The Mill Springs Studio Process

You can contact us from our website using the intuitive contact form, find us on social media, or call us. This starts our process and let's us know you are interested in beginning a discussion about your music.

Once we have your email address we will be able to set you up in our system.  We will send you a link for either a phone consultation, or even better, a studio tour where we can learn more about your project, your vision and you will have a chance to see if Mill Springs Studio will be a good fit for you.

To best serve an artist, understanding where they are in the process is critical. We will spend time asking important questions relative to the preparedness of each song within the project such as the arrangement, lyrics, tempo, key, etc. as well as the familiarity with studio tools such as monitors and a click track.

Now that we have your input for your project, understand your vision, and have considered the level of pre-production completed, we will be able to develop a proposal.

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Our approach to project proposals are straight-forward with the intention to make it simple to follow and eliminate any guess work.  Although some assumptions are to be made as with any creative endeavor, based on your input, we have a simple, no nonsense formula that ensures your project will be a success. 

Once you have reviewed the project proposal & studio agreement, and there are no questions, you will remit the retainer payment. The retainer payment is 50% of the project amount and sets you on your way to scheduling your studio time.

Whether your project includes a single day of tracking or is more involved, requiring several days of tracking with multiple players, you are in control.  We will send you a scheduling link and you may book as many dates relative to the total amount of days within the proposal. You can book all at once, or use the link to book as you and/or your band or players are available.

Now that you have your date(s) picked, it's time to get down to business! Tracking days are our favorite at Mill Springs Studio. We know this is where the magic happens. It's important for the productivity of the project to be on time, with you and your instrument in good physical working order. It's a best practice to change strings or complete other maintenance items prior to arriving to the studio. We will spend time confirming our direction, ensuring your vision is front & center of each of the decisions we make in the tracking process. Communication is key and being comfortable knowing you are in a safe space to create is very important to us. If it's not right on tracking day, we are compromising the quality of your project. You are encouraged to speak up and trust that we have your best interest in mind every step of the way.

Once the tracks have been recorded, we will take care to work with the instrumentation to ensure industry quality. Although we all do our best on tracking day, performances which can be improved are carefully edited. This can range from fade development & vocal-comping and/or tuning to general instrument timing & solving phase or alignment anomalies.

This is where the song comes to life. You have done the heavy-lifting for fine-tuning the arrangement, lyrics, tempo, key, etc. We have captured captivating performances during the tracking and have made the necessary edits as needed to realize your vision. Now it is time to balance the tracks using volume, panning, EQ & compression to evoke emotion from the listener. The initial mix is sent to you from our portal and you are asked to review and provide any feedback you may have. Pro Tip: Listen where you consume music the most (you know that environment best) but also listen on different systems to get alternative perspectives.

After you have listened to the mix, you are asked to provide your feedback to our portal and we will get to work on making the revisions you have requested. Ideally, we would like to provide an initial mix and after you have had a chance to review it, you would approved it. Although we have a tight quality control process, there are items that you will want revised - and that is okay! Our internal goal is that we are able to obtain your approval by the 2nd revision. This is our goal but be assured that your satisfaction is our guarantee.

Once you have approved the project, you will remit the balance payment. The balance payment being made sets you on your way to receiving your 2-track mastered stereo file.

When your project balance is paid, we will engage our mastering chain to add a bit of studio mojo & bring your tracks up to industry standard for the platforms you will distributing within. We will send your 2-track mastered stereo file to you from within our portal.

Once you have your 2-track mastered stereo file, it is yours to distribute however you would like. This is your music and Mill Springs Studio is happy to be a part of the process of what you have created. If you have your own distribution channel set up, (TuneCore, DistroKid, CDBaby, etc.) that's perfect!. If you do not, ask us about "The Mill Springs Studio Collective." We are happy to distribute your music on our platform.