

I agree with you and the previous poster. But it all depends on the client as to who I agree with. Sometimes when clients bring in reference cd's they are just looking for the same type of "overall" sound meaning frequency response of the whole record. But those clients are rare. Usually they want their music (which has completely different instrumentation, arrangement, vocals, recording equipment...) to sound EXACTLY like their favorite cd. And that's ain't happenin'! And at that point I say, I'm not your guy.

[Don Denero]

Originally Posted by Trell Blaze

I don't know of any studios that would even let other ppl hear your work, let alone give it away. This is VERY bad business.

If word gets out that an album (epecially a major release) was leaked by _______ Recording Studios, who's going to go there afterwards?

Then again, I handle my own work more than anybody else so anyone with more experience in dealing with other engineers might have a better answer...

I agree it's a sure way to ruin your studios reputation but IT DOES happen. Pollow did it with usher latest track...... i'm sure you already know this but if you didn't read this,

SOHH Exclusive: Polow Da Don On Beat Jacking Rumors, ''If A 10 Year-Old Can Save Usher's Career, He's A Genius Like Me'' | Daily Hip-Hop News | SOHH.com /

Point is major producers do leak material and god knows what else. I'm just wondering if thats the case when you submit your stuff to get it mixed then again when your gonna get it mastered? Is there any steps you need to take to protect yourself. BTW i hope pollow lost a ton of clients for his poor decision and what appears to be lack of creativity.

Peace

[King James]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Okay, let's recap what you have to provide:

1.) Audio quality on the beat and vocal recordings.
2.) Individual tracks (not all stereo either) for the elements.
3.) No MP3's!

What elements typically would be mixed down to mono and which would be in stereo... take for example a track that has drums, bass, guitars, vocals, and synths. Would it be the bass and guitars only? Can someone clarify this please. Thanks