The dark but creative arts of taking raw recordings and turning them into polished pieces that wouldn’t sound out of place on the radio! We will have recorded many takes of your vocal and instrumental performances and any other instuments I have added for you. That may sound okay at first listen, but mixing is the job of selecting the very best parts of all the recorded tracks and adding subtle additional improvements and effects to each track to make them sound amazing!
Not only that but balancing the various voices and instruments is really important. I take time to think about what is important at every moment through a song and how best to emphasise parts to direct the listeners attention to get the maximum emotion and impact out of the song. This can be hard work but well worth it when you hear the finished results.
An important thing about mixing is what we call ‘referencing’. You may well have an idea in your head about the sound you want in comparison to a successful artist. Tell me if you want your track to sound ‘a bit like XXXXX’ or be ‘as big as YYYYY’. That helps!
Mastering is the final step where final touches are added to the stereo master track to make it loud, balanced and impactful when delivered via CD or on-line, and listened to by people in many different environments. This is a quite different process from mixing and is a specialised job. I have a decent mastering environment and tools so can do a reasonable job for you, but if if your budget allows then I can recommend and commission an expert, specialist mastering engineer.
You may wonder what the point of all these extra steps is beyond just recording!? Well this unsubtle graphic has helped me explain in the past!
I can also take raw tracks you’ve recorded at any studio and turn them into professional, polished songs. Contact me if you want me to mix and/or master your tracks.
Next Stage – Publishing – ‘Get Your Music Out There’
George Glen 