So why let someone else do it?
There’s a reason people make a living as mixing and mastering engineers. These professions take some serious skill to master. The engineers that you’ll be sending your tracks to will have spent thousands of hours sat behind their mixing desks so will be able to get you that radio ready sound in a flash.
Let’s be honest, by the time you get to the mixing and mastering stage, you’ve heard your track hundreds of times over. You’ve probably come to love the imperfections in your track, or you may just overlook them. A mixing engineer might be able to bring new possibilities to a song that you’d not thought of and they’ll help you get over that song fatigue. It’s always better to have two/ three sets of ears on a track than just yours.
Also you’ve not become a musician to sit behind your computer all day. Writing and performing your songs is where you shine so why not let someone else take over from the details while you can focus on getting your ideas down? Save your sanity and have someone else bring it to a professional level, so you don’t have to.
But
Do you have the money for it? Mixing and mastering should ideally be done by separate engineers, each one specialising in their respective craft. They’re not going to be able to perfect your song overnight and it’s going to cost you a pretty penny if you want it done to a high standard. You just might not have the cash flow for it right now and that’s okay – let us direct you to our 5 DIY Mixing and Mastering tips article so you can have a stab at it yourself.