It is general rule of thumb that an artist should not mix their own vocals. You may or may not know that the mix on a song makes one of the biggest differences in the final outcome of how it will sound, along with the recording equipment you use and obviously your skill as an artist - do yourself a favor, don't cut corners when it comes to having your song mixed. 

If you have your song recorded and need your vocals and/or original instrumental mixed, I am a freelance mix engineer located in Baltimore. I work for plenty of local artists for their mixtapes, but examples of my work that are online can be heard at http://www.facebook.com/realtimemixtape, including the remixed songs exclusively created for a local Maryland/Washington DC radio station's weekend show, labeled with “Z104.3 Recording”.

The software I use is Pro Tools 8 LE updated to version 8.0.4, with Waves Mercury Bundle plugins added. I mix on a set of JBL LSR2325P studio monitors, as well as Sony MDR-V6 headphones to ensure a balanced mix. I charge between $30-60 (always paid via PayPal, which you do not need an account for though it's prefered) for mixes on rap songs with basic structure - a hook, bridge, and up to 3 verses - the complication of the song structure (big differences between genres)/time spent mixing it determines the price and I'm very reasonable when working with an artist to agree on the final price. If I'm not mixing the instrumental, and only mixing vocals, a mix will almost never go above $120 total. The price can also be reduced if you want to send multiple songs or pay up front to have multiple songs mixed within six months.

If you want a better mix on an original instrumental and have the 'separates' (each instrument is a separate WAV file) for it, it costs extra but also can make a big difference in sound including your vocals.

If you're interested in having me work on your song(s):

1. Prepare the song for me to mix:

• YOUR RECORDING STUDIO DOES NOT REQUIRE PRO TOOLS IN ORDER FOR ME TO MIX YOUR SONG. To prepare a song for me to mix, if the studio where you recorded DOES use Pro Tools, I prefer an archive file (file extensions '.zip' or '.rar') containing the entire Pro Tools session - with the session file (file extension '.ptf') and all of the session's folders. Your recording engineer should know what files to provide.

• If the studio where you recorded DOES NOT use Pro Tools, then I require an archive file (file extensions '.zip' or '.rar') containing each of the session's tracks saved as WAV or AIF(F) files, including the instrumental re-saved from the same software. Each track, when saved, must be tracked out in time with the instrumental. For example: if your first verse starts 15 seconds from the beginning and there is nothing before the verse in the same track, that track's final WAV or AIF(F) file should contain 15 seconds of blank space, so that when I import it with the instrumental, I do not have to move it around myself to have it in time with the instrumental. When saving an audio bounce/mixdown of your song from the recording software, almost all software has an option to save each track as a separate file for this purpose. 

• I highly recommend that you DO NOT save your vocals as MP3 files, even if it is 320kbps, because the raw uncompressed vocals will lose noticeable quality when being compressed to MP3. Any vocals should be MONO files, not stereo.

• If you send separate track files, remove all effects before saving and sending them.

2. Upload the .zip or .rar file containing your song to a free file hosting website:

4. Pay the first half as a deposit:

5. I send your song, mixed, back to you: