WORKING TOGETHER

Yay, let’s work together! Every process is different but a lot of the time it will go something like this:

  1. We record base tracks of your song or songs in the studio either with a full band or laying down the most important elements first (guitar, drums, bass, piano, vocals etc).

  2. We overdub the final vocals if they are not done already.

  3. We overdub anything else that needs to be added, like synths, more guitars, reverb and atmospheric elements, harmony vocals, percussion.

  4. When you are happy with the arrangement, I start mixing the project. I like to do a preliminary mix to get the song or songs to a place where they are sounding good to me, then I send that to you and you give me remote feedback, or you come in to the studio and we do it together. Then we go back and forth with revisions until you are happy. I like to use the Samply app for this. Skip this step if someone else is mixing.

  5. The project gets mastered. I am not a mastering engineer so I don’t do this. However, I like to be included in the process. I can recommend mastering engineers at different budgets. Or if you know one you like let me know. When we get masters back I would like to hear them and give feedback. I ostensibly think my mixes are good at this stage so I don’t want them to be messed up, but I also see the value in the mastering engineers doing a final check. Skip this step if someone else is mixing, but I might still want to hear masters if you want to show me.

  6. You release the songs. I typically do not want to be involved in any decisions regarding album art, promotion, record labels etc. unless you really want my input as a friend, separate from any business we’re doing together. You credit me on streaming and physical releases as producer / recording engineer / mix engineer or all of the above depending on my role.

  7. We both get rich and famous!

  8. Repeat.

RECOMMENDATIONS

These are things that I think work well and not as well from experience.

  1. Recording live with a band is GOOD. It will get your recording further along to the endpoint faster and will imbue the song with vibe, personality, and humanity. Its also more fun than recording everything to a click one at a time.

  2. Obsessing over details is NOT GOOD. Artists tend to get really fixated on tiny imperfections in performances that don’t really matter. Often, spending hours doing one part over and over again will yield a worse result instead of a better one.

  3. It is GOOD to have someone who feels confident directing the session. I am happy to be as much of a producer as you want me to be, from directing the session to purely engineering with no creative input. Just let me know!

PAYMENT

My rates vary depending on the size of the project. My base rate for mixing a song is $350 but we can work out a deal if it is more than 2 songs.

Same goes for my hourly rate, which is normally $60 but we can work out a deal if you are booking 10 hours or more. Minimum for recording anything involving drums is $200. Check out my studio.

And finally, if you want me to produce + record + mix or any combination we can work out a full project rate that covers everything.

In every case, I like to do a 50% up front deposit to reserve my time. If you are unable to pay the whole 50% we can discuss smaller installments.

If I am a producer on the song I may ask for a streaming split, but this is kind of rare and I will let you know way before the project is done.