Thankfully, just because recording studios are closed to clients because of the Covid-19 outbreak doesn’t mean they’re closed for business.
Since New York’s stay-at-home order, I’ve seen a spike a remote mixing projects. That’s great news for studios, since there’s still work out there. But it’s also good news for musicians, who are getting creative while at home and learning how to record their own music.
There’s never been a better time to record at home. A laptop, audio interface and microphone is just about all you need.
But while recording at home is one thing, mixing at home can be another story.
Many musicians don’t have the studio-grade monitors, software plugins or even the experience needed to get pro-sounding results at home.
So if you’re interesting in hiring a studio to mix your music, here are some steps to ensure you get the best results — and save some money.
Preparing your music for online mixing
1. Cleary label your tracks
The better you label your tracks, the better your experience will be. (For the engineer, there’s nothing worse than opening up a session of 30 tracks and everything is labeled “audio.”)
Labeling doesn’t have to be complicated. For example “bass drum,” “electric guitar 2,” “lead vocal,” and “backup vocal 1” are all fine.
2. Make the tracks “dry”
Remove any EQ, compression, effects and automation. Unless they are central to the sound or performance of that particular track. This will allow the engineer to make all the most critical mix decisions, without having to work around decisions you’ve already made.
3. Export each track individually
Export all your tracks as separate audio files. 24-bit/48k WAV or AIFF files are normally fine, but ask the studio if they have a preference.
Pro tip: Be sure to export every file at the same starting point — 00:00. Even if an instrument doesn’t come in until the last chorus, make sure its audio file starts at the beginning. Otherwise, the engineer will burn through your budget lining up the different audio files to recreate your song.
Organize the exported audio so each song has its own folder. So all of Song A’s files are in a folder called Song A, and so on.
3. Provide any relevant info
Tempos, reference materials, rough mixes, contact details — anything you think will help the engineer make the right decisions. Put it all in a folder titled “References” or “Read Me” so the engineer can easily find it.
4. Zip it up!
Now take all your song folders and reference folder, and compress them into a zip folder. Rename the folder with your name or band’s name. Send it to the engineer using a free file transfer service like WeTransfer.
That’s it! Following these tips will help you get the best-sounding mixes from your home recordings.
Got questions, or want to have Orchard Recording Studio mix your music? Get in touch at info@orchardrecordingstudio.com.