DO I NEED MIXING OR MASTERING?

1. If your project fits any of the following criteria, you most likely need Mixing.

• You have recorded your tracks, but have not done any editing, EQ work, added effects, or made any adjustments to levels or panning.
• You have recorded your tracks and mixed them to some degree, but only to achieve a basic mix and you know there is still a good amount of mixing required to get it to sound the way it should sound.
• You've recorded and mixed all your material and believe the final mixdown sounds fair to good, but you know a lot more can be done to it - you just don't have the time, experience, or equipment to get it there.

2. If you have already done most of the mixing work and now the project fits one or more of these criteria, you may simply need Stems Mastering to complete the work.

• You feel like the mix is "very close", but there are a few small details you can't quite seem to get to turn out just how you want.
• It sounds okay, roughly speaking, but when you and others listen to it critically you get comments such as "I can't understand your lyrics", "how come the guitar is so loud", or "why does the beat sound so boomy and muddy".
• The sound is as good as you can get it in the mix so you thought it might be ready for Audio Mastering, but after hearing your Mastering Sample it became clear that there were a few minor mix issues that need to be addressed that you don't think you can adequately take care of yourself or you would like to have a different set of ears handle, just to be on the safe side.

3. If your tracks have been mixed and your project now fits any of these situations, you may want to utilize our Vocal and Instrumental Separation Mastering services to help finalize the sound.

• You're mostly happy with your overall mix, but aren't completely certain the relative volume levels between your vocals and instrumental/beat parts have been set perfectly.
• You're mostly happy with your overall mix, but would like to have just a little extra mix attention given to either the vocal part or the instrumental part independently, prior to having the combined full mix mastered.
• You're completely happy with your overall mix, but you would like to give the mastering engineer a little extra freedom to work with the separated vocal and instrumental parts as part of the mastering process, just in case there are any minor level tweaks or any extra quality that can be squeezed out of the full track this way.

4. If your tracks have been mixed and your project is now best described by the following, then you are probably ready for Audio Mastering.

• Your song is "almost there", but you can't quite figure out how to finish it to get it exactly as you want it to sound.
• It sounds good as-is, but just needs that little extra "professional polish" to it.
• Everything is good as-is, but it doesn't sound quite loud and/or full enough.