What is mixing?
Mixing is the stage where separately recorded tracks become one piece of music. The engineer sets the levels, places each sound in the stereo image, shapes the frequencies and handles the dynamics. The aim: the listener hears the song, not the technical work holding it up.
What mixing is for
After recording, you have isolated tracks: a vocal, a bass, a drum kit split across several mics, keyboards. On their own they sound fine. Stacked up untreated, they mask one another and the track turns to mush.
Mixing sorts out that crowding. Each element gets its place in level, in frequency and in depth, so the ear follows what matters at any given moment. A good mix keeps the song legible from the first chorus to the last.
The stages of a mix
Balancing levels. It all starts on the faders, with no processing. If the track already works at that point, the rest will go quickly. If something has to be pushed unnaturally loud, the problem is usually in the arrangement or the take.
EQ. You take away what's in the way before you add what's missing. Cutting the useless bottom out of a guitar makes room for the bass. Dipping a pad slightly clears the vocal.
Dynamics. Compression and automation even out the swings in volume, especially on the voice, so no word disappears and none jumps out at you.
Space. Panning, reverb and delay build the depth. It's what separates a stack of tracks from something that sounds like it's playing in one room.
Detail and automation. The last few per cent happen here. A syllable rescued, a reverb opened up on one word, an instrument stepping back at the right moment.
How long a mix takes
A single usually takes one to two weeks, feedback included. An EP or an album takes longer, because making the tracks hold together becomes a job in itself. What weighs most isn't the track count, it's how well the session was prepared.
Our mixing work happens in the room or remotely, with private links to listen at each key stage.
Common questions
Can I mix my own track?
Yes, and it's a good education. The limit shows up mostly on tracks meant for release: after weeks on one song, your ear loses its objectivity. Someone from outside hears in ten minutes what you've stopped noticing.
Can mixing rescue a bad recording?
Partly. We can fix an imbalance, background noise, a take that sounds a bit dull. We can't recreate a performance that never happened. When the source is too far gone, audio restoration takes over.
Tell us about your project.
We take on a limited number of projects each season. We read everything that comes in.