Home Recording Guide For Rock And Metal –
Part 5: Studio Collaboration

You’ve decided to self-record and self-produce your record – but the further along you get in the process, the more you realize it still doesn’t sound pro? Then it might just be a case of letting a professional take the production all the way to the finish line. In this last part of the home recording guide series, I’ll give you an overview of how to go about that.

1. When and why to outsource production tasks from the home studio

There are multiple reasons why outsourcing certain aspects of your production might be your best solution. If you want the sound of your record to compete with the big names in the industry, you need to absolutely nail every single part of the process. From writing the songs all the way to the mixing and mastering. This is almost impossible to achieve on your own without special training and experience in audio production – especially if it’s your own project where you’re also the performing artist.

Mixing in general, but even more so in Rock and heavier genres, is a good example for outsourcing studio work. It’s arguably the most transformational production phase with the biggest impact on the overall sound. That’s where the role of a mixing engineer, who is capable of drastically enhancing the sound characteristics and quality of your record, comes into play.

So how exactly do you decide whether to book studio services by a professional? Here are some pointers to help you answer that question – have a look at the following statements and see if any one of them fits you.

You already have put a lot of work in to write, arrange, produce and/or record great songs.

Because of that, you have a special emotional connection to them, and the final sound of the record in itself is particularly important to you.

You don’t know how to do certain things on a professional level, or you’re not comfortable doing it.

It’s totally fine if you feel that way – no one ever said you should. If music production or audio engineering isn’t your job, you don’t have to have those kinds of skills as they go far beyond musicianship. That’s what studio professionals are there for – it is their job.

You don’t want to miss out on the potential of your songs, but rather get the most out of them.

Similarly to the first statement, it’s simply very important to you that your production turns out the best way possible. Otherwise it would feel like a waste of time and effort – even worse: for something that you feel personally connected to because you already put your heart and soul into it.

You’re taking your record seriously, because you want to release and use it commercially:

Building your image as a band, promoting live shows, growing your fan base, booking more and bigger gigs, selling merchandise, etc. If you’re doing all of that right, this makes booking professional studio services well worth the investment in any case. At this point, you treat your band sort of like a business, because you want it to be successful, and have specific goals you want to achieve – financially and in terms of recognition/reach.

If one or more of the above statements accurately describe your situation, choosing an engineer/producer to handle a specific task would likely be your most beneficial option.

As mixing is the most common case of studio tasks being outsourced, we’ll focus on that studio service for the rest of this article. So, once you have decided you want to have your songs professionally mixed, you’ll probably ask yourself how to handle the whole process – from hiring the right person to collaboration and file exchange, etc. That’s what we’ll cover in the following. But before we get into that, there’s something important that shouldn’t be overlooked…

2. What about editing?

When is audio editing necessary in modern music production? The short answer is: Always. It’s an integral part of pretty much any modern record you listen to, and therefore you should not cut any corners here. How or how much editing needs to be done exactly depends on the song and genre, however it always comes down to

rhythm/timing corrections/enhancements,
pitch/Intonation corrections/enhancements and
basic audio edits, cuts, fades etc.

All of that needs to be done before a professional mixing session can start. Note that these editing tasks are not part of mixing. They are separate production tasks and therefore editing is generally not included in mixing services.

So, when it comes to working with a mixing engineer, you either need to have the editing part already sorted or request editing services for the missing parts. An engineer who is genuinely interested in making your production the best it can be, will get in touch in advance to discuss such things with you and advise you accordingly.

Again, if you’re not able or comfortable to do all the editing yourself, let the engineer handle it – but be aware that it’s not part of the mixing process.

3. Working with a mixing engineer

Now that we’ve got the editing part out of the way, we can look at the specifics of outsourcing a production part in more detail (in this case mixing). Let’s go through all the major aspects of a typical rock/metal mixing project.

3.1 Choosing the right mixing engineer

Who is the right person to mix your record? In essence, this comes down to three things: A mixing style that suits your taste, a fitting service package and the availability.

The individual style of mixing is arguably the most important aspect, as it dictates what the end result will sound like. If you book a mixer who has a certain “signature” sound that’s present in most of their work, then you have to expect the same for your production. However, if you want your record to go in a different direction, you’re probably better off choosing a mixer whose style is closer to your expectations. That’s why the first and most important step when choosing a mixing engineer is to listen to their mixes and see if the overall style appeals to you.

Almost equally important is the service package you get when you book a mixing session. What exactly do you get? At which price? Before you kick off a mixing project, you should be certain that you get everything you need – without any additional services becoming necessary later, and at the budget you have available. Define your budget wisely though: A record ultimately means capturing perpetuating a performance for people to listen to it long in the future. If you save at the wrong end, you will inevitably shoot yourself in the foot in the long run.

Lastly, depending on your deadlines, the availability of the mixing engineer is the last big important factor. If there’s only one spot left to book your session(s) six months in advance, that might break the deal for you. However, be warned that making compromises in the overall result to gain a few weeks of time is usually not a good idea and should be avoidable if you’re planning early enough.

3.2 Scope of work, included services

Now let’s look in more detail at what exactly is or isn’t included in a professional mixing service. Before signing a contract, you should clarify if the following individual services are included or not, which might also depend on your specific needs:

Mixdown of all individual audio tracks to the final stereo format – the bare minimum
Editing: Drums, bass and guitars; vocal editing and vocal tuning – usually not part of professional mixing services
Reamping (guitars/bass) – sometimes, depending on mixing engineer’s decision
Drum replacement – often dependent on mixing engineer’s decision
MIDI “humanizing” of programmed drums – rarely specifically included but sometimes subject to mixing engineer’s decision; sometimes not included at all

3.3 Time frame

What’s the time it takes from the start of the mixing project to the delivery of the final mix? That depends on your exact project and the availability of the mixing engineer. Is it just a single, and the engineer has a session available immediately? Then the project should be possible to finish in a week or two. Is it a full-length album with twelve songs and you maybe have to wait a few weeks for the next spot available? Then it’s hard to tell and you need to discuss the exact time frame of your project in advance. In every case you should communicate deadlines on your part and account for a bit of extra time, just in case something doesn’t go as planned.

What you should also know about, is the following order of workflow milestones in a typical mixing project:

Uploading the files for the mixing engineer
Mixing phase starts
Reference mix of the first song (or the first few) finished and sent to you for approval
Start of the approval process: listening, possibly noting and discussing a request for changes (plan extra time for this accordingly)
Implementation of changes (if applicable)
Your client approval
File delivery of your final mix

As you can see, once the mix is done, the project/contract isn’t just yet – until you have approved and been sent all final mix files. The turnaround time (time from the start of the project to the delivery of the reference mix) is fairly predictable and you can ask what would be for your project beforehand. How long the project takes from this point on is less predictable, because that depends on how long you need to listen and approve the files and changes (if needed).

Mixdown of all individual audio tracks to the final stereo format – the bare minimum
Editing: Drums, bass and guitars; vocal editing and vocal tuning – usually not part of professional mixing services
Reamping (guitars/bass) – sometimes, depending on mixing engineer’s decision
Drum replacement – often dependent on mixing engineer’s decision
MIDI “humanizing” of programmed drums – rarely specifically included but sometimes subject to mixing engineer’s decision; sometimes not included at all

3.4 Upload format

Before you can upload your files to be mixed, you will need to clarify what format you will provide them in. Basically there are two options:

Providing the recorded audio files without mix processing (raw multitrack)
Providing the complete DAW session/project

The first option is an industry standard that just works – every time. Handling file exchange this way ensures compatibility in all cases and is most widely accepted.

For the second option to work, your mix engineer needs to work with the same DAW software as you and ideally have the same version installed as you.

Since everyone sets up their DAW differently, I recommend just sending properly exported WAV-files – the multitrack. This way neither one needs to worry about anything else, and the mix engineer can focus on their usual workflow.

3.5 File preparation

Now, how do you export the tracks for mixing correctly? Basically you just need to follow these steps:

Name all tracks with a naming scheme that makes sense, i.e. that describes the signal source concisely and as short as possible. Examples:
- Kick In, Kick Out, SN Top, SN Btm and so on for Drums
- Bass DI
- GTR L DI, GTR L Mic for rhythm guitar left, LD GTR for Lead Guitar
- LV for Lead Vocal, BV for Backing Vocals
Delete/deactivate any unused tracks
Remove/deactivate all mix processing everywhere: individual tracks, busses, master
Make a timeline selection to include the song from beginning to end
- start the selection on beat 1
- make sure everything can ring out completely and
- leave 1 or 2 bars of silence as a buffer at the start and end
Bounce all tracks that you need to provide for mixing (“track bounce” command or similar)
Bounce settings:
- Choose the same sample rate that the project is already set to
- use a bit depth of 24 bits or 32 bits floating point, but not lower
- Ideally use dithering when bouncing to 24 bits (technically correct), although it’s not hugely important.
Make sure to include a tempo and time signature specification – either:
- a simple text file or
- if there are any tempo or time signature changes, create a MIDI tempo map by exporting any virtual instrument or MIDI track with the exact same timeline selection as the other tracks.
Once everything is exported, copy the files into a new folder (a separate folder for every song, if multiple) and label it with the song title. If you have a lot of tracks, you can also create subfolders for more transparency, e.g. Drums, Guitars + Bass, Vocals, Synths/Keys/FX.
Zip each of those song folders to make a ZIP-File per song. This ensures data integrity when moving the files.

Now you’re ready to upload the files for mixing!

3.6 Deliverables

Deliverables in media production are any files that are being created as a result of the finished production task(s) and intended for delivery to the client. In mixing, these are the final, approved stereo mix files of all the songs that have been mixed. However, depending on individual project needs, additional deliverables might be included – or needed – on top of those.

Some examples would be an instrumental version, an “A Cappella” version (vocals only), or individual stems of all instruments (drums stem, bass stem, guitars stem etc.). Especially the latter are usually not included if not specifically asked for. If you know you need any additional mix versions, make sure you mention it when discussing the project details before kicking off the mix session.

3.7 Reference songs

In the context of booking professional mixing services, a reference song is a song that is in a similar style as your own production and is sonically close to what you intend it to sound like. It can also only contain some elements of what you want for your production, but it should be something that you as a band agree is exemplary and desirable.

It’s always a good idea to communicate a reference song or two and what about them exactly is desirable to you. Be specific! When you mention reference songs, try to make your choice meaningful by choosing songs that share at least some characteristics. Avoid confusion by song choices that are so diverse that they might come off as contradictory – commit to a style, just like you do in your own production too! Also, don’t expect an exact match in tonality with the final mix, because every song, every production is different.

3.8 Preparing a rough mix

A rough mix is exactly what its name suggests: Not a finished mix, but rather a quick mix with a few coarse adjustments regarding the most important sonic aspects. You can use such rough mixes to better convey your vision of what the song should sound like – mostly in terms of level balance, darkness/brightness and the use of effects at certain points in the songs.

If you decide to do rough mixes and send them with your raw multitracks, keep in mind that the result of the actual mixing session might still sound very different from your rough mix. This is simply because you can’t compare rough mixes to final mixes – otherwise, why would you need a mixing service in the first place, right? So in a nutshell, doing rough mixes is perfectly fine and they can be useful for the engineer, just don’t get too attached to them while you wait for the mixer to return the finished mixes.

3.9 File delivery

File delivery is usually handled via some sort of cloud storage. There are a few different ways to do that: You could use your own cloud service and provide a link for the producer/engineer to download the files or the other way around. In theory you can of course do both, but for better overview I always recommend only sharing links in one direction – from the mixing engineer as a service to you as the client.

3.10 Changes/revisions

Revisions are change versions of the original, to the client’s specifications, usually regarding mixes/masters. In any case it’s best for all parties involved to clarify in advance how the revision process is handled. Questions to cover here are:

How many revisions are included in the price?
When exactly is the project/contract considered to be finished, with no more changes possible as part of the contract?
How much time do you have to approve files or request a revision?
What are possible limitations for change requests?

Make sure everyone involved knows how these things will be handled before signing the contract. That way you don’t run the risk of getting in trouble and know the project is going to run smoothly.

4. Your next steps

If you do everything explained in this article, you are very well prepared for a successful collaboration with a professional producer/engineer. Since I provide all the same exact services that have been mentioned along the way, I also discuss all these things with anyone interested in my services right from the start. If you’re one of them, once you reach out to me to discuss your project, you can be assured we’re going to talk through all the big topics described here.

Are you interested in booking my studio services? Then send me a message and we’ll get started!

Are you not ready to discuss a specific project yet?
Just head over to the home page to learn more about who I am and what I do.

Home Recording Guide For Rock And Metal – Part 5: Studio Collaboration