FAQs

I charge an hourly rate of $80 USD/hour as of Jan 2024. 

A mix usually takes me an average of 6 hours, but can be more or less depending on how many vocal tracks there are. Mixing the instrumental and lead vocal only takes around 2 hours on average.

Absolutely. Once I know what i’m working with, I can easily gauge how long I might need and quote a contractual price.

Yes, I can give a 10% discount on 5 songs or more, as long as they are sent all at once. Songs sent one by one or a few at a time thereafter, would not receive the same 10% discount.

Because everybody’s needs are different, every song’s track count is different, and I feel it’s fair and transparent for everybody. Major labels included. 
Flat rates can still be accomodated, however, the amount may be quoted higher to allow additional room for unanticipated time spent or more mix revisions out of my control.

- Make sure the vocal recordings are as dry as possible to minimize/eliminate the time is takes to de-reverb and clean up less-than-ideal recordings. 
- Make sure the vocal recordings or instruments, are not clipping to minimize/eliminate the time is takes to de-clip. 
- If you are adept at tuning, aligning & editing your own vocals, then this can save time being taken care of prior to mixing.
- Lastly, making sure files are organized and named can help speed up mix prep.

A few years ago I’d say no, since it makes it harder to sit the vocals in a mix.
Now, thanks to AI software, if the multi-tracks to the instumental are unavailable, I typically split the 2-track into groups of stems in order to process the drums, bass, music, vocal, & sfx separately.

Pro Tools

Not at this time

I charge half my mix rate at $40 USD/hour as of Jan 2024. 

Manually tuning one vocal track spanning a length of 3 minutes can take around 1-2 hours for a full tuning pass. Spot tuning would take a fraction of this time, since any existing tuning plugins will be relied on for majority of the pitch correction.

I use AutoTune Pro 11’s graph mode to transparently re-draw pitch. Other plugins like Vovious, Re-Pitch or Melodyne may also get used for more drastic changes.

If a performance was monitored through AutoTune/Waves Tune, etc, and is currently being used in the session, then the plugin will generally stay in tact - rather than be completely removed. Manual pitch correction will then occur before any existing tuning plugins. Any current Retune, Flex-Tune, Humanize and Formant settings may be adjusted to allow for more natural tuning to occur as needed. If a harder retune amount is what the song calls for, then only spot fixes will occur, letting AutoTune handle majority of the tuning while only correcting deviating pitch. In some cases, automating the Retune/Flex-Tune parameters is also done in order to allow for more natural pitch bends or intentionally harder tuning for specific words or phrases, etc.

Manually nudging vocals (words, phrases or individual syllables) that feel rushed or late can be a tedious process. (As of June 2026, there is currently no other method or plugin to automatically time a lead vocal perfectly to the track/music).
Manually timing one vocal track spanning a length of 3 minutes can take around 1-2 hours for a full timing pass.

Vocalign on the other hand automates this process for backing tracks by applying the same timing from one vocal (‘guide’) track to another (‘dub’) track.
Vocaligning typically takes a fraction of the time - depending on whether background (’dub’) tracks are isolated from other asymmetric tracks. For example, a background vocal track that also contains adlibs that are doing something different from the ‘guide’ track will throw off Vocalign’s ability to align things properly. In this case, first sperating any adlibs from background vocals is necessary before any vocaligning can take place. (The more things are seperated/symmetrical, the better).

Assuming the instrumental is accurately aligned to the grid, I simply chop up the audio directly, nudge the audio as needed, and then apply strategic crossfades for invisible/inaudible edits.
Time stretching/Warp-Mode using Pro Tools’ Elastic Audio (elastiquePro algorithm) is only used for drastic changes if absolutely needed, as this method is not entirely transparent.
Although a DAW's grid can be helpful as a guide, timing is always based on the track/music - not grid lines.

Assuming the lead vocal (‘guide’) is already timed well, specific portions of background (‘dub’) vocals are first chopped up/isolated to ensure accuracy using the Vocalign plugin, as the start and ends times of the 'guide’ and ‘dub’ audio can influence how well Vocalign detects & aligns audio. Original audio is always playlisted, ensuring non-destructive edits in case reverting back a step is necessary.

Vocal comping is technically not a part of editing, but rather vocal production. It’s the process of choosing bits and pieces of multiple vocal takes and making one perfect composite take to make up the performance. A lot of editing work can be deemed unnecessary simply by comping from many vocal takes/options and choosing specific phrases, words or syllables with the correct pitch, timing, inflection, energy, and most importantly, tone. Pitch and timing can always fixed, but tonality between spliced up takes can give away the fact that a vocal was obviously comped. The goal here is transparency.

This can take several hours as you need to audition every single take, mark the good stuff vs bad, and then finally start to composite a unified/flawless take.
This should typically be done during the recording session - and by someone who is very familiar with the song, intentions and the artist’s sound (i.e. yourself, the producer or a dedicated vocal producer), However, if you have a session with multple takes that were not yet comped thoroughly and think that your performance can be fixed in a few places, I’d be happy to go through takes to try and enhance/fix things.

There is no telling how long this will take. I typically do this with the artist either in person or remotely so that they can set the pace and control the time spent.

Tip: When recording, try to mark the good takes as you go, use rough takes/comps as a placeholder, and then later when time permits, you can go back through and do a thorough comp.

Tip 2: Not all DAWs are equal when it comes to playlisting, comping vocals and marking the good stuff as the next take is being recorded. This is crucial to be able to keep up with and mark hundreds of takes as you hear them live so that you’re not starting entirely from scratch afterwards. Pro Tools is the DAW of choice for this task in terms of playlisting functionality, color coding regions while the next take is being recorded, and creating ghost playlists to do work on, rather than the main track. If you own/purchased a Pro Tools license and would like to get lessons on recording/vocal comping techniques, please get in touch!

Absolutely. Once I know what i’m working with, I can easily gauge how long I might need and quote a contractual price.

Yes, I can give a 10% discount on 5 songs or more, as long as they are sent all at once. Songs sent one by one or a few at a time thereafter, would not receive the same 10% discount.

Because everybody’s needs are different, every song’s track count is different, and I feel it’s fair and transparent for everybody. Major labels included. 
Flat rates can still be accomodated, however, the amount may be quoted higher to allow additional room for unanticipated time spent or more revisions out of my control.

- Make sure the vocal recordings are as dry as possible to minimize/eliminate the time is takes to de-reverb and clean up less-than-ideal recordings. 
- Make sure the vocal recordings or instruments, are not clipping to minimize/eliminate the time is takes to de-clip. 
- If you are adept at tuning, aligning & editing your own vocals, then getting this process started may save time by having me finishing where you left off. (Note: poorly tuned/edited vocals may cause more problems that could require un-doing certain destructive edits. If unsure or not experienced using certain tools or methods, please don’t attempt to make any permanent edits yourself - in order to eliminate/minimize the time it can take to undo or fix bad edits).
- Lastly, making sure files are organized and named can help speed up editing prep.

Pro Tools