mixing price

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RobbieD

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ok so i recorded a whole bunch of tracks to an original song, and since im too lazy and too impatient to learn how to mix and master i just found someone to do it for me, so i thought i was gonna spent like 200 maybe but hes charging me like 600 bucks for mastering and mixing, the guys got a full blown studio tho, is this a normal price or is it bs, just the mixing costs 500, and can someone tell me what I have to learn to mix, like eq, pan what else??
 
RobbieD said:
...hes charging me like 600 bucks for mastering and mixing, the guys got a full blown studio tho, is this a normal price or is it bs,
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It all depends on the final product...but that's really not expensive.
Also..."full blown studio" by what standards...pro commercial or home rec?


RobbieD said:
...and can someone tell me what I have to learn to mix, like eq, pan what else??
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It's not like learning a history lesson.
It's mostly lots of experience gathered over time. Takes a lot of work and effort, but since you're too lazy and impatient to learn how to mix and master (as you say)...then get a good day job an just pay someone to do it for you. ;)
 
no its a full studio, like ten preamps that are fucking expensive, mics seperate rooms everything. so whats a normal price then? since thats not expensive?
 
It depends on the studio and the engineer...and the rep....plus the gear.

Just to be clear...is that $600 for ONE song or are you talking about an album's worth...???
 
There's been a few folks here posting recently that they needed practice mixing and would do it for free.I hope you took the time to track everything at proper levels and didn't get too lazy with that aspect.Even a great mixing engineer can only polish a turd so much.
$600 sounds like a lot for one song in my opinion.I've done 5 song demos for less.

Some studios will offer different rates for morning and evening hours.Sometimes you'll pay a set price for a block amount of pre-determined time.That usually involves recording at the studio though.I've never sent anyone files to mix.When i recorded at a local studio 13 years ago we spent about $1300 to record 12 songs which of course were mixed by the engineer.

We then spent $300 to have another guy master it.It's usually suggested to have a seperate place do the mastering so you get someone with fresh ears and someone who isn't as attached to the mix.It cost us $1600 for 11 songs.The album sounded great and was worth every penny.

You're paying for someone's time and experience so he/she should provide samples of their work .I'd suggest getting more quotes and shopping around.Nowadays you can easily send files to anyone in the world so you're not limited to having it done locally.
 
Well, the price will also take into account what he has to do to get your whole bunch of tracks into a mixable quality.

He will have to import the files, check to make sure they are clean of noise / glitches.

It sounds like he's not mixing a demo, so unless instructed otherwise it's being mixed for release, I would expect to take a minimum of 6 hours to mix a song for release, after all the files are sorted and loaded. A full on studio would charge at least $100 plus per hour, allowing $80 for mastering as well, sounds about right.

Maybe your should have shopped around for a cheaper studio or talked to him about a demo mix if the price is too high.

Alan.
 
The only problem I can see is that a flat rate price leaves too much room for debate on the final product. As anyone who's done mixing knows, you can slam together a basic mix in minutes...or spend days correcting every timing error or pitch problem note by note. The reality is usually somewhere in the middle and, as witzendoz says, if you get roughly six hours of work at $100 per hour that would be about right.

However, I'd strongly suggest a discussion with the guy doing the mixing to make sure there's a "meeting of the minds" about what the $600 includes and doesn't include.

Bob
 
What is the music genre? I might mix one free for you and see where it goes from there.
 
RobbieD said:
ok so i recorded a whole bunch of tracks to an original song
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Recorded how? On a cassette deck? On your iPhone? Into recording software? How are you delivering the recordings?
 
RobbieD said:
ok so i recorded a whole bunch of tracks to an original song, and since im too lazy and too impatient to learn how to mix and master i just found someone to do it for me, so i thought i was gonna spent like 200 maybe but hes charging me like 600 bucks for mastering and mixing, the guys got a full blown studio tho, is this a normal price or is it bs, just the mixing costs 500, and can someone tell me what I have to learn to mix, like eq, pan what else??
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I will say that since you are asking about mixing, eq, and panning, the quality of the tracks you have recorded my leave something to be desired. 'Fixing' takes a whole lot more time than well recorded tracks will. If it is even worth attempting. Without a sample of what you have, I don't think anyone can give you a realistic cost for mixing.
 
jimmys69 said:
What is the music genre? I might mix one free for you and see where it goes from there.
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arcadeko said:
Recorded how? On a cassette deck? On your iPhone? Into recording software? How are you delivering the recordings?
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grimtraveller said:
The $600 question....
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jimmys69 said:
'Fixing' takes a whole lot more time than well recorded tracks will. If it is even worth attempting. Without a sample of what you have, I don't think anyone can give you a realistic cost for mixing.
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LOL as Jimmy starts to realize what he might have gotten himself into. :laughings::laughings::laughings:
 
arcadeko said:
LOL as Jimmy starts to realize what he might have gotten himself into. :laughings::laughings::laughings:
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I know right? I am always willing to help people out. If it becomes a time consuming situation then the value of my time becomes a consideration. The last 10 song project I mixed, I did for $1200 and they tipped me $500. Guess I must have done something right. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
I know right? I am always willing to help people out. If it becomes a time consuming situation then the value of my time becomes a consideration. The last 10 song project I mixed, I did for $1200 and they tipped me $500. Guess I must have done something right. :)
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That's a hell of a tip
 
OK...so it's one song.

If the song was "mix ready"...IOW, throw up faders, a little EQ, Panning, maybe some processing here and there, and then mix...
...that's a bit steep at $500.
Of course...if he has to sift through a bunch of messy tracks and do a lot of edits/fixes before he even gets to the "mix ready" stage...that takes time, could take a lot of time...so maybe $500 is what he estimated would cover it.

The $100/song for mastering is becoming sorta the going rate for on-line mastering (you just send the files and are not present).

You need to talk to him about the mixing price and find out why he's charging that much. Has he already heard the tracks or was this his "going rate"? What sort of state are your tracks in...have you discussed what you want done at all?
More info is needed....
 
Jimmys69 said:
I know. Who would have guessed, metalheads MOMS with money? LOL
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moresound said:
Fixed that for you Jim!
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sharon-osbourne-43369.jpg
 
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