It’s not the mixer’s decision to sort through vocals, guitars, and drums in an attempt to find the best takes, that decision should be made already by you (the producer). At our Toronto studio, you’d be surprised at how many artists just send us everything and expect us to know what they want mixed.
It is a good idea early on in the process of booking a mix with an engineer to decide who is editing the song (if it is required). Editing and comping a final take is usually part of the production process and it should not be assumed that the mixer will do for you.
Our online mixing page has the option when you upload your song if you want editing, timing issues, and pitch correction included on certain tracks. Our team and any mix engineer, in general, should have an idea of your expectations for your mix, but don’t just assume.
If you are editing the files, please make sure there is a crossfade on EVERY edit. Also, fade-in and fade-out each track. A lot of clicks, pops and generally unpleasant sounding edits can be solved by simply crossfading between edits.
Make sure your tracks are named correctly. We don’t know who Bob, Rachel, and Susan are, and definitely we’re not sure what they are playing or singing. Keep labelling short and sweat, for example, ‘LEAD VOCAL’ (or LD VOX), ‘Electric Guitar’ (or EG).
By simply adding a number before the name of each track, i.e. 01 Kick In, 02 Kick Out, 03 Snare Top etc., the tracks will import into the DAW the engineer is using in the correct order as you have them in your session. Otherwise, most DAWs will import your files in alphabetical order. As a result, if you don’t do this, the first job your engineer will be doing is ordering and grouping tracks together into their instruments. This can take quite a while especially if there are a large number of tracks.
We usually ask that you don’t send us heavily processed tracks. The reason is that the mixer working on your track will be inhibited by the compression and EQ or other effects you have ‘printed’ or bounced. Send us everything dry.
However, in some cases, you’ve worked hard to define and shape a special sound and that shouldn’t be ignored by your mixer. Just make sure you are also including dry tracks of anything that has had an effect added. We want to be able to have ultimate control to either recreate the effect or make it even better!
It’s also a good idea to send a rough mix of your song and also a reference track, which could be a popular song you are comparing your song to that is already released.
It basically means putting things together. It is the process that takes all of your edits on a track and creates a continuous region or clip of your track.
Make sure all of your tracks start from the session start (begin all at the same exact point) to make sure they line up when being imported into another session. Consolidating files will fill in all those empty spaces between your audio and ensure that when we bring it into our computers for mixing everything starts and ends where it’s supposed to.
You want to establish a clear turnaround time for your mixes. How long will it be before you can expect the first versions of the mix project for approval? The last thing you want is to be overbearing on the studio or mixing engineer you’re working with. Mixes take time to get right so establish how long it will be ahead of time, this way you have it in writing and know when to expect your mixes back.
In a hurry? Good things take time, but you sometimes can get things faster if you pay for it. When you order with us online, you have the option of 2-day rush delivery service on all your mixes.
Now you have all your audio files nicely lined up, export those suckers out and make sure you are labelling your folders. Another useful practice is to separate your different instrument groups into labelled subfolders within your master folder. Most mixers group like instruments together and use templates. Since files may end up alphabetized, it saves time for the engineer to import them in groups such as drums and percussion, keys, lead vocals, etc. to easily sort them out within the DAW.
Revisions are essentially the chance for you to share additional input and make any necessary tweaks. Think of a revision as a pass-through. When you order online with us you will automatically receive two sets of revisions included. You can purchase more as needed or opt for unlimited revisions at an extra cost.
Ensure that you are effectively communicating your desired revisions with the mixer. Usually, the best approach is a clear and concise email and the use of timecodes. Don’t leave multiple texts or social media messages that can easily get lost, keep all your mix notes in one place.
Hopefully, this has helped you get an idea of the steps required to submit your songs to get mixed whether it’s by us or someone else.
If you are interested in getting your song professionally mixed by our team in Toronto, please visit our online mixing and mastering page for more information and to order instantly. If you have any questions feel free to contact us or call us at (647) 848-7351