Launching mixing service in 2023!?

I think it's great to diversify and use all the skills that you have. Not to be discouraging but there has been a race to the bottom for several years now so just don't be shocked by some of the prices some potential clients may expect. Best of luck, I look forward to hearing some of your mixes!

So...you want back into the "grinding"??   All this is just my opinion, so take it or leave it - no worries!!

It will be a grind, and the industry has changed radically - even in the last 5 years. Expect 60+ hour weeks minimum to clear enough to live on. If you can't fill a 60+ hour week with paying work - you'd better be thinking of ways to supplement your income.

If this is your only choice - go for it, and don't ask our opinion. Go headlong into it as hard and as fast as you can. Prepare to live on the little crumbs that artists have left over by mix time, and best of luck!!!

If you're looking for a money making opportunity, there are thousands of easier ways that pay double to 10X that would only require 1/10th of the talent you have.

There is something to be said for working a "day gig" for 40 hours a week, surviving on that, and using the balance of your time to enjoy your love. Dealing with the 10th mix revision at 11:00PM on Sunday night is not my idea of a good time.

A few thoughts on specifics you mentioned :

- It's very difficult not to get "pidgeon-holed" into specific genre's. It just tends to happen. I love all kinds of music, but get called over and over and over and over for "the same old thing"....  Your best chance is to be well rounded in all types of musics and favor "different" projects over "the same old thing" even if money is less.

- in 2023 virtually no one is going to pay extra for an "all analog" mix. Honestly, 99 out of 100 just don't care.

- you will be competing against guys mixing in Starbucks on their laptop, trying desperately to "break in" to the business by cutting costs as much as they can. Track count is a good concept on pricing, but the reality is, most won't really understand it, and some of the minimalist track count mixes become much more difficult than the hundreds of track mixes. It all depends. IME, the only way you can really make an estimate is to actually pull up the track and get a feel for it.

- My own $0.02 on your pricing conundrum - hourly is the only way to go and still earn enough to feed yourself, keep the lights on, keep clients happy financially and artistically, and let the studio grow organically. Most will push against that saying you can only do project rates nowadays. I really don't give them much of a second thought unless they are doing it full time for a decade or longer. Yeah, the industry has changed, but it's becoming SUPER rare to find anyone who actually makes a full time living at it anymore. I've actually done it and made a living full time in music for 40 years, bought houses, studios have a wife who doesn't work, and put kids thru school, etc.. Believe me, it wasn't easy. I have the scars financially, family wise and career wise to prove it. It takes a huge toll. If there are guys who do flat rate projects full time, have been doing it 20+ years, and who are making bank - I want to hear from you!!!!!! I'm totally open to have been doing it wrong, but I am not seeing long term lasting success any other way - no matter what industry pundits say.

These days I charge $0.00 hr. for studio time, and $85.00 hr. for myself so that clients don't take advantage. $85 might seem steep, but I was making that much 15 years ago, and the cost of living has skyrocketed.  Hell, the shop rate at the car dealer or local shop is $150+ an hour.  $85 hr. - that's what it takes to make me look up and pay attention - and I'll charge that no matter what I'm doing or where I'm going. I'll produce you, engineer, mix, master, orchestrate, solder wires, play keyboards, or do whatever you want me to wherever you want me to do it.....( within reason.   ). That method is always fair to the client and fair to me, my family obligations and the studio. Set your own hourly rate, but with a flat rate or project rate - one person or the other always suffers financially. It's impossible to calculate accurately how long a project will take, and what outside forces will push in on you.

Best of luck!!

Nobody cares about analog these days. Most new analog pieces are toys more than tools or clones of stuff you really don’t need. Digital is all over the place but people are making good new processors every few months vs every few years. Analog is best for recording where it’s zero latency to get it done on the way in. Mixing? You need that digital recall because metal bands will fight about levels and stuff.

For metal, the most helpful analog processing now that digital dynamics are good is tape but nobody doing metal can afford to get it done to tape, not from tape to maximize the sound quality. Most metal bands aren’t good enough to record a full band in a room to tape and have it mixed as it’s being played. Extreme metal needs ridiculous processing, even the cassette stuff.

Unless you’re doing cookie cutter shit when they’re not really recording anything but vocals which is what the big metal labels mostly purvey, metal recording quality is lower than ever though so hybrid is useful because you will need every single weapon you can get and a ton of recall. Charging per hour or giving a ballpark rate based on recording quality and what they want works. For cassette stuff, charge out the the wazoo.

You can do whatever ya want but charging by track count seems like an excellent opportunity to beat yourself to a pulp...

Some of the "minimalist" stuff that comes through needs just as much, sometimes even more work then a 50+ track prog opus.  Sure it's only 13 odd tracks of acoustic & vocals they say...

What they don't say is those 13 tracks were all recorded with a 57 into a presonus POS and oh yeah, we clipped every track. Sorry. You can fix it..? 

Majority of work through here is mix for hire.

Nobody cares or pays a premium for analog / hybrid setups. Primarily mix through a baby SSL desk & outboard because I enjoy it and feel it makes a difference in the final product. But the only people who tend to ask a bunch of questions about that are other engineer goobers...

The other 98% say things like mix sounds good but vocal levels need a tweak.. or what's up with the guitar reverb? 

And if you don't want to starve you don't chase artists for work. Artists make one record every 3-4 years. My primary contacts are other industry types... other producers & so on.

Definitely do not charge by the track.

I'm doing classical recording/mix/mastering for my full time job and let me tell you that 2-6 track projects can be an absolute bitch. Harder if anything. There is nowhere to hide in those situations and you will have to work harder often on simpler mixes.

When I do movie scores with like 30-120 tracks of audio. They are a breeze usually compared to some exposed 4 track acoustic or chamber music thing.






And while I'm not fully time freelancing thankfully(salary studio position if you can believe that still exists), if I was, I would be doing hourly to mix. I do day rates for recording. And project rates for Mastering. Although Im considering doing hourly on Mastering.

And I love analog, but in your situation, I'd be sticking to all digital except maybe something like a Silver Bullet on the bus. Which is what I do for most freelance projects. The less you have to recall the better. I have also made it a major point that just about everything in my analog work is on stepped switches or stepped pots so recall is faster. But the more gear you use, the more notes you have to take. It add up time wise in a hurry. 

The only thing I use a lot of analog gear for is mastering. Where I'll do an all analog pass, the finish it ITB. And even that can be a bitch. 

I think the better model these days is a tracking and mixing studio. Although it is an expensive outlay.
Often artists who track - end up with enough confidence to mix in the same facility.

Mixing only business is fraught with competing with the laptop crew / or even the iPhone/iPad mixing crew.
Soon to be mixing on Apple watches

Thanks for all the replies! To many to quote so I'll respond in a general matter.

I think one important part of being able to make a living out of music is to have several different business going at the same time. Then mixing and mastering can be a part of that business. I'm well aware of the current situation of people low balling mixers, I mean a guy at my day job thought 100$ was allot for a mix haha...

Touching on the topic of gear. I also do believe like many of you that customers don't care, but it can make you stand out a bit. At least buy you some credibility if that makes sense haha..

I guess you need to be creative in this day and age. I'm not interested in going back to grinding 60h+ weeks. But I like many of you here want to make something out of myself, use all experience you accumulated over the years.

Anyways let's keep it going, I think it's nice to talk about all of this in a therapeutic way 🤣😁

I often wondered about mastering and mixing guys but after years of recording and mixing attended sessions I totally understand avoiding bands.

Nah that's not negative its just realistic. 

One of my friends, another guy who's been in the music game a long time... we've often wondered if someone like Andrew Scheps makes more money from mixing rockstar rekkids or talking about mixing rockstar rekkids on puremix. Seriously. 

That trip seems to be a whole microcosm unto itself... in that it seems most of the guys who'd sign up for something like that..? Puremix & plugin of the month collections? They're more then happy to cosplay Andrew Scheps or CLA in the privacy of their spare bedroom and would very likely never consider professional services in the first place. 

Hey have you ever lifted a 21in sub? Those things are heavy!🥸

I’m betting today there is easier, better money selling the dream than living it. Not that I’m jaded, no not at all.

Ohhhh most definitely. The money is in selling the illusion that actually “making it” isn’t harder than making the NFL or winning a jackpot.
I won’t do it though. I tell people up front that I will give them a radio ready product, but what they do with it is up to them.