Why Hire a Pro Mixer?

Recording technology has come a long way in the last few decades, and now it's increasingly the norm to record songs using nothing more than a good computer and a basic audio interface or a couple of bits of good outboard gear. But, when it comes to mixing those tracks, getting your finished song to sound as good as the ones you hear on a streaming service or the radio is often an elusive goal. You can hit it with as many plugins, professionally-tweaked presets, or AI-powered mastering apps as you want, but something is always missing. This is where professional mixing services come into play. Whether you recorded your tracks in a public restroom, a laundromat, or a pro studio, an experienced mixer can get all those elements to glue into a mix that everybody will hear as you intended, letting the listener focus on your thoughtful arrangement, clever lyrics or stunning musicianship.

A professionally-mixed track can make a significant difference in how your music is perceived, especially in context with other artists' music. It will sound good on ANY playback system, though obviously, playing it in the car will sound different from, say, playing it on an iPhone's speakers. But, the mix will be the same, even though different speakers reproduce the recording differently. A well-mixed song will sound clear, full, with emotional impact. Notice, I didn't say it will sound louder. While a track mixed by a pro will likely sound louder and will, in fact, be louder by some measurements, what you're really getting is a mix where all the instruments complement each other, fitting neatly into the spaces they should occupy. This does not mean that pro mixes are tame or predictable (though some pro-mixed songs certainly can be). Instead, it means that the mix engineer understands, at a gut level, what the artist wanted the track to feel like, and then does his/her level best to shape the sounds in the recording to convey those emotions sonically.

The Future Tense Music Mixing Process

When you sign up for mixing or mastering at Future Tense Music, the first step in every mix we do is talking (or emailing!). We'll ask you a series of questions designed to help us understand what you're bringing in and what you hope to get out of working with us.

Questions we might ask include:

• What do you want the listener to feel when they hear your song?

• Are there songs out there you'd really like your mix to sound similar to?

• What is it in those reference songs you like?

• Where do you imagine your song being played? (Radio? Home stereo? Streaming? TV/Film? Dancehall?)

• Are there any parts you wish were recorded better or differently?

Once we have a sense of your expectations and we've hammered out details like delivery time and our policies (pretty simple!), we'll discuss the best way for you to deliver your music to us. Then, the mix begins.

We'll pull all the tracks into a Pro Tools session and do what we call a static mix. We'll check for phase issues, adjust clip volumes, clean up bleed and then set rough levels and panning for each song. This will give us a sense of what's needed to convey the vision you already shared with us. If particular track just sounds perfect (like a beautifully-recorded guitar, for example), we might not add much of anything to it: if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

The second stage is eq-ing and compressing to control unwanted dynamic shifts and to prevent one instrument from masking another. Giving the mix space with delays and reverbs comes next. Finally, we glue the mix with gentle compression, saturation and eq. When we are confident it sounds great, we'll send you your first round of mixes. At this point, many clients are satisfied and we move on to mastering. However, sometimes a client realizes they want to hear more (or less) of an instrument, or disagrees with a choice we made. We communicate, note client's desired changes and do another mix. You might be very happy with this mix. Still, sometimes, it's hard to articulate exactly what you want, and sometimes, what you want might change slightly during the mix process. No problem! We include TWO ROUNDS of changes/edits to the mix in the cost of mixing! We'll talk again, and give the mix another shot. At this point, if we've all been thoughtful about our comments and changes, you should have a mix you're delighted with. On rare occasions, however, it takes one more round. You can purchase an additional round of mix edits for a small fee and tweak the mix one more time!

Once you've approved the mixes you hired Future Tense Music to do, we'll either deliver them to you in whatever format(s) you requested, or, we'll move on to mastering.

In the next FTM Blog entry, we'll discuss mastering, why it's a great idea to have a pro do it for you, AND why it's an especially good idea to both mix and master your tracks here at Future Tense Music.