What is Mixing?

What is Mastering?

Why Should I have my music professionally mixed and mastered?

Who Will Mix/Master My Track?

My song is long, will you charge me more money?
I’m used to going to a recording studio to have my tracks mixed, what are the benefits to using an online mixing and mastering service like eMixEngine?

Does it matter which audio software I use?

Do you offer other services like auto tune and drum sample replacement?

What if I don’t like my mix?

Why eMixEngine?

 

 

 

Technically speaking, mixing is the art of taking all of your recorded tracks and blending them together to output a finished two track stereo mix, that can then be played on a cd player or converted to an mp3.

 

This process by definition may sound simple, but it takes years of experience to develop all of the skills that make up a great mix. Skills that allow us to add excitment to your songs and bring the best out of your recordings. We use dynamic effects like equalization, compression and add reverbs and delays to add a sense of space to your recordings. Our engineers have years of experience, so you can sit back and relax knowing your mix is in the best hands possible.

And you'll definitely have the opportunity to give us direction! Just fill out the mixer notes on our upload form.
Your songs deserve to sound world-class!

 

 

 

Mastering is the final stage of the recording process, and as such it should not be overlooked. Think of it as quality control.

 

Do you find that your mixes are too quiet? Do you find that there is a difference in sonics between your songs? All of these issues are addressed in the mastering stage. Mastering will make your music competitively loud and allow all of your tracks to sound consistent. "Competitively loud", we choose our words carefully at eMixEngine.

 

For years there has been a debate over how loud music should be mastered. Our philosophy is to master it competitively loud without ruining the dynamics and integrity of your music. Once you get your master back from us, the high end will sparkle, the mids will punch and the low end will be tight and full. Your music will sound rich while preserving all of the nuances you so carefully planned during the recording and mixing stages of your track.

 

Simply put, your music will sound better than you’ve ever heard it before. Whether you are posting your music to the Internet or burning CDs, mastering will give your tracks a professional touch that you and your listeners are sure to notice.

 

 

 

It is important to bring the most out of your music.  eMixEngine has the expertise to make your music sound incredible for all mediums, internet, radio, televison, film, etc.  Let us take your music to the next level of success.

 

 

 

We use top engineers to mix and master your material.  Each mixer has been hand selected by head engineer Brian Moncarz and each mix gets reviewed by Brian before its released back to you.  We are very careful to ensure that you will get the best possible product for your money.

 

 

 

No, at eMixEngine we like to keep things simple.  We have one low flat fee for our mixing service and one low flat fee of our mastering service regardless of the length of the song.  We operate as an online mixing and mastering service and as such like to keep our site and services simple.

 

 

 

 

At eMixEngine we take pride in our work, all we have in this competitive industry
is our name and we want to keep our name at the top of the list.  We hire great engineers who are constantly and consistently turning out incredible work.  As a client, you will have the opportunity to give the engineer instructions on your mix and you will be able to upload a reference track for our engineers to review prior to mixing.  You can upload your tracks from the comfort of your own house and have the final mixes/masters back with in two business days.  Operating online, we are able to keep our operating costs low, and we can pass the savings on to you, the client.

 

 

 

No, if you use Pro Tools, Nuendo, Cubase, Logic or Cakewalk, it doesn’t matter.  We ask that you give us consolidated .WAV files for all of your audio tracks.  We will import them into our system and start your mix.

 

 

 

 

Yes, when you select the get started now function, you will see a list of additional services. These add-ons can be found there.

 

 

 

At eMixEngine we want all of our clients to be happy with their mixes and will do everything possible to ensure a great final product.  When purchasing your mix or master we recommend that you purchase a revision as well.  This will allow you to make changes to your mix after you have received your final version.

 

 

 

Why we are Unique: How do we deliver such great work, and yet keep costs low?

1) We buy their excess capacity. When an order comes in we evaluate it for genre, quality, and requirements and send it to an industry leading mixer. The mixer has the right to immediately decline the work if they are too busy, or take-on the work. The mixer fills empty time-slots and we get the best quality work done at much lower than market prices. If the mixer declines we have many other music engineers who can take on the work.

 

2) Brian Moncarz is overall accountable for the quality control. Every mix is reviewed by him and given a quality score. If it doesn’t rank 9, or 10 out of 10, it doesn’t get sent to the customer.

 

3) Our operations team also scores every music engineer on a score out of 10 for their ease of business relations and timeliness. Engineers who score high on both measures get more work. They are incented to be great, or the work they get from us disappears. Our customers always win.

 

4) Because our Music Engineers discount their pricing by so much to fill their excess capacity, we are contractually obliged to keep their identities confidential. This means their existing, high-priced business does not get cannibalized.

 

 

 

The Headphone Mix... A Lost Art!

 

What does it take to make a great recording amazing? The performance! We get so caught in the technical aspects of getting a great sound that the performance is often overlooked. Think back to a time when bands used to record live off the floor. The first Led Zeppelin album was made in a day, and the performance on that album is killer; they were a band poised to take over the world and you can hear it in their playing. What's behind an amazing performance, you ask? A great headphone or monitor mix. It seems so obvious, but it's true. If a musician is really excited about what they are hearing in their headphones, they'll be more likely to perform at their best.

 

If you're tracking vocals and the vocalist is too quiet in the cans, they will almost always sing too loud. If they're too loud in the cans, they will sing too soft. It's a fine balance, but when you nail it, the performance will always benefit. Do whatever it takes to get that great performance. I tend to treat the monitor output like a real mix. I'll add compression, EQ and reverb; I find that the extra effort really makes artists happy.

 

Once in a while, you may find that an artist is very uncomfortable performing with headphones on. If you're tracking vocals, bring your vocalist into the control room with you, set up a hand-held SM58 or something similar, crank the control room monitors up and let the artist perform. You'll be amazed by the results.

Make sure to edit out the breaks in your vocal tracks on the computer, otherwise you'll end up with ugly phase issues. Not sure about this approach? Well, Bono of U2 loves singing this way.

 

With the push towards home recording, the art of setting up a good headphone mix is dying. Let's bring it back and we'll all see a huge improvement in the music we're recording.