A mix engineer is responsible for combining and balancing (mixing) the various audio tracks of a multitrack recording session (individual drums, guitars, keyboards, strings, vocals, sound effects etc.) in order to create a cohesive, polished final mix. The process can include adjusting levels, equalization, compression, panning and applying effects to individual tracks to achieve the desired sound. The mix engineer works closely with the producer and artist to ensure that the mix meets their creative vision and technical requirements.

If you are able to send me a Pro Tools session, that's great. Otherwise, you will need to export each track out of your DAW, preferably as a WAV file. All files should have the same start point. Please try not to export mono files as stereo files (although stereo files are fine for stereo drum overheads, stereo keyboards etc.) Once you have exported all the tracks, we can use WeTransfer or Google Drive etc. to get them to me.

Tuning and timing (vocals or instruments) can be a fairly quick process or a painfully slow one, depending on a number of factors. If I feel it’s appropriate, I will include basic tuning and timing in a mix, unless I’m specifically asked not to or if I can see that it’s going to take a very long time!

On the whole, I prefer to receive files which are completely free of any effects (delay, reverb etc.) However if you feel strongly about a particular effect or if you have 'baked in' an effect during the recording process, then of course, feel free to include them in the files you send to me.

I prefer that you print any MIDI generated sounds as audio files but if, for example, you only have access to a basic Hammond organ or grand-piano plugin and would like me to replace the sound with a higher quality one, I can do that if you send me the MIDI files.

Yes. Before starting a mix, I find one or two reference tracks can be very useful in determining the overall ‘vibe’ you are aiming for but please don’t ask me for “sort of Nick Drake meets Radiohead” which is clearly very ambiguous!

Absolutely! I would always rather spend a few extra hours mixing in order to have an artist happier with the result. I'm not too strict on the number of mix revisions but equally, I won’t endlessly do tiny adjustments just for the sake of it.

If you just want your track to sound ‘loud and polished’, I can do that as part of the mixing service but there is more than that to professional mastering. I would always advise that artists seek out a dedicated mastering engineer with a list of credits, which need not be expensive (I can make suggestions).

It's always worth asking, especially if you’re looking to get a number of songs mixed.

Either as a high quality, stereo WAV file, ready for you to send to a dedicated mastering engineer, or a high quality, stereo WAV file which has been ‘pseudo-mastered’ by me (depending on what you have requested)... or both!