Are you recording at home or in a budget project studio, but can't seem to make your songs sound anywhere close to as good as commercial releases?  Or not even as good as other home studio projects on MP3.Com and other web sites?

Maybe it's time you hired a professional to do the mixing and mastering for you!

With the proliferation of low-cost digital recording equipment, it seems like everybody is recording music in their own home studios these days.  However, all the newest and best recording gear in the world is not going to automatically make your music sound better!  Without the proper training and years of experience, and without a certain amount of natural talent and great listening skills, you just won't be able to get the high quality results that consumers and industry professionals are used to hearing today.  

Even if you claim you aren't trying to compete with the pros, your recordings still need to sound as good as they can possibly be!  Record companies and other industry professionals are used to hearing high quality recordings, and they won't take you seriously if your music doesn't sound as good as what they usually hear.  Even regular consumers will notice a difference (even if it's on a subconscious level) and are drawn to recordings that have that professionally produced sound more than they are to low quality recordings (even if it's a great song).

In addition to working with a wide variety of local clients in the Seattle area, Stephen Sherrard of DBAR Productions has done work for people from all over the country (and some from other countries), sometimes without ever meeting them face to face.  More and more people have been bringing or sending their home or project studio recordings to Steve to take advantage of his excellent mixing and mastering skills.  Most of these people heard of Steve and his high quality work from friends or other clients that have worked with him before.  So, now, Steve has decided to formally offer this sort of service via the web site.

You can now send your projects to Steve at DBAR Productions on just about any multitrack recording format, and he will professionally mix and master your songs for you!  He will even use his high-end encoding systems to deliver the highest quality MP3 files, or any other computer format audio file, along with your audio CD master copies.

You may be a great musical artist, but most of the best musicians and artists don't try to do everything themselves!  A big part of being successful in any business or endeavor, is knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are, and surrounding yourself with people who are highly skilled in the areas that you aren't.  It's very hard to try to do everything yourself and still put out an exceptional product!

That's where Steve Sherrard and DBAR Productions come in.  Steve is very well trained and highly talented at audio and music production and engineering.  He also happens to have a very strong musical background, which is a very important part of being a great producer and engineer.  He has the musical sensibilities to know how to properly fit everything together in the mixing stage to properly convey the message and emotion of the song.  He knows how to select the appropriate effects and to blend everything together in the right way so that the mix itself does not draw any attention away from the music (such as by using gimmicky or cheesey effects that are not appropriate to the song).

Steve also works very closely with each artist or band to make sure they get the results they are looking for.  He has a very wide taste in music and has worked with most musical styles, and he has become very adept at coming very close to the sound the artist had in mind, even when Steve is working on his own.  All of the artists that Steve has worked with have been very happy with the initial mixes that he comes up with on his own, and usually they only want a few minor things changed to better fit their own personal tastes.  The digital mixing console that Steve uses at DBAR Productions is totally automated, and every parameter setting can be instantly recalled at any future date.  Steve also keeps extensive notes of the settings for all his external processors for each mix.  Thus, he can recall a complete mix within a few minutes, if more changes are desired.

If you are not able to make it to the Seattle area to attend the mixing sessions personally, Steve will get enough details from you in advance to know exactly the type of sound you are going for, and if there are any special effects or other things that you have in mind for your mixes.  He will also send you a preliminary copy of the mix once he has it sounding the way he thinks it should, and then will continue to make adjustments to the mix until you get exactly what you are looking for, at which time he will deliver the final mastered copy. Every step of the way, Steve will be in contact with you via phone or e-mail to give you the high level of personalized service he has become known for!

Even though Steve is a full time professional audio producer and engineer, there is only so much he can do!  If you are interested in having your songs mixed by him, he will first want to listen to the raw tracks to make sure the recording quality is good enough for him to do a professional sounding mix.  Steve will not take on any projects that he doesn't feel he can do a professional job on, or if for some reason he doesn't think he is the right person for the job.  His hard-earned reputation is more important to him than the little bit of extra money he might make from a project.

If there is a problem with the recorded tracks, Steve can help you out with technical advice about how to improve the tracks, or, in certain cases, he may be willing to hire local professional studio musicians to come in and re-record parts.

Prices for the mixing services are determined on a song by song basis.  Steve usually gets $50 per hour for his time, and will come up with a flat price for each song based on how many hours he thinks it will take him, plus materials and any other costs (such as shipping for out of state clients).  The price will take into account the usual amount of minor changes that are often necessary for a mix to get it just right, after the initial mix session.  Steve will keep refining the mix until you are happy, within reason.  Artists who can't make up their mind, or who insist on continual minor mix adjustments (past the point of making any real noticeable improvement) will be charged extra.

How much time it takes to mix a song really depends on how many tracks there are and how complex the song is.  A typical 24 track recording of a straight ahead rock song with a traditional style rock band can usually be mixed in 4-6 hours for the initial mix, with another hour or two worth of work for minor adjustments and assembling the finished master.

DBAR Productions can accept just about any format to mix from.  If it's not a format that can be handled directly with the equipment at DBAR Productions, then we can rent the appropriate gear to mix from or use to transfer over to a format we can handle.  Steve prefers to work in the digital domain using the totally automated digital mixer at DBAR Productions, but he has worked with all formats at a variety of studios.  If you would prefer to have your songs mixed on a high end analog console (such as a Neve or SSL) at a much bigger studio, Steve will be happy to do that for you as well (for an additional cost, depending on the studio used).

Computer based hard disk recording seems to be extremely popular these days, and DBAR Productions can work directly with the project files from most of the major PC based recording programs.  We can also work with files from Macintosh computers or from PC software that we don't have (talk to Steve to find out how to export your audio into file formats that we can use).  Currently we can directly accept project files from the following PC software:  Steinberg's Nuendo, Cubase SX, and Cubase VST (all versions) or Wavelab 3.0 (multi-track audio montages); Sonic Foundry's Vegas or ACID (all versions);  Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro or Adobe Audition.  In addition we can easily work with audio created using any other PC or Mac software (such as Sonar, Logic Audio, Pro Tools, Performer, Ableton Live, etc.) if each track is exported to a WAVE or AIFF file, and each file for each track starts at the same project time position.

For tape based formats, DBAR Productions can directly work with ADAT tapes.  We have three ADAT-XT machines for up to 24 tracks, and we can easily rent additional machines if necessary.  We also can work with any other popular tape format (such as DA-88, Sony 3324 or 3348, and most analog multi-track formats) by renting the appropriate machines or taking our equipment to other Seattle area studios to do a transfer to one of our formats.

Please CONTACT Steve to discuss your project in more detail.