Mixing turns raw tracks into a song that holds up on every speaker: level balance, stereo placement, EQ, compression, effects. On Melo you pick the sound engineer who will mix your track yourself, you see their rate and their work before booking, and you talk to them directly all the way to delivery.
Browse the catalogue, compare profiles, genres covered, reviews and listed rates, then book the mixing service that fits your track.
Upload your separated stems along with a short brief: the sound you are after, your reference tracks, the sections that matter most to you.
They build the balance of the track, then send you a first version. You listen on your usual speakers and headphones and gather your notes.
Agreed revisions are applied, then you download the final mix in high resolution, ready for mastering or for release.
A mix starts from separated tracks — lead vocal, doubles, backing vocals, instrumental or stems — and turns them into one coherent record. The engineer first sets levels so every element has room, then works on equalisation to free up frequency space: a vocal that sounds buried usually competes with an instrumental sitting in the same range. Compression follows, stabilising dynamics so the vocal stays intelligible from the first verse to the last, along with stereo placement, which adds width without pulling apart what has to stay centred, and effects — reverb, delay, saturation — which create depth and colour. A good mix is not heard as processing added on top: it is heard as a track that holds up on a phone speaker as well as on studio headphones.
No single rate makes sense: the price of a mix depends first on the engineer's experience and on the references they can show. It then depends on the track itself. An eight-track song mixes faster than a sixty-track production with layered harmonies and dense arrangement. Recording quality matters too: clean, well-captured vocals need far less repair work than clipped or noisy takes. The number of revisions included and the turnaround also weigh in — a 48-hour delivery costs more than a two-week one. On Melo every professional sets and displays their own rate for each service, so you compare real prices before booking instead of chasing quotes.
At the end of the service you receive the final mix as a high-resolution WAV, in the format you asked for. Most engineers also deliver a lightly mastered version for private listening and internal sharing, plus an instrumental version without the lead vocal — essential for live shows, sessions and videos. If you plan to have the track mastered elsewhere, ask for a mix with no limiter on the master bus and a few decibels of headroom: that is what mastering expects. All files stay available from your Melo dashboard once the session is delivered.
The rate is set by each sound engineer and shown on their service. It depends on their experience, the number of tracks and the style of the song. You compare prices directly in the catalogue before booking.
Separate stems exported from the start of the project, with no processing on the master bus, ideally 24-bit WAV. Your sound engineer tells you exactly what they expect before starting.
Mixing works on the separate tracks to build the balance of the song. Mastering then works on the already-mixed track, in stereo, for its final level and its consistency with the rest of the project.
Yes, as long as the takes are clean: no clipping, no overwhelming background noise. If the recording is a problem, you can also book a remote recording session with a sound engineer.
Expect three to ten days for a single track, revisions included. The exact turnaround is listed on each service before you book. If you have a release date, mention it in your very first message.
The number of revisions is stated on the service. Two or three rounds of notes cover the vast majority of cases, provided you group your feedback rather than sending it piece by piece.
Yes, and it is the most common case. You supply the instrumental as a stereo file plus your separated vocal tracks — lead, doubles, ad-libs, backing. The engineer sits the vocal on the production without altering it.
It is not mandatory, but it is the fastest way to be understood. Two or three commercial tracks whose sound you like say more than several paragraphs of description.
Mixing improves a recording, it does not replace it: a take captured on a phone microphone keeps its compression, room noise and reflections. For a releasable result, re-record the vocal — a remote recording session with an engineer is the quickest way to do that.
Yes, and it is better to hand the whole project to the same engineer: consistency of colour and balance across a body of work is built by mixing the tracks alongside each other. Mention it when booking — many professionals adjust their rate for volume.