Mixing rates?
- Thread starter Iron Keys
- Start date
thedreampolice
A backwards poet writes inverse.
I dont do that much of that work anymore but I was charging 3-500 for a proper mix and I wasn't hurting for business.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
@Iron Keys I remember this guy's videos a while back: https://www.youtube.com/@mixedbymatty. Maybe he has a video about rates, who knows. Or maybe email him and see if he can offer some insight.
thedreampolice
A backwards poet writes inverse.
A lot of hip hop for sure. Tons of rock, which is usually more complicated to mix. And compared to pro mixers those are CHEAP rates a proper mix should take about 8-12 hours per song if you are really doing it right. It’s actually very detailed work. Then there is mastering after. My buddy is a pretty serious mastering engineer in Nashville and I got a massive friends discount and I still think it was like $1500 to master my record and that was a bargain. He easily spent 4-5 hours per song. I flew down and was part of the sesion. It was crazy.
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thedreampolice
A backwards poet writes inverse.
Yes $3-500 per song. It just really depended on a lot of things. Honestly hip hop mixes are simply much less complicated than a band because I don’t have to mix a drum kit mainly. One of the last records I did a lot of mixing on was this one
and I didn’t even do the whole thing and I gave them a MASSIVE discount because I go way back with those guys and I still think I charged them about 2k for the work I did. My last Drunk Pedestrians record had 11 songs
its called F# and its on all streaming platforms. I ended up mixing it myself, although I didn’t really want to. I think if you are the music creator you aren’t subjective enough to do a proper mix. I reached out to a few pro mixers that I thought would do a good job and if I remember right the quotes were about 4-5k to mix the whole album. But I wanted to put this one out on vinyl and I was getting to over budget already so I mixed it myself. I actually put the stems in to a totally different DAW and mixed everything from scratch as if I got it from a client and tried to be as subjective as possible. Let me tell you after working with a REAL mastering engineer it was a bargain at twice the price. Here was the budget for the album about 15k when it was all said and done. I am very happy with the product I put out and I landed a record deal because of it, so I did make some back pretty quick. But doing a pro level album just costs money. There are ways to do it on the cheap and you can get good results certainly. But there is a reason the top people make the money they do.
and I didn’t even do the whole thing and I gave them a MASSIVE discount because I go way back with those guys and I still think I charged them about 2k for the work I did. My last Drunk Pedestrians record had 11 songs
its called F# and its on all streaming platforms. I ended up mixing it myself, although I didn’t really want to. I think if you are the music creator you aren’t subjective enough to do a proper mix. I reached out to a few pro mixers that I thought would do a good job and if I remember right the quotes were about 4-5k to mix the whole album. But I wanted to put this one out on vinyl and I was getting to over budget already so I mixed it myself. I actually put the stems in to a totally different DAW and mixed everything from scratch as if I got it from a client and tried to be as subjective as possible. Let me tell you after working with a REAL mastering engineer it was a bargain at twice the price. Here was the budget for the album about 15k when it was all said and done. I am very happy with the product I put out and I landed a record deal because of it, so I did make some back pretty quick. But doing a pro level album just costs money. There are ways to do it on the cheap and you can get good results certainly. But there is a reason the top people make the money they do.
Attachments
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1500 Rupees Per single
1250 Per track (if EP (<7 tracks))
1000 Per track (if Album (>7 tracks))
Normally, every 100 Rupees seems to be about $1 in USD. I think it used to be less tho, not sure.
Extra note: it used to be 600 Rupees, at times 400 Rupees and also many times just free favor mixes when I had just started.
I base my rates on who Im working with, I dont offer professional mixing services usually. But do things cheap for mates, like when they want all their tags to be loud and all at the same volume. I charge £50 an hour when mixing at the studio and half goes to my mate who owns the studio. But its rare people want me to mix, its usually just recording sessions I make money from tbh. Im abut to release a house/edm 4 track ep for my birthday and get my prs and mcps all sorted then Im going to start taking things a lot more seriously. Im tired of carrying heavy sofas.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Nice! I'd like to hear that EP.
I hear ya though about taking the shit more seriously. We should have a separate thread just about that alone, like some sort of motivation/plan.
same.
Wanna be doing mixing as a consistent side hustle at the least.
Need to put out music too. Not really been making anything tho. I think I need a change of approach to inspire creation.
unaufadox
ILLIEN
Great read guys. Those prices at the top and the explanation about the work...spot on. 8-12 hours is good !
I remember one project (single) ended costing the client like 2k because I had to practically build the drums and vocals from takes.
At like 3/4 of the way through (maybe even 8/10ths!!) the client wanted to change/remove most of the processing from the kick. Can you imagine. The mix is basically cooked everything working with each other and you hit reset with the kick...which had needed work. Now, it was like a table with three legs and a fresh mix wasn’t an option.
It’s horrific when you know the ship is sinking but the client insists you pour more water inside the boat. I never loved working with others’ visions after that. Felt like I have to be booked for my sound/technique/style.
I remember one project (single) ended costing the client like 2k because I had to practically build the drums and vocals from takes.
At like 3/4 of the way through (maybe even 8/10ths!!) the client wanted to change/remove most of the processing from the kick. Can you imagine. The mix is basically cooked everything working with each other and you hit reset with the kick...which had needed work. Now, it was like a table with three legs and a fresh mix wasn’t an option.
It’s horrific when you know the ship is sinking but the client insists you pour more water inside the boat. I never loved working with others’ visions after that. Felt like I have to be booked for my sound/technique/style.