Should i Mix and Master my Music?
The big question for all artiste these days is, should i mix and master my music? This seems to be a big debate with in the music arena. Mixing your music is definitely important, but your choice to invest in mixing or mastering a new record should be based on your goals for the song.
The truth is most artiste will not mix their music because they want to stay away from expense, but if you are in the business of music you will eventually have to take on some form of expense. Lets face it nothing in life is free and certainty nothing is free in business. Music is music with out the business and if you want to make money in music you need to add the word business, so it will never be free!
It all boils down to prioritizing your work. A good example is if you have a single ready for release but it will not be placed on itunes or any other online digital store simply dont master it. If you are just uploading a song on soundcloud for listening pleasure dont give it a full range mix. You can pass with a rough mix, however this applies to artiste who are independent and are just trying to save a little extra money to record their next song or buy beats for their next mix tape.
I will say i have heard music make it to the charts that was probably never mixed to the degree of a fully polished multiplatinum song. On that note though the music was catchy with in its raw form. Without editing, reverbs, echo’s or any processing on the record itself.
My advice to all artiste is if you want to make a great presentation and you want to build a career out of music you need to place your best foot forward and get your song or mix tape properly mixed and carefully mastered. Forget about the expense because you will not be able to run away from that aspect of the game.
Many artiste try to mix and master a song for themselves only to fail miserably, because they don’t understand the roots of the task of a engineer who mixes. Don’t get me wrong some artiste do know how to mix their songs but they took years to develop that skill. If you don’t have that skill save your time by getting a professional engineer who will provide good mixing and mastering services that will fit within you budget.
In conclusion, If you are a artiste doing music as a hobby and you just want to express your creative side, you really don’t need to worry about mixing or mastering. Now for the artiste who want to build a career from music. Put it like this you will only get back what you put out for yourself. If you put out 50% you will get 50%. How bad do you want to achieve your goals? Ask yourself this question.