For artists
How much does mixing and mastering a song cost?
Prices range from almost nothing to more than your whole recording budget. Here is what drives the cost, what to ask before you pay, and how to get a good result without an engineer.
If you’re releasing music on your own, mixing and mastering is often the biggest cost after the beat. It’s also the step that most separates a demo from something that sounds like a record. Knowing what you’re paying for makes it easier to spend well, or to decide to do it yourself.
Mixing and mastering are two different jobs
- Mixing is balancing all the parts of the song: setting levels, EQ, compression, effects, tuning and automation so the vocal and beat work together. It’s the bigger job and has the most effect on how the song sounds.
- Mastering is the final polish on the finished stereo mix: overall tone, loudness for streaming, and consistency across an EP or album. It can’t fix a bad mix.
Typical price ranges
Prices vary a lot by engineer, city and genre, so treat these as rough ranges rather than quotes:
- Online marketplaces and newer engineers: often somewhere from about US$30 to US$150 per song for a mix, sometimes with mastering bundled in.
- Established independent engineers: commonly a few hundred dollars per song for a mix.
- Engineers with major credits: from around a thousand dollars per song to much more.
- Mastering on its own: from a few tens of dollars per song online to a hundred or more at a dedicated mastering studio.
- Automated online mastering: usually a subscription or a small per-track fee.
For a ten-song project with a working engineer, that adds up quickly, which is why so many artists release fewer songs than they write.
What changes the price
- Track count. A two-track beat plus one vocal is less work than a 40-track session with stems, doubles and adlibs. Some engineers charge more for stems.
- Revisions. Many include two or three rounds and charge after that. Ask before you book.
- Tuning and editing. Cleaning up timing and pitch is often extra.
- Turnaround. Rush jobs cost more.
- Stems and files. Instrumental, acapella, clean and performance versions are sometimes extra.
Questions to ask before you pay
- Can I hear before-and-after examples in my genre?
- How many revisions are included, and what does an extra one cost?
- Is tuning included?
- Which versions do I get (main, clean, instrumental, acapella)?
- Will the master be delivered at streaming loudness, and as a high-resolution WAV?
Cheaper ways to get a good result
Record well first
The cheapest improvement is the recording itself. A clean, well-performed vocal in a quiet, soft room needs far less fixing, and engineers often charge less for it. See how to record better vocals at home.
Mix it yourself, master it elsewhere
If the vocal sits right in your own mix, an affordable mastering service can take care of the loudness. We compare the main ones in LANDR alternatives. Our guides to mixing vocals in Logic and in GarageBand cover the basics.
Pay for the songs that matter most
Hire an engineer for the single you’re pushing and do the rest yourself. Then use the professional mix as a reference for your own.
Use an AI engineer
AI tools now do a lot of what used to take an engineer, at a monthly cost below a single paid mix. The good ones work on your actual session instead of a bounced file, explain what they changed, and let you ask for revisions in plain words. They won’t replace a great engineer on your biggest release, but they close most of the gap between a demo and a finished song. See the best AI mixing and mastering tools for Logic Pro.