SENDING FILES FOR MIXING
Thanks for booking at Beacon Hill! To make your mixing session as productive as possible, please read the following specs on how to send us your files. At the end of this page we include third party tutorials on how to export files for mixing for most common DAWs. Please be aware that these tutorials might not specify how to meet all the specs mentioned below.
- Files should be consolidated so that they all begin at the same time and it’s only one file per track.
- Files should just include the parts that go in the song. Please avoid, if possible, sending a track that plays through the whole song and asking us to mute it in the verses. If a part doesn’t go in the song, please remove it altogether.
- Stereo files should be kept stereo, mono files mono – if it’s keyboards that output the same signal onto both channels of a stereo track, please just send one side and label accordingly so that it’s not “Kick.L”, instead it should just be “Kick”.
- Please name each track with a useful individual name that relates to the sound and what it is. Please do not have default Pro Tools name additions such as “.01_03” or “dup1, dup2, etc”. Avoid using generic labeling like “Audio 1”, leaving the name of the song at the beginning of the file like “Song 1 Snare” (usually done when using Ableton Live), and Logic bounce names that include the bounce in place “bip” at the end. Basically everything should look neat, organized and easy to understand – this makes communication easier and allows us to have an organized session which lets us mix faster and more efficiently.
- In the case of more than one mic per part (for example a guitar with 2 mics) label accordingly. For example: Elec Guitar 1A & Elec Guitar 1B or Elec Guitar SM57 and Elec Guitar R121. If it’s the same line but played another time include Dbl, Trpl, Quad, etc. For example: Elec Guitar 1A Ld, Elec Guitar 1B Ld, Elec Guitar 1A Dbl, E Guitar 1B Dbl.
- If you don’t need us to edit the tracks, please make sure they are cleaned up, pitch corrected, time corrected, and synced. If editing services were not purchased we will not perform any of these tasks and additional charges will apply if we are asked to do so.
- Please print any MIDI tracks or virtual instruments to an audio track (mono if they’re mono, stereo if they’re stereo).
- Please don’t print any reverbs, delays, eq’s, compression, etc. unless it’s truly an integral part of the sound and you are 100% sure you want to keep the effect in the final mix. We can apply any specific effects you ask for, however, most of the times these will not be exactly the same as the effects you might use in your rough mix, so we highly recommend printing them if you would like them to sound just how you had them.
- Please make sure not to send audio files that are not supposed to be in the session (i.e. empty audio files or takes that are not part of the final ones) and also make sure that all the ones that need to be there are there.
- We understand that some things might not be 100% set on stone, if there’s any doubts on a part or if you might want to have an alternate or try a mix without a part or simply can’t decide if you like the part or not until you hear it mixed in, that’s not a problem – just let us know in advance of time so we can plan ahead.
- If possible, please send a rough mix of the song that we can use for reference.
- Please let us know if there is a song we can use as reference and send us any specific directions to [email protected] so we can mix the song just how you are envisioning. We might have a different opinion on how the song should sound and this will prevent any guesswork and it will result in a faster final delivery by avoiding a few rounds of revisions.
- If possible, please include the tempo of the song if it was recorded to click.
- Sending Pro Tools sessions is ok as long as all these requirements are met within the session. Please do not send any other type of session (Ableton Live, Logic, FL Studio, etc).
- We deliver instrumental, a cappella, performance mixes, and wet multitrack for free after the mix is approved.
- If audio files do not meet these specs, an additional fee will be charged.
Please feel free to contact us at (915) 239-0391 or [email protected] if you have any questions before your session.