Recording instruments and vocals in the studio is only the first step in creating a song. After selecting the best takes and tuning the vocals, the track is sent to online mixing and mastering.

Mixing and mastering services

Mixing is the process of mixing the recorded tracks and creating from them a complete song with its own characteristic sound. There are several main stages in the mixing process:

• setting the musical balance;
• instrument panning;
• equalization and dynamic processing;
• formation of the acoustic space;
• artistic processing.

If the recording is initially done poorly, the final result will also be poor. The engineer works only with the materials he has. He won’t be able to take away clipping, correct under-tightened bends, and make bright and clear muttering guitars. So make sure your recorded material sounds the way you want it to sound before you submit it for mixing.

Mastering is the final step before releasing your songs. After mixing, the track is sent to mastering. The main purpose of mastering is the final processing of the finished composition and preparing it for duplication on physical and digital media. At this stage, a master copy of the track is created.

Before the digital era, tracks were mastered according to the standards of the sound of vinyl records and audio tapes. Today, mastering is done taking into account the requirements of Internet sites. For example, to work properly in iTunes, tracks are mastered with some nuances.

At the mastering stage, the sound engineer adds the final touches to the musical canvas. This can be processed with plug-ins to emulate the analog sound, or volume up or down.

Audio mixing

Audio mixing is a critical stage in music production, thanks to which mixes the sound of very high quality: every sound is clearly heard, there is a volume and depth of the picture, the balance of all instruments, etc. Conditionally, mixing can be divided into two parts: technical and creative. During technical mixing, the following work is performed:

• Eliminates the rhythmic flaws of the performance;
• Eliminates errors in intonation;
• Removing unwanted sounds/artifacts in the recording;
• Equalizes the dynamics of sound (so that quiet places in the recording are not lost in the mix, and the loud places in the recording are not prominent in the mix);
• Equalize timbres of instruments and voices (weaken frequencies that are missing and amplify those that are missing so that the frequency spectrum is uniform);
• Adding what was originally missing in the frequency spectrum (applying coloring to the sound, adding brightness, and character to the sound);
• Adding space and sound depth to the sound (adding reverb, delay, etc).

Mixing studio

Both mixing and mastering services are complicated things. They have distinctive sides, which should be used when creating a professional track. While mixing combines the elements to create your sound, mastering improves and elevates the final product to the most exceptional level. 

At mixing studio we have a team of experienced sound engineers who will work with you every step through this process, from listening to your song to creating your mix and refining it to distribution-level quality at the mastering stage.