Mix Doctor - Digido.com

The Mix Doctor!

The best-sounding audio masters come from the best-sounding audio mixes. An A-grade mix makes an A+ master. In fact, we usually can raise the quality of any mix by about one or more letter grades. Since not everyone can make an A-quality mix, Digital Domain offers a new service, The Mix Doctor, giving you the mix you have dreamed of:

clear vocals
well-defined bass and bass drum
dimensionality, depth, space
punch, impact, danceability
and other attributes that make A&R directors and Radio program directors take notice

The best mixing engineers–experts in your style of music–will take your tracks and give them their best shot. All mixes will be personally supervised by master engineer Bob Katz. If you have already begun a mix but you’re having problems with one or more instruments, then we may start with your mix and improve it, or perhaps begin again on another platform or with another approach that better suits your music. For a free evaluation of your material and an estimate on what it will take to bring it to the next level, call or write us today. Quotations are given on an individual project basis. We can remix just one, some or all of the tunes in your album, depending on the needs of the music and your budget.

Obviously, if your tracks are not up to par, or the musical performance doesn’t have an innate drive to begin with, then even the most talented mixer in the world will not be able to make it sing and swing. Regardless, we will be honest in our evaluation and estimate of just how far we can take your material. Depending on how perfect you want your song to sound, we may suggest retracking, or reamping instruments, which we can also do for you. You are welcome to attend the session, or you can send your tracks for us to mix and we will send you a reference.

After the mixing is done, then it’s time to master. Bob Katz will master your tracks to bring them to that final polish!

Attention: Project Studios

With the advent of technology, it’s becoming easier and easier to produce a recording “in the box”. Affordable recording and mixing equipment is finally in reach of the average musician, and it no longer takes millions of dollars to produce a hit record. It seems that musicians are going to have to learn to be engineers! And they won’t become engineers or producers overnight, nor will all of them succeed, for the recording’s producer must develop a neutral attitude and not favor his own instrument at the expense of the virtues of the song.

The best songs are produced by good, experienced musical and engineering talent, with proper studio acoustics and a critical listening environment. Does this mean that you, the Project Studio owner cannot make a hit record? Of course not. But it does mean that you have to be aware of your limitations; as you know that good music is not produced in a vacuum, but with the collaboration of many talented individuals. And that’s where Digital Domain’s Mix Doctor enters in. We can take your tracks to the next level with superb mixing, and after that, to the highest quality with the world’s best mastering. Remember that mixing and mastering should always be performed by different specialists working in dedicated environments.

**Clients’ comments on The Mix Doctor at Digital Domain**

Eric Hansen

Eric Hansen is a superb flamenco guitarist who has produced an album of jazz-salsa-latin-rock on Neurodisc records. He asked for Bob to help fix the mixes on a number of his more complex songs. So in this case, Bob agreed to put on his mixer hat, and mix those songs in the mix room. Then afterward, Bob mastered the complete album in the mastering room.
From: “Eric Hansen”
To: Bob Katz

Bob,

I had a great time working with and learning from you. I would of liked to have you mix the entire project. Hopefully we can spend more time together on the next project. The session was very educational for me. You are a sonic artist who takes a 2 dimensional mix and molds it into a 3 dimensional masterpiece. I’m excited to hear the new mixes again mastered. It sounds awesome! Fat, punchy and very even. That TC verb sounds great on the horns. The horns have such presence and depth but they do not over power the mix. WOW! The bass is very nice. Its very full but not muddy or too boomy. I would have liked the guitars to be a little sweeter (crisper) sounding but its the compression I used during tracking that’s hurting it.

After watching you work I hopefully have a few of these bad habits and mistakes understood now. It was a real privilege to sit next to you as you worked my console. I appreciate your technical explanations and patience with me. Your work is greatly appreciated and I look forward to working with you again on a larger scale on future projects. The company should be VERY pleased with the results.

Thank you,

Eric

Martin Harley Band

In 2008, the Martin Harley Band (London, England) came to Bob to master their album. Bob however, thought the mixes sounded unfinished and would benefit from a remix. After Bob’s comments on the mix, they decided it would be best to have us do a remix for them. So, our mix doctor Robin started the mixing process and even though they were at a long distance, any revision or changes were easily made on our Pro Tools HD system with various analog and digital outboard gear. We are so thrilled that this came to a success and the album was reviewed by Babble and Beat Magazine in England, saying:
Band: Martin Harley Band
Title: One For The Road (single)
Acoustic / Blues / Roots Music

The first single from the Martin Harley Band’s album “Grown Your Own”.
“One For The Road”, is a warm, soulful and engaging front porch kind of tune. It’s acoustic, a little bit country and is played with a whole lotta fervor and heart.
The B-side, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, is a bluesy jewel that left me with a heck of a conundrum – trying to figure out which one is, or rather should be, the actual single! Fantastic.
‘One For The Road’ is scheduled for a March 2008 release and will be available to download from all major digital services.

Charlie Pateman, the label mananger from Villainous Records, Ltd, made these comments about our Mix Doctoring:
“Hats off to Robin and yourself, you’ve done a sterling job with the sound. Nobody’s Fault But Mine being the favourite, it’s really got that punch you feel when watching the lads play live. Thanks for being so patient with all of this, what you guys have done has really made the difference.”

Listen to the Mix Doctor Demo

Click on the tabs below to play high resolution 320 kbps mp3 files of mixes by our Mix Doctor! If you would like to download high quality 24 bit PCM files of our mixes, visit our downloads page. (Remember to register and log in first).

Children Go Where I Send Thee - Jazz Big Band