Mixing and Mastering

When it comes to mixing your music you have many options. You can do it yourself on your little digital 8 track or Roland VS series recorder that you may have tracked it on. Maybe you recorded at a good home studio and want to continue your project there from start to finish. Or, maybe you want to drop a little more coin and mix your project in one of Colorado's more professional rooms such as FTM Studio's or Colorado Sound. Is your recording going to sound better going to a big studio? Maybe. It depends on how much time you spend on the process and how well your basic tracks were recorded. It also depends on the caliber of engineer who is mixing your songs. The larger studios have the luxury of higher end gear that can make a difference in the overall sonic presentation of the recording. Mixing in some of the new home setups also has advantages. Generally, a lower $$ per hour charge and a comfortable, homey, less stressful atmosphere. The equipment some of these guys are utilizing such as the latest Pro Tools and Mackie gear is quite good, not to mention all of the other brands out there who are pumping new affordable recording product into the market. The bottom line is, what can you afford and is the difference in cost between home mixing and pro mixing worth it to your overall objective of the recording. Also, will the people that will most likely be listening to your CD know the difference?

After mixing it's time to master the CD. Here again we have many options. You can stay in the environment you've been in for tracking and mixing and have the same guy finalize your recording and your done. You can also hire someone who specializes in the mastering process and pay a little more. Is it worth it? That's up to you once again. Consider mastering your CD as icing on the cake, framing your painting or the final polish on a nice piece of furniture. Here you will adjust all your volume levels, tweak your high, mid and low frequencies, and give your recording its final sonic resting place. You can hire specialists for this job from $75-$150 an hour or you can get the guy with Pro Tools to do it for $25-$50. Both options can provide successful outcomes depending on the goals and budget of your project.

For getting the most out of the mixing and mastering process, find reference CDs of recordings you like and are similar to how you would like your end product to sound. Go over these in detail with your engineer or producer so they know what you're looking for in the final placement of the instrumentation involved. Keep in mind, your $3000-$10,000 recording probably won't sound like a $250,000 major label recording, but it can sound really good by paying attention to all the details of getting good tones, placing things correctly, and finalizing them correctly.