I’m in the process of finishing a mastering job for a client as I write this, the file is uploading for review right now. Every job I do, every gig I get…I always learn something! Sometimes it’s trying something new, sometimes it’s something more fundamental – like good communication is key to a successful project.
Working online has it’s benefits and challenges. I can reach way beyond Apex, NC USA to help people around the world get the best out of their music through the wonders of the internet. It can also make it a lot harder to communicate. This is art we’re talking about, and trying to explain it in an email is rather difficult. So I want to make sure we’re clear…
WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE WELL, and SOMETIMES WE MIGHT MISUNDERSTAND EACH OTHER…and that’s okay! Really, it’s cool…we just need to make sure we’re communicating.
There’s a lot of “I’ll know when I hear it” that goes into what you are looking for in mixing and mastering. Many times clients are not sure, and ask just to see what I come up with. There’s tremendous flexibility at mix time, and I may come up with something that really blows you away…or something that makes you think I’m nuts! It’s cool, just tell me what you think – after all, this is your project! I promise, I’ll get to the best result possible for you if you’ll guide me to what is in your head.
The same goes for mastering. Although the flexibility is not as great here, we want to get to a good point of balance for the overall song and the overall CD. Sometimes the result is fabulous, depending on the tracking and the mix. Sometimes we need to decide together what the best compromise for the end sound should be, if things are not optimal. I’ve never had a project we couldn’t get to a good result with some work and some communication. You can indeed “fix it in the mix” or “fix it the master” but — it’s not going to sound quite as good as if things were right in the first place. So it’s important to make sure we get to your best result possible that you are happy with.
Of course, if you absolutely love the result the first pass, I’m cool with that! Yes it happens, about half the time. Sometimes I get convinced that it will happen all the time and fail to explain we need to communicate well and there could be multiple passes required to get to a sound you are happy with. So I thought I’d lay it out clearly 
So, why Gator-Studios.com in the first place? We have an outstanding track record of getting the best results out of CD projects. We are renowned for being a premiere RiffWorks-capable shop. And we make sure you are happy, without any of this “per pass” charging mess. What the heck does that mean?
There are lots of places on the internet that do mixing, mastering, and other things all the way up to full production (you give a demo and they create the actual tracks and do the production). It’s a very cool world! But check the details, and you’ll find they have a price, and if you don’t like what they did to your songs, they charge you to do it again. And again. If you can’t really explain what you want, or they can’t understand…it will blow your budget right out or you’ll take something you don’t want. We don’t do that!
With Gator-Studios.com, you know exactly what you are going to pay for mixing and mastering up front. No “per pass” charges, if it takes 1 or 10 to get what you want, we’re here for you. You’ve busted your butt getting to this point and we are here to bust our butts getting you all the way to the best end result. We have additional services we can provide in a mix, but we keep them separate to keep your costs down unless you think you need them. Need timing or pitch fixed in a Riffworks song, for example? We can do that as an extra on a song by song basis, but we don’t load down your costs assuming you want that on everything. We’ll let you decide how far you want to go, and get you the best result possible. It’s nothing less than you and your music deserve!
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I'm J.J......and I'm a Gator!