Online Mixing & Mastering

Mixing & Mastering Your Songs Online

If you’re an independent artist who’s recording and producing your own music, you know the value of a professional sounding mix and master.

But getting someone to mix and master your music online can feel like a bit of a risk.

• Will I be 100% satisfied with the final sound?
• Will I find it hard to communicate my ideas with the mix engineer?
• I don’t want to waste my money.

I completely get it.

Hi, I’m Luke, I own and run Banana Llama Studios and I specialise in mixing and mastering.

I’ve spent many years helping independent artists get professional, musical sounding mixes and masters BUT I have also worked on the art of doing this remotely. When you work with me you can feel 100% confident that:

• There will be clear and timely communication.
• I will partner with you to get the best out of your songs beyond just mixing and mastering.
• You’ll get mixes you’re 100% happy with or I will give you a complete refund.

This very kind testimonial from an artist I mixed and mastered an EP for summarises how I like to work with you and your music:

“Luke is super knowledgeable and an expert in his craft, and made my music sound excellent, above and beyond what I could have imagined. But more than that he is super kind, and for a relatively newer artist like myself, he was very transparent and willing to explain the process as we went along. There are a lot of mix/master specialists out there and it can be difficult to sift through and pick one, but the experience with Banana Llama was very positive, and I would recommend to anyone”

Rob McCarthy

Here are some words from some more happy clients

I would love to help mix your single, EP or album project. I have 20+ years of songwriting, recording, production and mixing experience both in Australia and the US (Nashville, TN). I bring all of that experience to your project to help it sound professional and ready for release.

Mix & Mastering Samples

Here are some before and after samples of projects I’ve mixed recently:

Online Mixing Costs

All prices below are per song and in USD. Stems refer to individual instrument tracks or merged groups of instrument tracks.

• 1 – 7 tracks/stems $180
• 8 – 15 tracks/stems $240
• 16 – 23 tracks/stems $300
• 24 – 31 tracks/stems $360
• 32 – 39 tracks/stems $420
• 40+ tracks/stems $480

If you get 3 – 7 song mixed and mastered you also get a 5% discount on the total price. If you have 7+ songs mixed and mastered you get 10% off the total price of the project.

I am happy if you want to pay-as-you go for EP and album mixing projects. This helps to spread the cost for you plus you’ll still get the 5% or 10% discount on the project.

How Soon Will I Have My Mixes?

Generally I can turn around a mix in the following times:

• A single song = 5 business days
• EP of 3 – 7 tracks = 2 – 4 weeks
• Album of 7+ = 4 – 8 weeks

Of course this all depends on other studio commitments at the time you get in contact with me. I will let you know a realistic timeframe from the get go.

In my experience, I would recommend allowing an extra week (maybe two in the case of an album) to allow for mix revisions. I want to make sure you’re 100% happy with the mix and masters I give to you before you release them.

Mix Revisions

The prices above include as many revisions as needed to make sure you’re 100% happy with the mixes. I encourage you to take your time and listen to the mixes on different music systems (smartphone, Bluetooth speaker, car stereo, home stereo etc).

You should do this for at least a day even up to a week if you’re working on a whole album. Generally I find after one to three rounds of feedback you should have a mix you’re 100% happy with and ready to release.

The Process

1. Contact me about your project so I can answer any questions and be sure that I understand your requirements. I’m always happy to jump on a call or Google Meet to discuss your project. I’ll send you details on how to do this after your first contact.
2. You’ll need to prepare your tracks for mixing (see below) before sending them through. If you’re working in GarageBand or Logic Pro X you won’t need to do much.
3. Once your track is ready for mixing, upload your project files to Drop Box, Google Drive, iCloud or another cloud storage service and send me a link.
4. I’ll review the track and come back to you with a quote for the mix and master. I’ll also send through any questions or give you any feedback on the tracks if something further needs to be done on your end.
5. Once you’re happy to move ahead, I’ll send you an invoice for a 50% deposit of the mix fee.
6. As soon as you’ve paid the deposit I get to work. I’ll keep you posted as I go and give you a more accurate idea of when I will have a test mix/master ready for you hear.
7. When I have the test mix/master ready to send, I’ll send it to you using Samply for you to audition and check on different sound systems.
8. Once you’ve sat with the track a while, and have your mix revision notes. We’ll go back and forth until you’re 100% happy with the mix/master.
9. When we’re done with revisions, I’ll get you to pay the final invoice and provide you with a high resolution .wav file for upload to streaming services and a high resolution .mp3 file for download.

Other Mix and Master Formats

If you require a vinyl or CD masters there is an additional fee of $20USD per format per song. Find out more about out mastering process.

Other deliverables are available such as no-vocal mixes and stems for remixing. If you have any other specific requirements I’m sure I can accommodate those too if you let me know.

Preparing Your Tracks For Mixing

It’s best to get in touch with me before sending tracks but if you’re in a hurry and want me to review your project immediately, please follow the process below to avoid any delay in me starting the mix.

1. Make sure any edits are made and cross-faded. Solo and check cross-fades to make sure they are clean.
2. Remove any compression, panning, EQ, effects from each track. If there is a track with effects, compression, EQ or Automation that is key to the sound of the track you can leave these effects on. Get in contact with me if you’re not sure.
3. Bounce each track individually or bounce a stereo track of grouped parts from 0 seconds. This means each part has an audio file that start from the same point. Bounce mono tracks as mono files and stereo files as stereo.
4. Label each file with a descriptive name e.g. kick-out.wav, kick-in.wav, snare-top.wav, snare-bottom.wav etc.
5. Create a text file with any mix notes, mix reference suggestion (songs you feel your or any other relevant details
6. For each song group all audio files and the text file into a folder with the song name. Compress this folder to a .zip file.
7. Upload the .zip file/s to your preferred cloud storage platform and forward a link through to me.

Ready To Get Started?