Mixing and Mastering Prices

“Stem count” refers to the number of channels in your DAW session. For example, a drum kit typically consists of 8-12 channels of audio. By counting the stems, you can estimate the cost of mixing your song. However, it’s important to consider that some producers may record more channels than necessary, which can impact the mixing process. For instance, we have received a project where each line of the verse is recorded on a separate channel, which is not considered a best practice. We expect you to logically group channels, which can help you save money. However, there are instances where we may need to split channels because the sound varies significantly across different sections of the song. In these cases, separate processing may be necessary, which can increase the cost of mixing.

For these reasons, we request that you send us your project before making payment. Once we have reviewed everything, we can determine a reasonable channel count for your project.

Please export all individual stems of your track in WAV or AIFF format with a minimum 24-bit depth setting. When exporting, please ensure that you select the entire track from beginning to end, and that the export does not cut off any sounds before they fade out completely at the end of your song. After exporting, reload the stems into a new empty session to double-check that everything is in sync and the arrangement is complete. Upload everything to Wetransfer and enter our address info@mavenmastering.com to directly send your files to our email.

If you’ve used creative effects that have become signature sounds for specific elements, you can leave them on. Examples include filters(and their automation), side-chaining, distortion, modulation, and overdrive. We understand that certain effects like reverb, delay, EQ, or compression may also be important to your sound. If you insist sending tracks with those kind of effects, we usually suggest sending us both wet and dry versions to decide which will work best for the mix. While we usually prefer to apply our own effects, there may be times when the original effects work perfectly and we’ll opt to use the wet version in the final mix.

If you have a reference track that showcases the sound you’re after, please feel free to send it to us or let us know the name of the song. Additionally, if you have your own mix of the track, including it can be helpful in allowing us to understand your vision. If you don’t have a reference track or mix, don’t worry – we’ll select a similar track that matches the vibe of your song.

Unfortunately, we don’t. If a mixing engineer overworks their ears with editing, they may lose perspective on the track and find it difficult to make informed decisions for that mix. Our philosophy is that mixing should be about mixing, and not distracted by other tasks. Editing involves tasks such as removing unwanted noises, copying and pasting sections, reducing breaths, and fixing tempo issues. These tasks should ideally be addressed during the recording and production process, so that the mixing process can focus purely on mixing.

As part of our services, we provide 4 free revisions to ensure you’re satisfied with the final mix. To help you make the most of these revisions, we encourage you to take the time to carefully listen to the initial mix and provide a comprehensive list of all your revision requests at once. This way, we can ensure all your feedback is incorporated into the second and third rounds of revisions, which typically focus on minor fixes related to your original revision points. By following this process, we can usually complete all mixes by the third revision.

Once we finish your mix and you approve it, we will move on to the mastering stage. You’ll have two free revisions on the master as well. If there are any changes you would like us to make such as adjustments to the overall frequency balance, compression/limiting amounts, or saturation, simply let us know and we will happily make those revisions for you.

If we’ve completed the mastering, but you still want changes made and we have to go back to the mix, we’ll have to charge an extra $15.

A single song typically takes about 6-10 days to complete, but this can vary depending on the number of revisions required. We understand that some clients may need additional time to listen to the initial mix and make revision decisions. We never rush our work, and we encourage you to take the time you need to ensure you’re satisfied with the final product.

Absolutely! We can mute the vocal channels and export an instrumental mix for you at no additional cost. If you want us to master the instrumental version, there will be an extra charge of $15.

Check out full version of our Spotify playlist here or just use the box below to play directly. You can find a lot of tracks we’ve mixed and/or mastered in this list.

We offer a free mastering sample to our new clients. If you’re a semi-pro musician interested in hearing how professional mastering can elevate your track, or a professional musician, engineer, or producer looking to see if our mastering style and analog sound are a good match for your project, just ask us for a sample. We will master your track using the same equipment and techniques that we use for fully paid tracks and send back a 1-2 minute sample within 2-3 days. We encourage you to request samples from other online mastering studios as well, so you can compare and find the right fit for your needs. If you like our sound and decide to proceed with us, we’ll provide you with the full mastered track upon payment confirmation. Please write us at info@mavenmastering.com and include a link to your final mix and let us know if you have any notes / references.

It’s important to note that the sample master we provide is a finished product.  If you’re satisfied with our work, you can purchase it as is or request a revision on the master after you make the payment. So, we expect you to send us a final mix that you are completely satisfied with. However, if you want to make changes to the mix after hearing the sample master, we’ll need to remaster the track, which incurs a revision fee of $15 in addition to our standard mastering rate.

Yes and no. If you’ve already started working on your mix with master bus effects, it’s important to be aware that you made all your mixing decisions according to those effects on your bus and removing them can drastically change the sound of your mix. In this case, it may be best to leave the master bus effects in place.

However, if you added master bus plugins after completing your mix, it’s likely that you were happy with the mix and only added the plugins to enhance the overall sound. If that’s the case, we recommend removing all the master bus plugins before sending us the mix.

If you are mixing for an artist who has only heard and approved a master bus compressed/limited version of the mix, we usually prefer mastering that version even though it might not be the ideal situation. If we were to master an unprocessed final mix, the changes may be too drastic for the artist who is used to hearing the processed version.

In any case, please provide both the processed and unprocessed versions of your mix, so we can make an informed decision.

Please export the final mix of your track in either WAV or AIFF format, with a minimum bit depth of 24 bits. If possible, using a 32-bit float setting without dithering the file would be even better. Maintain the original sample rate. For example, if the recording is done in a 48khz session, it is important to maintain that sample rate until the mastering is finished to avoid audio degradation.

Before uploading, check your final mix from start to finish to ensure that everything sounds good and there are no issues. Upload to Wetransfer and enter our address info@mavenmastering.com to directly send your files to our email.

We provide 2 free mastering revisions. After you have listened to the master, if there are any changes you would like us to make such as adjustments to the frequency balance, compression/limiting amounts, or saturation, simply let us know and we will happily make those revisions for you. However, if you prefer to make changes to the mix yourself, please note that there will be an additional charge of $15. Also keep in mind that if the changes to the mix are substantial, you may need to pay the full mastering fee again.

It’s worth noting that our mastering process is done using analog hardware. We do our best to keep things consistent, but it’s worth noting that a remaster might not sound %100 like the first one even if we use exactly the same mix. The sound produced by analog equipment is affected by factors like tube and transistor temperature levels and other factors, making it unpredictable at times.

Our usual approach to loudness is to make your track as loud as we can without sacrificing the dynamic range in any way. But, if you have a specific preference in mind, just let us know and we’ll work with you to get the sound you’re after!

However, we’re not big fans of making -1dbTP masters. Actually we avoid using True Peak limiting altogether as we feel it can compromise the dynamics and result in a lifeless sound. We’ve been mastering tracks without True Peak limiting for years, and in all that time, none of the masters we’ve provided have ever caused audible issues on the digital platforms like Spotify, Apple Music etc.. Plus, about %90 of digital releases including the very popular ones on these platforms that are not mastered with -1dbTP setting, and they sound great. And we think this is enough proof that this is not a necessary practice.

If you need to submit a new mix of a song after we have already started the mastering work, it will be subject to an additional charge of $15 per song. However, this is only for minor changes in the mix. If the changes are substantial, a re-mastering will be necessary, and the full fee will be charged again. We kindly ask you to thoroughly check your files before sending us to ensure that you are submitting the correct version and that there are no issues.

At our studio, we take a slightly different approach to stem mastering that we believe works really well and helps us avoid the need for revisions after everything is fed into analog devices.

Our stem mastering process begins by digitally mixing all five stems into a single file, which we call a premaster. During this stage, we offer 3 free revisions to ensure that everything, including levels, tones, and compression, sounds exactly as you want it to. Once you approve our premaster, we move on to the standard hardware mastering process.

You will also have 2 free revisions on the final master to make changes on the overall sound if needed.

If we’ve already finished the analog process and completed the mastering, but you still want changes made and we have to go back to the premaster, we’ll have to charge an extra $15.

If you have a reference track that showcases the sound you’re after, please feel free to send it to us or let us know the name of the song. If you don’t have a reference track, don’t worry – we’ll select a similar track that matches the vibe of your song.

Of course. We also take the extra step to loudness match the mastered tracks with the final mixes as closely as possible, so you can hear the true differences. We believe in being transparent about our work and showing the value we bring to your music. Check out our samples page here