A Great Sound Engineer Will Give Your Song Its True Sound

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In this blog post, I will explain how important it is, for the sake of your music as well as for the mastering process, to have a good mixdown. I also want to make the point that working with a trusted sound engineer who knows how to master can be a game-changer.

The Importance Of A Good Mixdown

No matter who your sound engineer is and how skilled he or she is or what equipment they use, there will never be a great-sounding master without a killer mixdown. A good audio engineer should understand your needs as well as your song. An engineer with experience can do that, but choosing the right one is important.

What is a great mixdown?

  • It has a perfect balance of sounds. None are battling to get heard.
  • Each part shines and feels right.
  • The stereo image gives your song a big impression.
  • The song breathes, it doesn’t sound harsh.

There are a few challenges you might face in completing your song.

Perhaps this is familiar?

  • The bass sounds muddy.
  • The main melody seems overshadowed by other sounds.
  • The song lacks overall punch.
  • Your track’s percussion sounds shy.

Sometimes, doing the mixdown yourself won’t give your project the treatment it deserves. If you spent countless hours creating it, you know that it has to sound right. Many producers, even experienced ones, know that a second pair of ears will do it justice. It’s no surprise that most of the best producers give their projects to a trusted mixing engineer.

There are some other challenges too:

  • Your studio is technically challenged (eg., lacks acoustic treatment, no sub, not EQed, etc).
  • You simply lack experience.
  • You’ve heard your song too many times and can’t make decisions.

Again, those are the kind of problems that many people have.

It’s important to choose a sound engineer who has a great understanding of the musical genre you’re producing. This will ensure your sound is in tune with what’s on the market.

Why me?

I’ve been doing mixdowns for myself and others since 2002. The number of songs I’ve done is hard to calculate, but the one thing that matters is that my clients are always satisfied. With almost 20 albums released under my Pheek moniker, I understand the challenges and know when compression should be done, and how.

My main task is to understand what you want to do so I can help you define your own personal sound.

In future articles, I will explain some of my tricks on how to get your music sounding proper.

But if you need an audio engineer like me, don’t hesitate to book me now!

Welcome to my new site!

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I can’t believe I haven’t made a new website in years! I definitely waited too long. Should I apologize? Being Canadian, I guess I should.

But seriously: this is it. Pheek’s Mixdown and Mastering will be both a blog and a business outlet for my audio services geared towards electronic music producers. I’m really thrilled to forge ahead and push this into full gear.

Quick intro: I’ve been mastering since 2004, when I launched my label Archipel. Back then, I wanted to be in control of everything, and the aesthetic quality of my label was primordial to me. The vision I had for the sound was perfectly defined, and I wanted it to remain the same no matter what. Soon enough, other label owners started expressing their interest in my mastering skills, because they heard through word of mouth that I’d do it. Now, with all my mastering experience, what I’m aiming for is:

The long-term sound development of artists.

Being artistic in my line of work, I don’t want to simply do limiting/compressing jobs.

Taking the time to do things right.

Plus, I really want to be involved in production. You’ll say, how is production linked to mastering? Well, the better your mix, the better the mastering.

There are so many people who want to create but are overwhelmed by all the options, what things to buy, and all the tutorials available, but who have no expert adviser to talk to. I’ve been providing that for years to the artists on my label, and it has paid off in so many ways.

Let’s do things together!