Frequently Asked Questions

Mixing

Mixing is an incredibly nuanced, multi-dimensional, and frankly emotional process in which two or more (usually more) audio sources are layered together. They can be adjusted in an endless amount of possible ways so that the full experience is cohesive and spiritually resonant with each element occupying an ideal space in the stereo field, frequency spectrum, and volume matrix.

Each element relates to other elements, like with a building or sculpture. Everything settles in its place and fulfills its role to keep things together.

Mixing is a creative process- but also very technical.

Mastering

Mastering is the very last process in the post-production phase before the audio is published. You can have your mixes "stem-mastered," which gives the engineer much more control, and is always recommended. However, the most popular way of doing things is standard mastering, which uses one stereo file per song.

There can be additional steps after the mastering process, but they are not creative, such as the final mastering that a vinyl-cutting engineer needs to do or the preparation of DDP files for CD duplication.

Mastering optimizes, refines, and sometimes vastly enhances or improves the audio. It dials in the most effective overall parameters for the entire recording and zooms in on individual events if anything special is needed.

Even the best-mixed records in the world are still mastered with great care, and the worst-mixed records are still improved with a great mastering job.

Mixing and mastering are both about achieving balance, consistency, clarity, and intuitive resonance.

However, the audible characteristics and good feeling you get in your tummy when you hear your creation fully mixed and/or mastered are just one dimension of the work. The other dimension, which probably doesn't need to be called "dimension," is getting your project up to par with the required industry standards for file format, bit rate, sample rate, embedded text, and other under-the-hood specs.

Production

Music production has roughly two definitions these days.

Independent musical artists who create everything themselves are considered "producers." This is especially true of electronic artists. They are commonly referred to as "footwork producers" or "vaporwave producers," etc. It is rare for a folk artist to be called a producer, even if they record everything themselves at home. It's confusing but that's the way it is from what I've seen.

Regarding what I offer my clients, "producer" is a term used for my overall role in transforming an idea or a demo into a rich composition and production. 

Every project is different; therefore, every project has different needs. Furthermore, every client has different preferences, mindsets, goals, interests, past experiences, influences, production environments, amounts of time, amounts of conventional musical skill, temperaments, and so much more. My function in these projects can serve anywhere from one to a zillion different responsibilities. Anything from shaking a tambourine in your choruses to working together to completely transform a shitty demo into something that should be on Warp Records.

Classically, producers will work closely with the mix and sometimes mastering engineers.

However, I always prefer that if I produce, I mix as well.

Working with me will never result in you being pushed in a direction you don't want to go in. I will adapt to and absorb and align with your vision.

I've brought an In Rainbows-infused electronic record to life by adding guitars, new beats, synth accents, little noises and FX, and unconventional vocal processing. I've worked with neo-classical new-age pop by contributing to nearly every aspect of the music in some capacity. I have produced songs from the ground up for experimental rappers as well. 

And all of these roles included mixing and mastering!

There are always plenty of variables with each project, so all projects are custom-quoted.

Please contact me and tell me about your project in as much detail as you please, and I will get back to you with more information. I may have questions for you, but I will be prompt in giving you answers and laying out your options. I'm excited to work with you!

I have a psychic that decides how much I should charge for each job, and she takes 30% off the top.

Just kidding. I determine rates by having a conversation with you and getting a hold on what you're shooting for, and what it's going to take to get there.

I do!

Mastering for vinyl is quite different from mastering for other formats. There are certain key factors involved, and masters for other formats will likely not properly translate to vinyl without introducing the risk of distortion, needle tracking problems, phase issues, and problematic noise floors.

If your album is already mastered and released on one or more formats, but you'd like your album mastered for vinyl for the first time, it is always preferred that your original mixes are available.

If you don't have access to your mixes anymore, I can still optimize your masters to be vinyl-safe, but it will not be a completely authentic mastering-for-vinyl job.

It is recommended to have me do both your vinyl and digital masters. One of the main aspects of mastering is cohesion & consistency, and having different engineers in different studios mastering your album for different formats can disrupt that.

It is important to note that vinyl masters in this context are technically “vinyl pre-masters”. In the physical media format world, the “master” actually refers to the physical acetate disc used to press your records, the glass master CD from which the CDs are duplicated, and the master cassette which acts as the source of audio that is being sent to the decks.

I do not provide physical masters. The manufacturers of your physical media do.

Every project I do comes with 3 rounds of revisions no matter what. That is always included. Beyond that, there may be an additional fee.

A fourth, fifth, or sixth round of revision requests may indicate a deeper issue embedded in the recording, or in your approach to the project. 

What is a round of revisions?

If you are less than 100% happy with what I provide after listening to your recording in multiple listening environments and comparing it to similar published material, you can compile a list of revisions you'd like me to make.

When doing this, you'd make sure to put everything into a single concise list and send it all to me all at once. This may require chatting with your bandmates before you can compile that list. I can only honor requests from a single representative.

After I receive your requests, I will respond with thoughts and advisories if necessary, though I will most likely just get to work and send you a new version as soon as possible.

Here are 4 scenarios in mixing and/or mastering in which a large amount of revision requests point to deeper issues.

1. There is a problem beyond the reach of an engineer, such as problematically recorded multi-tracks, problematically mixed songs, or an unrealistic expectation of what is possible (like mastering your flawed mix in an attempt to transform it into something that sounds like a billboard charting tune).

Mastering tends to reveal or clarify the character of a mix, just as mixing tends to reveal or clarify the character of recorded tracks.

We can do a lot in mixing to remedy problems. But in mastering, our wiggle room is more limited. A vocal track that was clipped on the way in or a guitar that was recorded through an amp with too much distortion before hitting the interface are both things that are hard to band-aid in mixing and next to impossible to do anything about in mastering.

Phrases out of time or key, noise floors from your hardware, baked-in over-compression or excessive limiting, or lack of balance in a mix will likely not be cured in mastering. Things like amp hum and clicks/pops are sometimes able to be improved, but it depends. Artifact removal/filtering technology is getting increasingly advanced, and I have tons of those kinds of tools available, but overuse of them can cause more artifacts than they remove.

I always do my best to find cures in these situations, and you won't believe how many times I've saved a recording from some kind of impending doom, but it is always best to try to eliminate and avoid problems throughout your entire process before things reach my studio. 

2. You need to listen to each version thoroughly before sending your revision requests. "Revision hell" can be avoided by listening intently to the recording on multiple systems besides the ones you used to work on your project before giving me your assessment.

3. You don't know what you want, and you're using the mixing and/or mastering process as an experiment to determine what you need to fix on your end before sending me a new version to work on.

Of course, every one of these processes is experimental, and sometimes you don't know what's going to sound good until you try it. The point is- be sure of your project before passing it along to me. 

Incorporating new files after the project begins, and especially after it's signed off on, is not a revision request and may cause you to incur some extra charges. I do my work under the impression that you're finished with your materials before you bring them to me.

If your 3rd revision list on a complete master has points like "Actually, we're going to re-record the bass tracks with a synth instead and send you new mixes," then you should be prepared to pay for an entirely new master.

4. You care about your project ❤️so much❤️ and have spent so much time with it that you have demo-itis. This is usually the case when you want your project to sound more like your raw mixes or demo with each revision request.

Demoitis is a slang term in music production that refers to the sentimental attachment to a particular way a song has been recorded, mixed, or mastered, making it difficult to accept the newer, better-engineered version. It is the feeling that the best version of a song is the one you are used to, rather than the one that has been improved.

I use the word "objectively" a bit loosely because we all know that there is an enormous amount of subjectivity when it comes to music. Plus, not being able to evaluate different remixes or renditions unbiasedly is common to everyone. Therefore, the trick is to be very aware of this and see it when it's in action. Question it, scrutinize it, and rest for a day or two to recalibrate your ears and brain before you come back to the recording.

Good communication before a project is initiated is the number one way to avoid what is known as revision hell.

And, of course, any revision request made due to a mistake on my part will not count against you, ever! I won't lie and say this has not happened in the past!

I will send you an invoice via email showing the project you and I will have talked about. It will be a PayPal invoice, but you can use a credit or debit card if you do not want to use a PayPal account.

For most smaller projects, I require 100% of the payment upfront. For larger projects or under exceptional circumstances I will accept half up-front, which will get you a portion of the project done so you can hear what's happening. The rest of the payment will take the project to the finish line.

You can break your payments up for large projects if you need to, but I can only complete the project once you've paid in full.

On the rare occasion a project needs to be terminated, partial refunds are determined on a case-by-case basis.

Stem mastering is the BEST way to get your masters sounding as good as they possibly can!

What are stems?

Stems are basically instrument groups. Drums, guitars, synths, vocals, sound FX, field recordings, or other generalized groups of elements, entirely separate from the rest.

Multi-tracks are single tracks in your mix project which contain only one layer of one instrument. For regular mixing projects, these are what I need from you.

Stem Mastering

Stem mastering is a little bit like mixing, but in a more straightforward form, combined with the mastering process.

However, in stem mastering, the goal typically is not to mix the record—that's already been done. With stem mastering, I have access to individual instrument groups in the event something needs to be adjusted to accommodate the mastering process.

For example, maybe the bass synth sounded great in the mixing studio, but it's taking up a little bit too much room in the master, and telling the compression stage to behave in a less than idea way. Being able to go into the bass stem, bring down some of the sub bass, and maybe boost the mids, can make or break a master. The mix engineer in this case is not also mastering the record, so there is no telling what might pop up.

If you really want to cover your ass, you can send me the multi-tracks from your mix session. This way, if something so much as a single cymbal, or s-sound from a single vocal track is sounding a little too harsh once I apply some processing to it, I can adjust it in a pinch without messing with the overall tone of the high end of the song.

I always prefer artists give me more control over the sound by providing stems or multi-tracks rather than just single stereo files.

Stem Mixing

Stem mixing is basically what stem mastering is, without the mastering. Occasionally, a producer or mixer will be mostly satisfied with their work, but they will still choose to send me stems for a final set of ears. In this case, I may make some final adjustments and perhaps add some master bus processing if it's appropriate to do so before the mastering stage.

I can!

I compose, record, produce, mix, and master music for myself and my clients regularly

I've been playing guitar, bass, keyboards and synthesizers, drums, and other instruments for decades. I also create unique sounds with "prepared" instruments and objects, repurposed electronics, and various software.

I have experience in a multitude of genres and musical communities, most of which lean toward the more innovative, experimental, and progressive types. Noise, post-punk, grindcore, ambient, drone, new age, sample-based vaporwave and other plunderphonic styles, experimental hip hop, freak folk, digital jazz fusion, electro-industrial, tape music, IDM and glitch, avant-garde metal, first and second-wave emo and screamo, etc.

I may not be available to fully produce country, R&B, pop, or singer-songwriter tunes, as I prefer to stick to weirder music. But there are exceptions... I was recently commissioned to master a singer-songwriter double album of covers of the first two Weezer records. You know I jumped all over that shit.

Please get in touch with your story, and I will give you the full spiel on how I can help you.

For all projects, please send me the highest quality and resolution version of whatever you're working with.

Do not convert the files to any other specs before sending them—I need exactly what you've exported from your DAW. I will know if you convert a lossy MP3 to a WAV or FLAC. You are not increasing the quality. You are simply putting the original quality in a higher-quality box. What's inside that box remains as is.

If another band member or your engineer has higher-quality files than you, please seek them out before I begin your project with me.

I prefer 24-bit WAV files. 32-bit is okay too, but they will be converted (safely) in the end. 

NO LIMITERS OR CLIPPERS ON YOUR MASTER CHANNEL IN ALMOST EVERY SCENARIO.

I know I sound crazy by making such a big deal about this. Still, if you want some detailed information on why using a limiter before the mastering stage is usually a no-no, you might want to read a long-winded article I wrote about it for my blog. Some engineers don't mind, but I suspect sometimes it's because they are afraid of over-complicating a job.

Now, if you are an experienced professional mix engineer, and you insist that clipping your transients before sending things off for mastering is necessary, that's technically fine. It is a practice some people do, but its usually because the transients in the mix are too pokey. If you're clipping your pre-master for loudness's sake....don't.

If your production falls apart without the limiter there, don't worry; I will make sure that things sound as dynamically squished as you'd like them to.

Please make sure your audio files do not clip. Ignore what you read about needing to provide 6, 8, 10db of headroom to a mastering engineer. It really doesn't matter as long as things are not clipping (in the bad way).

Make sure all of your file & folder submissions are labeled correctly with official titles or descriptive terms. I'm sorry to say that "mix_for_angel.wav" & "NEW_SONG_STEMS_FINAL_v4.zip" are unhelpful. 

Every client of mine will be sent a link that goes into more detail about the file prep requirements. You can make any changes once you read the guidelines.

Any file-sharing service is OK, but it's preferred you do not use one with which the links expire.

P.S. If you make harsh noise, or other forms of music in which a completely smashed signal is inherent in the sound, where a distorting mixer or a brickwall limiter is literally one of your instruments, I can still work with you, of course! I have much experience with music like this and I produce it myself. Asking you to "fix" that is like asking a metal band to remove the distortion from their guitars.

Though experimental, progressive, strange, or just non-mainstream music is my niche, I absolutely can work and have worked on a good handful of more, well, normal types of music.

Take Here's My Song by Sam Greenfield, which I mixed and mastered. Sam is a big goof, but clearly the song is not noise grind, lo-fi darkwave, or drone music. It is really good though. He's like...one of my favorite sax players of all time to be honest.

Another example is Glass Garden's self-titled effort. I only mastered this one, but it's a bit along the lines of Sam's music in a lot of ways.

As you can see I'm a sucker for jazz fusion and funk.

So, if you're Cory Wong, hit me up for some mixing.

If you are getting your album mastered with me, feel free to send me your works in progress and I can give you a little mixing advice or feedback, if needed, to help you prepare your songs.

Even if you aren't a beginner producer, this step could make a world of difference in the final product. The better your mix, the better your master.

You can be a phenomenal producer or musician and still be able to gloss over an issue with your mix, especially if you have been working on it for a while or if you've been monitoring it with a single pair of headphones or monitors.

If you want detailed and thorough advice, where I break down each of your songs, dive in deep, and give you feedback on the mix, I can do this for a fee.

It depends.

I occasionally offer hour-long Zoom consultations to help you with your mastering, mixing, or original compositions.

Besides for my own productions, no. 

Angel Hair Audio isn't a recording studio that is open to the public or that can be booked. I am a full-service remote facility.

Please be confident in your project before sending it off for work!

I honor revision requests (see the frequently asked question about revisions), but sending me different audio than I have already quoted for and worked on does not count as a revision.

Sending in updated mixes or new multi-tracks for a project after my work work has begun will mean an additional investment from you in most cases.

Engineers who do not charge extra for this build it into their rates. This has been reported to me by more engineers than I can count on like...6 hands.

However I want to keep my rate lower for you, so I only charge for these things when they happen since they are mostly rare. I don't like to nickel and dime my clients. If I build it into my rates, too many clients will have wasted money.

Even if you only changed one thing in your multi-tracks or mix, it can greatly impact how I have things set. It is not as simple as just "running it through the mastering chain" again, or "switching out the saw synth for a pad." If I did that, and that only, I would not be doing a thorough job.

Please understand that a mastering engineer is not there to use as a resource to bounce your mixes off of, so that you can figure out where they need to be before they are mastered 'for good.'

In most cases, the answer is no. There are a few exceptions, but they should be avoided.

You can use your digital masters for your cassettes, but ordering a cassette sequence of your album maintains the spacing between tracks (if any) exactly as you intend them, preventing any devices from adding space or crossfading.

Plus, my cassette masters are alarmingly inexpensive, so it's really worth it.

You absolutely should not use your digital, CD, or cassette masters for vinyl.

You should never release your vinyl master files digitally, as they are not intended to be listened to digitally. The best way to get an accurate picture of how the vinyl will sound is by listening to it on a record, so make sure you get test presses. Feel free to rip your record and release those rips. 

Nooooo.

Consolidated tracks are one of the most common problems I encounter in my mixing work.

Mixing engineers and educators often stress the idea of "Commit! Commit! Commit! Decide on your drum mix, your synth patches, and your vocal harmonies, and move on. Set it and forget it. Don't give yourself the opportunity to go back and tweak things because you'll never finish your project."

This is just straight BS. The main focus should be on discipline and confidence, not commitment. If you get to the end of the song and you decide to change out the snare sample or the type of guitar distortion you're using, do it.

Engineers who do or don't do certain things based on mere principle are forgetting what audio engineering is about- making shit sound good. Yes, you'll have to backtrack some, and maybe adjust the settings on other tracks to compensate, but being locked into something you aren't happy with is never something that helps your mix sound better.

If you are disciplined and you produce and mix confidently, you will minimize needing to go back to things. But if something has a problem, and it's baked into the track, there is no going back. Why the hell anyone would want to back themselves into a corner like that, I have no idea.

Conventional mixing advice can be very bad, even if it's coming from a seasoned engineer. Many things are subjective, but the most logical and sensible thing, in my opinion, is that it's never too late to change something to make it better. Unless it is.

Comping multi-tracks before sending them to me for mixing can really throw your production under the bus. Don't do it.

When your drums are comped, I cannot make your snare more snappy without making the cymbals more harsh, even if I'm using a transient-only EQ. I cannot decrease the trebly click sound in your kick drum without deadening the smack of the toms. I cannot make your vocals sound wider or more full if all your double, triple, and quadruple harmonies are in the same file. I cannot create more space in the guitar mix if all your guitar tracks are combined and panned to the center. And the list goes on.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop bouncing your multi-tracks down before sending them off for mixing! LOL.

If you consolidate to save money or time, you are basically throwing more money and time in the toilet than you are throwing at me, and the return value from your fans, the press, labels, and whoever/whatever else will be less.

As much as I love talking gear and plug-ins, I don't list any of it on my website.

The sound quality of my work speaks for itself.

I do not identify with gear, I identify with results.

I do not keep what I use a secret, as you may see some gear or plug-ins in the website photos, and I occasionally bring up gear in interviews and articles.

However I don't name-drop brands and models as a means for advertising my services. I can assure you that among what I use you'll find high-quality processing that is revered in the industry, and more than sufficient for the job. What truly matters is how one uses such things.

I've heard incredibly well-produced projects using only free plug-ins and closed-back headphones, and I've heard lifeless butchered masters produced in high end facilities with pristine analog gear & professionally treated rooms.

In fact, one of the worst-sounding records I've ever played on was recorded & mixed in a big studio with racks & racks of nice equipment. It was mastered by a professional engineer who is employed by some of the most well-known bands in the world! Literally. I kid you not. It was a fluke, but it can happen.

I know that position very well. I come from underground DIY punk and noise scenes.

In a particular era, I didn't even bother mastering my material, and when I did, I just slammed it with a compressor and a limiter and started dubbing the tapes or burning the CDrs.

The truth is, even if you don't want to get your music professionally mastered, it should still go through a makeshift mastering process on your end at the bare minimum.

I don't know how many pieces of physical media I've bought from artists like yourself that featured music which was unintentionally too loud or too quiet, making the listener have to chase it around with the volume knob.

And too many of these recordings had unintentional digital clipping, incredibly muddy or muffled mixes, intrusive noise floor, smeared transients, etc.

Unless your intention is "audio terrorism" (which is pretty cool in my opinion), you should have consistent levels, decent frequency balance, and a few other basic requirements for getting your production some degree of appropriate for release. Your listeners will appreciate it. YOU will appreciate it.

Don't you want to hear all the frequency content clearly? Don't you want the instruments you played to be blended well? Don't you want problematic artifacts that are masking your sound in some way, that you may not even realize are there, taken care of? Don't you want your recording as loud as possible, without distorting? Or maybe you DO want it distorting, but in a "safe" or pleasing way? Don't you want the noise floor/hiss of your tapes to be relatively inaudible while listening to the actual music? Don't you want your record's needle to stay in its track? Don't you want to hear what was originally intended, instead of a warped (in a bad way) version of it?

If paying attention to these things disrupts the conceptual nature of your project, do what thou wilt. Otherwise, get your project mastered.

If you cannot afford to have your music professionally mastered, but want people to be able to comfortably enjoy your music and all it has to offer, please study the basics of mastering by watching at least 5 tutorials on YouTube, and at the least do the bare minimum on your own.

I will send you high quality files that pertain to the intended formats using a high-quality audio-centric file-sharing service. I almost always work with WAV files.

If you'd like me to send USB Drives or data CDs in the mail, I can do that for a fee, but it'll really slow things down and I really do not recommend this. There's really no reason to do it that way.

Yes!

Test masters are the best way to prove to you that I can provide high quality, powerful and captivating masters of your music in particular. It's the only way I can really show you that I listen deeply, take in every detail of your music, and then artistically, intuitively, skillfully dial in the correct settings to bring out what you put into it.

I don't think that listening to examples of my past work is the best way to show this. If you are listening to masters of suffering mixes, you aren't hearing what I'm capable of with beautifully performed and prepared material.

And if you are listening to masters of mixes or productions that were top-notch, you're hearing an instance in which the mix has contributed greatly to the quality of the master.

If your mix has problems, it wouldn't be wise to expect that your mix will be on par with some of your favorite productions.

Most of the time, I can't provide free test mixes. Even a 10 second test mix could require half of the job of mixing the whole song, depending on the complexity of your production. I am simply unable to do that much speculative work.

However, if you are working on something in which there are 5 multi-tracks or less, go ahead and drop me a line and I will see if I can help you.

P.S. My test masters are samples and will not contain your full song, but rather a few sections of it.

Check out my full project list.

DDP

Yes, I can provide DDP files for your CD master, but this needs to be discussed before beginning the project.

However, you probably do not need them. Over the course of mastering hundreds of albums, only a small handful of clients have requested DDP files, and upon me suggesting that they probably don't need them, they checked with their manufacturer and learned just that—they didn't need them. 

PMCDs

I can provide PMCDs, but I highly, highly recommend digital transfer instead for a multitude of reasons. PMCDs can be problematic, and it is a labor intensive endeavor that, in my opinion, may as well be avoided by submitting files digitally. It's... not worth it.

Dolby Atmos

At this time I am not fully trained in Dolby Atmos. In the future!

MFiT

Sorry, I am not certified by Apple to create MFiT masters, nor have I attempted to be. Maybe some other time. :)

Your mixed music should, 100% of the time, be mastered in some capacity. And 100% of the time, after mastering, your music will be able to be published.

Though the quality of the master depends greatly on the mix, and though the quality of the mix depends greatly on the quality of the recordings, a well-done master will be up to spec and will fulfill the requirements of published music. Whether that be for streaming, CD, cassette, vinyl, floppy disks, lathe cut picnic plates, or whatever else.

Use the little chat box at the bottom of the site. If that doesn't work for you either, my email is angel at angel_hair_audio_d0t_c0m, without the underscores, and with each zero as an 'o.'

Angel Hair Audio is an LLC, registered in the state of Illinois, in the USA.

If this really matters to you, you're welcome to find a different engineer. :)