We live in an age where almost everyone with enough desire can record and produce music and audio products. Anyone with a computer or mobile device, a DAW, and Internet access can record and release their music. A similar trend started way back. One example of DIY musicians was during the punk era closely followed by electronic music, specifically Acid House and the advent of Techno music that followed.

Sadly, there are a lot of music mixes that do not meet the grade professionally. Importantly it is not the mixing and mastering stage that bears all the responsibility. A good mix and master for a track or whole album starts in the writing phase. A poorly written track can’t be fixed in the mix or even worse at the mastering stage. Things can be smoothened out if the technical issues discovered were deliberate. But it’s usually best to resolve major flaws before any engineer even hears the project.

Many producers mix as they go along, especially with EDM or underground electronic music. I do this sometimes too! However, even after a long enough break, most projects will benefit from a professional mixing service, in my experience. Why? Ear fatigue and perspective.

Those are the big ones for me. Leveraging a trained engineer will help to progress closer to completion. Additionally, a good engineer will bring a fresh set of ears and a different listening environment, focusing on the job and not endless tweaking. The genre, theme, and specific requirements will all be kept in mind to get your vision mixed. A pro will not rush a project unless asked. However, they will strive to finish as quickly as possible with the least amount of revisions possible.

Using my mixing service, you can leverage my years of training, practice, software and hardware and a fully treated environment. Moreover, it’s my mission to make audio and music better with affordable mixing services. I can clean up, and prepare your multi-track recordings, ensuring any issues, such as timing and pitch correction, are fixed before touching a single fader. It’s not just music mixing I do; I can also help with mixing in middleware for games and have experience integrating FMOD projects with Unity. A video of a game I have worked on can be streamed on this demo here.

Upon completion, you will get a balanced mix where all the elements will have a space in the mix to fulfil their role in your vision by leveraging revisions until you are happy—never losing sight of ensuring that the project sounds cohesive and fully fused into a piece of art—finally delivered to professional standards to avoid issues in the final process of mastering your music.

You have written, arranged and maybe even done some rough mixes, but the project sounds dull, flat and quiet compared to your favourite records or reference tracks. How do they do it? Is it the money? The gear? You have that all-important vibe, but the sound quality does not cut it.

So what next? Well, that’s why mixing and mastering engineers exist!

The latter of the two is a separate process; the mastering engineer is the person that will perform the final checks and tweaks to a project. And that all-important part to most artists of making the project loud! But remember, loud is not always best. Indeed, most streaming platforms turn down audio automatically that is too loud. I will discuss this and LUFS and your requirements when you order.

Back to the mixing job, to prepare for this, once you have bounced down all of your audio tracks, you would typically zip up all of these and send them to the engineer. In terms of achieving a quality and loud and competitive result, the minimum recording bit rate and depth should be at least 44.1K 24-bit and .WAV files for each track. Do not up-sample tracks after they have been recorded. Moreover, upsampling will not affect the sound quality positively and will only increase the file size, a waste of time and space.

Exporting from the most popular DAWS is easy. Although if you are unsure, I can guide you through the process. In the case of releases with more than one track, like EPs or albums, it is a good idea to include as much information as possible about the order of the tracks. Examples may include which ones must be loud or have a specific vibe on a lead vocal for each track.

Regardless, if it is one track or several that need mixing or mastering, it is wise to suggest reference tracks; and some general direction for the engineer. This typically helps speed up the process and reduce revisions!

However, if you are unsure, I am more than comfortable making those decisions for you based on my musical experience, current trends and background in the industry. Also, I have had my skills tested academically, so you know you are in safe hands. You can read a bit more about me on the about page here.

Most clients are always surprised at how much preparation is involved before mixing commences! Don’t worry. Prep work comes included with every mixing product on the quote page. Asides from optional add-ons that clients commonly ask for, there are no hidden extras like some studios; I offer competitive discounted rates and prices for both my mixing and mastering services; see for yourself on my cost calculator page!

While every engineer will approach a project differently, they will roughly do the same thing to meet industry standards. Although a lot more work goes into a mix, a typical mixing project will include these core steps:

Upon receipt, I will check that all the files are readable and that all the bit rates and depths are the same for all the tracks. Then all the files shall be checked for issues related to timing, pitch and audio anomalies like pops and clicks by checking them individually. During the initial listen, I will already be thinking ahead while keeping your outlined vision in mind that you specified before starting. While listening, I take notes on the production overall, the most important elements that need to be upfront and any creative ideas and issues, not forgetting the client’s guidance, genre, mood, and reference tracks sent to me.

The session will then be thoroughly organised, named, location marked, track notes added, colour coded and bussed. Doing so enables swift changes for revisions to navigate quickly and manage the project.

Any identified issues are run by the client; moreover, a so-called issue may have been deliberate, and any problems will be resolved before proceeding. Typical issues may include pops and clicks, timing and tuning problems. If there are significant flaws, they may need to be addressed by the artist before continuing. However, I can help here if required, as I am a producer. A common request is to change sounds for specific instruments, so much so that I had to create an add-on on the quote calculator page.

There are many other preparation steps, such as checking for phase issues, multi-track editing, comping, tuning and more.

Only after this preparation stage can mixing begin.

An engineer will do an initial balance and panning during the first mixing phase. This will create a sense of space and dimension by placing band members or audio elements (in my music, vocals, drum machines, keys and synthesisers) front to back, left to right, and of course, centre in the stereo field. Usually, no effects or EQ are applied at this stage, and a good balance lays the foundations of the entire mix.

Sometimes, the initial balance will be created in mono. And the best engineers will always check periodically for mono compatibility while working in stereo throughout the process, so nothing disappears on single speaker systems. Some engineers surprisingly overlook this step!

Once a good overall balance has been achieved, corrective EQ and masking issues can be taken care of. Sometimes there are uneven dynamics, and gentle compression may be applied during the initial balance. Again, an experienced engineer will know what to do at the right moment. Some elements, such as synthesisers or parts already compressed during recording, may need no compression.

The processes will be repeated, tweaking where necessary until nothing more is being enhanced. This is where the experienced ear comes in and is one of the key benefits of hiring a professional. They will take regular breaks to stay objective and not fight the track and will instinctively know when to move on.

Also, during mixing, colouring and harmonics may be added in the form of saturation, distortion or similar using outboard analogue equipment or emulations in the form of plugins. And let’s not forget other techniques, such as automation of effects and levels of parts to create a dynamic and contrasting soundscape from one section to the next. Finally, further leveraging effects to emphasise transitions, add punch, or place elements further back in the mix, for example.

The final phase, in most cases, will be placing the audio project as a whole to give a sense of location to the listener and helping to gel the mix together, generally achieved with a convolution reverb in small amounts. The careful smaller incremental steps during mixing rather than large EQ curves and broad strokes or use of effects will fuse into a solid, emotional and engaging mix with clarity for your fans.

Once correctly mixed, you will have in your possession a well-prepared project that meets the professional requirements for the last stage of mastering!

Depending on how much preparation and remedial work is required, one can expect to hear the first mix after 2-3 business days in the form of watermarked versions or clips. Remember, compared to a commercial reference track, the mix will be quieter, as the reference will have probably been mastered professionally. It’s wise to match the levels so one can listen objectively. I also encourage clients to check on as many systems as possible for their target market. Afterwards, you can give feedback and any changes required using the included mix revisions.

Once we agree on a final mix, I will prepare and send over your final track marked as completed. It would be best if you take your time and take breaks while checking my work before signing off on it.

After the client has agreed that the project is complete, I will raise an invoice and send it over. Once the payment has cleared in our business account, the project and all requested deliverables outlined on the invoice shall be delivered as agreed before the works commenced.

The delivery is provided digitally via a secure private download link. I will always work with you to resolve any post-delivery problems you may have during a 14-day cool-off period. After downloading and the 14-day cool-off period has lapsed, no refunds can be given for digital products. Unless files are damaged during delivery, or similar extreme issues are discovered as outlined in the Returns and Refund Policy.

Asides from my professional services, clients appreciate my honesty and communication. It’s important to me that you know everything upfront. I am here to help you. So if you have any questions, please contact me before using the service.

Phew! With that out of the way, let’s get down to some creative work 😊

I am looking forward to working with you!!

Omar aka Bicaneo