Mixing and mastering
Tracks that hold up when they get played out.
Plenty of mixes fall apart in a club. The low end turns to mush, the kick loses its front edge, and the whole thing sits quieter than everything around it in the DJ's set. That is the problem I work on.
Why loudness decides whether it gets played
Your track is never heard on its own.
It gets dropped between two other records, on a rig with far more sub than your room has.
If your master sits quieter than the track before it, the floor reads that as the energy dropping. Nobody thinks "that was mastered quietly". They think the track is weaker. DJs notice it too, and a record that pulls the energy down is a record that does not get played twice.
Getting loud is easy. Staying loud without flattening the kick is the hard part.
Quiet master, dropped in a setReads as a lull
Competitive masterHolds the room
Same arrangement, same sounds. The difference is where the master sits next to the records either side of it.
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Sub behaviour on a real rig
Club systems reproduce frequencies your monitors do not. A sub that sounds full at home can be a wall of mud on a proper stack.
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Loud without flattening the kick
A meter reading loud is not the same as sounding loud. Keeping the kick transient while the level comes up is the difference.
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Kick and bass sharing the same space
Most muddy techno records are a kick and a bass fighting over the same 40 to 80 hertz. Fixing that does more than any limiter.
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Two versions, because they are different jobs
A club master and a streaming master are not the same file. You get both.
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Eight years of hearing my own mistakes out loud
Touring most weekends meant hearing my own mixdowns on a different rig every week. That is where the ear for this came from.
How it works
It starts with a conversation, not a checkout.
Every track needs something different, so quoting before hearing it would be guesswork on both the work and the price.
You send it over, I listen, and I tell you what I would do. If I cannot add much to what you have, I will say so.
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01
Send the track
The form at the bottom of this page. A private link, what is bothering you about it, and where it is going. Two minutes.
No payment at this stage -
02
I listen and come back to you
Usually within a day. What is holding the track back, what I would do about it, and what that costs. By email, so you can sit on it.
Still no payment -
03
We sort the details
Back and forth until we both know what we are doing. References, deadlines, mixing or just mastering. Ask me anything here.
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04
You say go, and I start
Payment once we have agreed the job, and your slot is held from that point.
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05
First version, then two rounds of changes
Five working days for a master, ten for a mix. It comes back with a note on what I changed and why. Two revision rounds included, most jobs need one or none.
What it costs
Guide prices, then a real quote once I have heard it.
Most jobs land in these ranges. A clean four stem track sits at the bottom, a messy thirty track session sits above, which is why I quote after hearing it.
Whatever we agree is the number. It does not move afterwards.
Written feedback on a track. Fixed price, no quote needed.
Your finished mix made competitive. Club and streaming versions.
Send stems. Kick and bass sorted, low end under control, energy shaped across the arrangement, then mastered.
A loop or half an idea taken to a finished record. Arrangement, sound design, mixdown, master.
Three tracks or more booked together, at any of the above.
Two revision rounds included on every job. Techno and hard techno only. Prices in euro.
Opening rates while I build the book up. Anyone who sends a track in the first few months keeps this rate on future work.
What you get back
Files you can release with.
A 24 bit WAV master for distribution, a louder club version, and an MP3 for sending around. Mixes also come back with the session bounced to stems so you own the parts.
Your track stays yours. I take no points, credits or publishing on service work. You paid for it, it is yours.
Before you send
- Leave headroom. Aim for peaks around minus 6dB and take the limiter off the master bus.
- Label your stems. Kick, bass, perc, lead, fx. It saves an hour and that hour goes into the work instead.
- Send a reference. One or two tracks that sound how you want yours to sit.
Questions
Do I have to pay to get a quote?
No. Sending a track costs nothing and there is no obligation after it. If I do not think I can add much to what you already have, I will tell you rather than take the job.
How loud will you master it?
As loud as the track takes before it starts costing punch. The aim is that it sits level with the records around it, not that it wins a meter reading.
Why would I pay you to mix if you also teach mixing?
Different situations. Sometimes you want to learn how, sometimes there is a deadline and it needs to be finished properly. Plenty of people do both, learning on their own tracks and sending the one that matters.
What if I do not like the result?
That is what the two revision rounds are for. Send specific notes and I will make the changes. If it still is not right after that we can talk about it rather than you being stuck with something you will not release.
Do you work on other genres?
No. Techno and hard techno only. Someone who knows your genre properly will do a better job than I would.
Can I get a lesson about the mix afterwards?
Yes, and a lot of people do. Booking a session to walk through what I changed and why is often more useful than the mix on its own.
Send it over
Send a track and I will listen to it
No payment at this point and no obligation after it. I listen to what you send, tell you honestly what I would do with it and what that costs, and you decide from there.
Sent.
I will listen properly and come back to you, usually within a day, with what I would do and what it would cost. Check your junk folder if you do not hear anything.