First, send me an email and describe your project, your budget, your deadlines, your needs, your expectations, your partners, etc ...
How did you recorded, in which studio, with who, etc ...
What kind of results are you expecting, what are your reference albums, etc ...
If you can, join a rough mix mp3 or two.
After i reviewed your project, i'll estimate how much time i need to make it and if your budget is adapted or not.
Of course, every project is different and the cost is not the same for a 180 tracks Big Band signed on a Major and for a Indie rock trio selfproducing their first album !
In order to reduce the time i'll spend on your project, and by the way your costs, i'll ask you to prepare your sessions as described below..
Then, if we're all ok regarding the deadline, the budget , and everything, you'll have to send me your multitrack sessions, depending on what format and medium you have, you can sendme Firewire or USB2 Hard drives, DVD-R, CD-R via a FedEx like company (think about making backup copies before you send anything), also you can upload your files to a FTP server ou via any YouSendIt like website or DropBox or whatever you wan.
At this stage of the process, 50% of the quote is required.
Your sessions are on my side and i start mixing.
I'll creat you a secured private section on my website to send you the mixes. It may happen i 'll send you multiple versions of the same title, especially to suggest a specific fx, a specific edit, or anything special. You'll just have to choose.
You listen to the mixs, you listen to it again, then (if there's some) you send me your thoughts, positives or negatives, precises or generals.
For exemple :
"make the choirs louder on the last chorus's 3rd downbeat"
"lower the G# on the bass beetwin 2:41 and 3:18"
"Try with more oomph on the snare"
At this stage of the process, 25% of the quote is required.
I review each ones of your comments, make the corrections on the mixs and send them back to you.
Of course, if needed you can send some additionnal comments.
When everybody's happy and feel satisfied, you'll have to send me the last 25% of the quote, and i'll send you a DVD-R with your songs, ready to be mastered.
If you think you need some vocal-up and/or vocal-down versions, or some instrumental versions, just tell me !
Clean every edits, cuts & punchs, delete every unwanted noises before and after the take,
Be sure there's no digital clic on your edits, make them with crossfades.
If there's a noise you want to keep (a mic falling on the floor, an opening door, a dog barking at the end of a take, ...) note it clearly in the comment part of the concerned track or in a txt file you'll put in thsession's folder.
When you're absolutely sure your tracks are clean and no bad edits still alive, consolidate your regions from the start of the session. This way, your song can be played on any DAW software without any troubles on both Mac & PC.
All your Vitrual instruments and important sfx have to be printed on an audio track, nothing is more sure than i won't have the exact same plugin with the exact same sample, or preset, or anything, so prit them to audio tracks !
Keep a rough mix a the top of the session, this way i can have a general look at the song without having to mix it first.
"Color-code" your tracks by instrument type, for example, Drum tracks will be red, Guitar tracks in light blue, Bass in dark blue, and so on ... Also, name your tracks in caps and use stupidproof names. for instance "Bass421_LA2A" will be "BASS MIC". Regarding vocals, Indicate clearly which track is the Lead vocal, which one is a dub, a blend, choir, ...
If you've been tracking based on a click, be sure it stills okay on the tempo track. if you're not sure put the tempo on a txt file or anywhere i'll understand this "124" number IS the tempo.
Place memory locators as accurate as possible on the structure changes of your songs and label them clearly, "Intro, Verse1, Chorus1, Verse2, Break, Solo, Chorus2, Outro, ..."
Be sure 100% of your audio files are into your session's folder. If needed, Save your project in a new location, this way every audio files will be reunited in this new location.
If you're up to send me CD-Rs or DVD-Rs with your sessions, let your burning software process the verification pass, yes it's longer, but way faster than burning it and sending it again after i found out your CDs are unreadable ! Do not send me your unique copy of your sessions, Do make backups !