• What is the difference between music production, mixing and mastering?

Production is the art of arranging and creating a sonic palette to create a vibe and feel to match the artist’s intention for the song. This often involves arranging and writing harmony, auditioning instrumentation, programming drums/synths, and generally guiding the recording process to suit the song. This stage often utilises a recording studio and a recording engineer. A producer often does both roles. The producer will then typically send the individual instrument and vocal recordings, aka the multi-tracks, to a specialist audio engineer for mixing.

Mixing is the art of blending all the individual recorded instruments and vocal parts into a cohesive and pleasant sound, whilst considering genre specifics and maintaining the emotional and artistic intent of the song/artist. The mix is typically bounced as a stereo file for mastering.

Mastering takes the stereo mix and optimises it for competitive loudness and playback system translation.

Read a detailed blog exploring this topic here.

• What does a mixing engineer do?

A mixing engineer balances, processes and spatially positions individual instrument and vocal audio tracks within a multitrack DAW session to create a coherent and emotionally intentional mix. This includes gain staging, corrective equalisation to blend each element and avoid frequency masking to create clarity, dynamics control via compression and limiting, stereo imaging, automation, and effects processing to add depth and sparkle to the mix. Ultimately, making technical decisions that serve the musical and emotional intent of the production.

• What does a mastering engineer do?

A mastering engineer performs the final-stage optimisation of the stereo .Wav file. This involves tonal balancing, dynamic range management, stereo field refinement, harmonic enhancement, and loudness optimisation to ensure consistent translation across consumer devices and professional playback systems, while maintaining artistic intent and technical compliance with distribution standards.

• Do I need mastering after mixing?

Yes. Mixing and mastering address fundamentally different processes. Mixing focuses on intra-track balance and creative interpretation, while mastering focuses on inter-system translation, format optimisation, and release consistency across platforms and playback systems.

• How much does mastering cost in the UK?

Professional mastering in the UK typically starts from £50 per track. This can go as high as £150 per track depending on the engineer’s experience, studio costs (including monitoring and analogue hardware investment, operating costs, etc), revision requirements, and whether the project is a single, EP, or album. Get in touch here for my prices.

• How much does professional mixing cost?

Professional mixing generally starts from £300 per track for independent artists. Commercial, label, and time-critical projects are usually quoted based on track count, arrangement complexity, revision scope, and delivery requirements. Prices can go as high as £5/6000/mix for the industry “celebrity engineers“. Get in touch here for my prices.

• Is AI mastering good enough in 2025?

AI mastering tools can provide fast loudness normalisation and broad tonal adjustments, but they operate without contextual understanding, artistic intent, or recall continuity. Because AI systems re-render processing from scratch with each submission, results often vary between passes, leading to inconsistent spectral balance, transient handling, and stereo imaging. Human mastering remains the standard for commercial releases. Read more about this in my blog post HERE.

• Can A.I. replace a mixing engineer?

No. Mixing requires subjective interpretation, contextual decision-making, and emotional judgment based on genre, reference material, and artistic direction. While AI tools can assist with isolated tasks, they cannot evaluate arrangement intent, narrative dynamics, or musical impact in the way a human engineer can. Read more about this in my blog post HERE.

• Do record labels accept A.I. mastered tracks?

Most record labels prefer human-mastered material. Labels require repeatability, quality control, revision capability, accountability, and technical compliance—areas where AI mastering platforms currently fall short of this.

• What’s the difference between online mastering and in-studio mastering?

Online mastering refers to the delivery method, not the mastering process itself. Files are submitted remotely, processed using the same calibrated monitoring environment and analogue/digital signal chain as in-studio mastering, and delivered digitally with revision support. Online mastering is usually cheaper, mitigating expensive studio hire costs.

• What is analogue mixing and mastering?

Analogue mixing and mastering involves processing audio through high-end analogue hardware units and conversion, including EQ’s, compressors, and saturators. These systems can create rich non-linear harmonic content, often musical transient shaping, and dynamic interaction that many engineers and artists prefer for musical cohesion and depth.

• How long does mixing and mastering take?

Typical turnaround times:

• Mastering: 1–3 working days per track

• Mixing: 3–7 working days per track

Complex arrangements, revisions, and album sequencing may extend timelines.

• How many revisions are included?

Many engineers offer a limited number of revisions, and often charge more after that quota has been met. I offer unlimited revisions to avoid any nasty surprises and budget issues later in the project because I want you to be ecstatic with the result.

• Do you work with independent artists?

Yes. Independent artists make up a significant portion of my work. My approach focuses on achieving commercially competitive results while respecting the creative intent and budget realities of independent releases.

• Do you work with record labels and managers?

Yes. I regularly deliver mixes and masters for record labels, A&R teams, and artist managers, adhering to broadcast, streaming, and distribution standards.

• What file format should I send for mixing or mastering?

For optimal results:

• .WAV (or AIFF)

• 24-bit

• Original session sample rate, ideally 48kHz, but 44.1 is also fine.

• No clipping on the mix for mastering.

See my File Delivery Requirements PDF HERE for more details. I also accept Logic and ProTools sessions for mixing. I suggest printing/bouncing in place any key sounds or effects you’re particularly attached to.

• Will my music sound louder after mastering?

Yes. Mastering optimises perceived loudness while managing peak-to-loudness ratio, dynamic range, and transient integrity. The goal is competitive loudness without distortion, pumping, or loss of musical impact.

• How do I get started?

Email me at Ed@EdThorne.com with details about your project (independent or label), genre, references, the number of audio files per song and intended release format. I will send you an onboarding email outlining my requirements and confirming what I will deliver and at what price.

• Do you take payment up front or send an invoice after the work?

For label work, I will invoice your account department. For independent artists, I require full payment upfront. You can make payments on my website via Stripe (I will send you a private link), or you can pay an invoice via bank transfer. I avoid PayPal where possible to avoid international transfer fees, PayPal fees and currency conversion fees.