How It Works

1. You contact one of us through email telling us about you or your band. You should include an mp3 ruff mix of the song(s) you want us to work on. See the email questionnaire.
2. You will receive an email from us within 24 hours with details. It will contain information regarding billing, the process of the pre mix, mix and recall, and some questions for you to answer to help us give you what you want.
3. Once we agree on the terms and goals we will send you information regarding uploading and downloading, comment schedule, shipping information and final delivery. You will send us a DVD of the the material to mix. (See details on prepping your song to mix below.)
4. Once we receive the material it will immediately be uploaded and checked with the most current ruff mix to determine if there are any missing parts. If everything is ok then a conformation email will be sent to you and a mix day will be set. By eight PM (time zone dependent) on the mix day, we will email you a link to listen to your mix. This mix will have already been commented on, talked about, and critiqued by each mixer in our group and will reflect everyone’s comments and changes. Comments from each mixer will be included in the the email you receive. You will send your comments to us that evening.
5. The next afternoon you will receive a second email with a link to download the revised final mix based on your recall mix comments. The final high resolution files (for mastering or mastered based on our agreement) will be sent to you on a DVD.

How To Get Started

STEP 1:
-Make sure that all tracks are compiled, edited, and consolidated properly. This includes checking that all edits are faded properly before consolidation, any specific volume rides are printed, any specific reverb or delays, and any plug-ins and effects that need to stay the same, as well as any software based parts, are printed to their own respective tracks. Basically, any sound that you have specifically created that you want to sound exactly the same on the final mix need to be printed. This obviously does not include basic eq, compression and the like. The idea being that we are spending all our time creatively mixing and not recreating things that have already been done. Please include the latest band ruff mix in the session as its own consolidated file.

STEP 2:
Consolidate all material from the same starting point with each track being its own individual file. All files should be Broadcast Wave files (.BWF).. the bit depth and sample rate is determined by your individual session. Since all tracks are fully consolidated files no session file is needed.

STEP 3:
-Burn the entire session onto a DVD (s) and mail it to us. On the DVD please write your band name, song title(s), and tempo of the song(s)

We will contact you once we’ve received your source files.

FAQ

Q: How do we determine our prices?
A: We price ourselves competitively, but you are getting to work with four people for the price of one. Each price is project dependent. It is our goal to work with you.

Q: What materials will you receive from 54 after the song is mixed?
A: You will receive three multi-mono .BWF mixes. The first is a full “main” mix, second is an instrumental mix, and third is an ACapella (vocals only) mix.

Q: Where are we located?
A: Chris, Craig, and Patrick are in Los Angeles. Claudius is in New York City.

Q: Why are we doing this?
A: Recording, and especially mixing, tends to be a solitary experience between a musician and another person like an engineer. We believe that collaborating on a mix by commenting and criticizing each other’s work, a better mix will result. We are doing this so anyone who desires a professional mix can get one with no middleman.

Q: Do we all work at the same place?
A: No, we all have our own studio environments where we work.

Q: Who mixes your song?
A: You can choose whomever you like, The other guys will comment and critique.

Q: How do you see the comments and critiques of the other mixers?
A: They will be included with the first mix you listen to.

Q: What kind of equipment do we use to mix?
A: Between the four of us, there are many different digital and analog components to our process.

Q: How long does it take to mix a song?
A: You will have a mix to comment on towards the end of the first day of mixing. (See the ‘How it Works’ section above for timeline details)

Q: Where can I see your credits, credentials and accolades?
A: See our profiles.

Q: How long have all of you known one another?
A: Some of us met in 2000. We all knew each other by 2001. We have all worked together on multiple projects.