Booking
Q. How do I go about booking a session?
A. Call or email, choose your dates, put down a deposit to lock in the booking. Feel free to add any info about your project in the first email to give me an idea of what you need to get things rolling.
Q. How much of a deposit do I put down?
A. Everyone puts half of the full amount up front as a deposit to book time. At the end of the session you are expected to pay the remaining balance before recorded media is released.
Q. What are your rates?
A. Call or email for quotes tailored to your project. Everyone’s needs are different.
Q. Is there a cancellation fee?
A. Yes, your deposit is your cancellation fee, so don’t cancel sessions.
Q. Can we split a day rate up over two days?
A. No, a day rate is a day rate. Half day rates differ.
Q. Can we setup early to save time?
A. Normally, an hour load-in time is allotted. So if your session is booked for noon, you can load in at 11. If you are booking a large block of time, or a big project, one day early load-in is allowed when available.
Q. Do you take credit cards?
A. No. Checks, electronic transfers or cash is appreciated.
Q. Does studio time come with an engineer?
A. Studio time is available with or without an engineer. It just depends if you need an engineer or not. If you need an engineer, one can be provided at a slightly increased rate.
Q. How awesome is the old Raker?
A. Pretty awesome.
Mixing
Q. How does the mixing process work?
- You pay a deposit.
- Get me your tracks in the correct format.
- I mix your track.
- I send you a reference mix formatted to MP3
- You listen, make notes and get back to me.
- I make the revisions, and send you another reference mix.
- Once you are satisfied, I print a final version at 48k/24bit as the FINAL MASTER
- You pay the remaining balance.
- I mail you the FINAL MASTER or deliver them to my mastering guy if you need mastering.
Q. How do I get you my project?
A. There are a few ways to get me your project.
- Mail me a hard drive/Flash drive/DVD’s with your project on it.
- I can give you FTP info to upload it from anywhere in the world.
- If you are in town, you are welcome to drop off a drive as well.
Q. What format should my project be in?
A. I prefer to work in Protools 48k/24Bit. Anything other than that can be discussed on a case by case basis.
Q. What can I do to give you a Protools session that looks professional so you spend your time mixing, and not cleaning up messy files?
A. Im glad you asked.
- Label your tracks, the less time I spend figuring out what is on what track, the more time I have to improve the mix.
- Cleanup your session, the less time I spend putting in crossfades and tracking down clicks and pops, the more time I have to improve the mix.
- The song should be in its final arrangement. I dont want multiple vocal takes to sort through.
- Any important software synths/drums/FX should be printed to an audio track. I may not have the plugin that you used to get certain sounds. (Note:You are welcome to leave Midi info in the session as I may reference it. This can be especially helpful for me concerning drums.)
- Get rid of unused/inactive tracks or muted regions. I dont want to accidently mix in a pig whistle into the chorus that wasn’t supposed to be there.
- Track limit, I understand that sessions these days have more and more tracks. But if you have a more than 100, please buss some of that down to stereo blends. If you don’t, I have to, and that wastes valuable mixing time.
- Tune your vocals before you send them to me or don’t. But dont ask me to tune anything unless you are interested in paying a bit extra. (Paying extra is fine, I can tune vocals very well. Its just not what I consider mixing.)
- Drum Editing/Editing in general. This is the same as tuning vocals. Have your track straightened out before hand, unless your are interested in paying me to tighten things up. This sort of thing takes up valuable time and artistic energy that is better spent mixing.
Q. What If I don’t have Protools?
A. Get in touch with me. All DAW’s have a way to export tracks to Wav. format. I can help you sort it out.
Q. How much time do we have to give you notes on a mix?
A. After I upload your reference mix, you have 12 hours to listen, make notes and get back to me. I normally allocate an entire day to mix a track, so I expect clients to make an effort to keep things moving.
Q. What if I want stems or different versions.
A. Easy, you just pay for them. A final mix is the standard product that I deliver. Anything other than that is extra. If you need stems or tv mixes or acapella’s etc.. Let me know before I start mixing and I can charge accordingly.
Q. Does the client get a copy of the mixers’ Protools Mix session or any of the work files?
A. No, unless specified beforehand by a label or other paying party, I do not release my working Protools sessions. You are paying for a mix, not for a breakdown of my entire mixing process.
