Scroll for sections on how to prepare for Production, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering sessions and for my Payment info.
Also, as a thank you for working with me, here is a free download of my ebook! This ebook guide helps answer the top questions artists have had for me over the years about how to release our completed works in a way that sets them up for success. Click the cover art to view or download.
I’ve also included in the ebook my Sync Licensing Blueprint, a highly requested topic that I’ve taught at workshops and through social media content. The ebook will prepare you to release your music and the following info will prepare you to create it with me. I’ve got the whole process covered for you. Read on!
Production session prep
scenario 1: Writing material together
In the event we’ve agreed to write fresh material together from scratch in the studio, your best prep is to compile a playlist (Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube) of 3+ songs that embody the vibe you want to achieve. Even better, note specific elements of each song that are inspiring to you - “I like the mood of song A, the lyrical style of song B, the drums on song C” etc. We will use these, if needed, to get our creative juices flowing then set them aside to forge our own path from there. You may also want to prepare your archive of ideas (hopefully you keep one!) in case we want other sources of inspiration to dip into - voice memos, lyric ideas, chord progressions, etc.
scenario 2: Producing material you’ve already started writing
If our production session is to develop a song you’ve already written or partially written, I request you create a simple demo in one of the 3 specific formats I’m about to detail.
Simple demo: voice memo
To start you’ll need any device that can record and send an audio file - smartphone, laptop, tablet, portable recorder, camera, etc. Don’t overthink the complexity or audio quality of the device, it’s best to keep this simple and low quality. If you’re experienced working in a DAW yourself, you can record a demo there but no need to spend a bunch of time perfecting takes, editing or playing with the mix.
Next you need a metronome/click track. On most smartphones, tablets and laptops it’s possible to play a free metronome app out of the speaker at the same time as recording a voice memo. If you need to play the metronome click on a different device from your recorder, you can use another electronic device or a traditional metronome.
Find the BPM of your song. Just about any metronome app will have a tap tempo button so you can identify the BPM of your song with 4 taps of your finger. If you’re using a more basic metronome without tap, turn the click on and determine if it’s faster or slower than the tempo you’re hearing in your head. Use the arrows up or down to go faster or slower to find the BPM that best represents where you want your song to groove.
Once you have a metronome going at the proper BPM, let it play in the background as you perform your song to it. We want the metronome to be heard in the demo. Guitar/vocal, piano/vocal or even Acappella are all helpful ways to perform your song on a demo. Don’t get caught up in chasing perfection. You do want to get correct the song’s form and perform tightly with the metronome but you don’t need to perform with zero mistakes and perfect intonation (although being able to do that will make you a champ in the studio). If you’re bringing a song that’s not fully complete to the studio, demo as much as you have written as accurately as you can.
Bring your demo files to your session or, even better, send them in advance to drewmantia@gmail.com so I can get familiar with the song before we meet. For each song, I can now easily load up your demo and begin recording foundational layers of production under it. Being able to hear the vocal at tempo as many times as possible and create loops of it will help me hear what can be added to serve the lead vocal of the song. As the production builds, the demo will be referenced and played back less and less as it’s eventually completely replaced with higher quality versions of its parts.
If you’re able, include a chord chart of what you’ve played on the demo recording. Typed out lyrics can also be helpful.
Simple demo: reference beat
Some artists like to write to generic beats in the style of production they want to achieve then seek custom production after the vocals are written. I think this method is great, as long as you don’t get too attached to the original beat. You may find these beats to listen to for free on YouTube, Soundcloud, Beatstars, Airbit, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
To start you’ll need any device that can record and send an audio file - smartphone, laptop, tablet, portable recorder, camera, etc. and a second device with headphones or earbuds to play the beat on. Don’t overthink the complexity or audio quality of the device, it’s best to keep this simple and low quality. If you’re experienced working in a DAW yourself, you can record a demo there but no need to spend a bunch of time perfecting takes, editing or playing with the mix.
Play your writing beat in headphones on a second device separate from your recorder or download and import it into your DAW. It’s important that the beat be playing in headphones and not out in the open, so that the resulting recording is just your vocal with no beat. Listening to the beat in headphones from your second device, perform your vocal into your recorder device. Don’t get caught up in chasing perfection. You don’t need to perform with zero mistakes and perfect intonation (although being able to do that will make you a champ in the studio).
If displayed, note what the tempo of the beat is. If you don’t see the tempo, link me to the original beat so I can listen to 4 bars of it to find the tempo to sync your vocals to. I prefer to never hear the original beat to keep my mind completely open to new production possibilities, but if I have to listen briefly to find the tempo I can block that out.
Bring your demo files to your session or, even better, send them in advance to drewmantia@gmail.com so I can get familiar with the song before we meet. For each song, I can now easily load up your demo and begin recording foundational layers of production under it. Being able to hear the vocal at tempo as many times as possible and create loops of it will help me hear what can be added to serve the lead vocal of the song.
Beat Replacement production
A more advanced version of the reference beat demo, sometimes an artist has already written, recorded, maybe even mixed a song but needs to replace the instrumental. Reasons might include they’ve changed their vision for the song, they’ve had a falling out with the original producer, or there’s a rights issue with uncleared samples or a producer that initially sent the beat for free but now demands a large fee. Whatever the reason, if this is your situation you’re going to want to get for me a vocals-only 24bit WAV file of the song, 24bit WAV stems of the vocals and the BPM of the song. I recommend wetransfer.com for sending large packs of files for free. Send to drewmantia@gmail.com
Advanced demo: self-produced DAW demo
If you’re an artist that has some proficiency of your own in a DAW like Logic, Ableton, FL, etc. you may want to create your demos in your software of choice. You may even have some production skills you want to put towards creating an outline beat. Cool! I’ve had great results taking production ideas from the artist and expanding on them. If you’ve done a demo like this, I’d like an mp3 or WAV of your rough mix, the BPM, 24bit WAV file stems of your session (so your tracks are high enough quality in case I want to integrate any of them into my production) and MIDI files if you’ve used VST sounds. If you need tutorials on how to create 24bit WAV stems or MIDI files, YouTube search “export WAV stems from (insert your DAW)” and/or “export MIDI from (insert your DAW)” for detailed instructions on how to export from your specific software. If you’re able, include a chord chart of what you’ve played on the demo recording. Typed out lyrics can also be helpful. I recommend wetransfer.com for sending large packs of files for free. Send to drewmantia@gmail.com
Whichever demo style fits your needs. . .
I also request that you compile a playlist (Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube) of 3+ songs that embody the vibe you want to achieve. Even better, note specific elements of each song that are inspiring you - “I like the mood of song A, the lyrical style of song B, the drums on song C” etc. We will use these, if needed, to get our creative juices flowing then set them aside to forge our own path from there.
Beware the demoitis!
Demoitis is a condition that leaves an artist too attached to the first version they heard of a song, making it difficult for them to consider changes that might make it better. While I am asking you to demo your song, I’m also asking you keep an open mind about where it can grow from there. While I don’t typically suggest radical transformations to a song, I have made suggestions that bettered songs by changing tempo, lyrics, chords, etc. At the end of the day, the artist is the customer and I won’t push you to make any changes you feel betray the heart of the song. I hope you’ll come to work together open to new possibilities though.
Recording session prep
Even if we’re working together in a capacity where I’m not producing you, just being your recording engineer, I still recommend you use the info above to demo the material on your own in advance of our session. That preparation will yield better results once you’re on the studio mic doing final takes. Many musicians relate to the experience of having a certain level of competence with a piece of music only for it to feel like their capacity to perform it drops 25% on stage or in the studio when the red light goes on. You may even feel totally confident with it on stage only to find that the more forgiving live environment was hiding your rough edges once you’re in the studio. Demo what you’re going to record to get a more accurate sense of where you’re at with it so you can adjust before hitting the studio.
Mixing prep
Attended/Unattended mixing
I do the majority of my mixing unattended, on my schedule, with a fairly large degree of creative freedom. I’ve had few issues with this, as most artists are coming to me because my portfolio of work inspired them to trust my process. I’m not opposed to having the artist attend parts of the mixing process, especially stages where we’re experimenting with ideas or if they have revision notes they want to discuss, but there is a large portion of the process that’s best not having anyone hovering over my shoulder.
Mixing something for you that I didn’t record
I’ll need from you 24bit WAV file stems or Pro Tools folders for each song to mix (the entire contents of the PT session folder, not just the .ptx file). I recommend wetransfer.com for sending large packs of files for free. Send to drewmantia@gmail.com. If you need tutorials on how to create 24bit WAV stems, YouTube search “export WAV stems from (insert your DAW)” for detailed instructions on how to export from your specific software. Also include a playlist (Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube) of 3+ songs that embody the sound you want to achieve. Even better, you can note specific elements of each song that are inspiring you - “I like the vocal sound of song A, the drum mix of song B, the impact of the bass on song C” etc.
Mix Revisions
I’m not too fussy about being given notes for mix revisions. Fortunately I tend to be so aligned with the artists I work with that they rarely request significant changes. If we’ve agreed to an hourly rate project, I may include a small round of revisions for free but will charge hourly for additional. If we’ve agreed to a flat rate project, I will do unlimited revision within reason. I haven’t had anyone pass the threshold into unreasonable revision requests yet.
Tips on giving the most useful mix revision notes:
Remain calm. This is rare, but once in a long while an artist will respond to the first mix in a panic that I’ve missed the mark. In almost every instance, after lowering the intensity of the situation and asking follow up questions I’ve found that all they needed were some small revisions to get the mix completely back on track for them. Asking for revisions is part of the process, there’s no need to get emotional about it.
Keep your revision notes in chronological order so I can efficiently tackle them moving forward through the timeline of the song.
Include time codes of the minutes and seconds (at XX:XX or from XX:XX to XX:XX) relevant to each note so I can easily find them. For vocals it also helps to include the lyrics and song section relevant to a note.
Refer to dates. Every version I send the artist of a mix will have a date on it. Sometimes I might change something and the artist preferred an older version of it. For example, you could say “I prefer the latest instrumental mix but prefer the vocal mix from from 6.13.23.” I can now go to the source sessions of each corresponding date and compile them into a new version.
Include references, where applicable. If you’re hearing an idea in your head that you’re having trouble describing in words, refer me to a recording of a song that features the sound you’re looking for.
Mastering Prep
Mastering my mixes
I include mastering as part of my mixing process. All of my most successful works have been both mixed and mastered by me. You’re welcome to request a mastering-ready file for a song I’ve mixed to have another engineer master it but I discourage you from doing so. Most mastering engineers my clients have paid for were underwhelming and expensive. At best, the resulting masters sounded no better than mine. Most of them were worse.
Mastering for songs I didn’t mix
I’ll need from you a 24bit WAV file without master processing on it for each song. Also include a playlist (Apple Music, Spotify or YouTube) of 3+ songs that embody the sound you want to achieve. This will inform choices like the loudness, brightness and low end I use in the mastering process. Keep in mind, mastering processes the entire mix as a whole, not individual tracks. It is a crucial final stage in the process but it’s limited in what it can do to transform the song.
Payments
Cash (preferred)
Zelle: drewmantia@gmail.com (preferred) [will show as Andrew Mantia]
Venmo: @drewmantia
Cashapp: $drewmantia
PayPal: drewmantia@gmail.com (for non-US payments only please)
Royalty splits for Production:
Distrokid splits
I negotiate Distrokid splits on a project-by-project basis, adjusted by the upfront fees we agreed to.
My email for splits: drewmantia@gmail.com
Distrokid is the best digital distribution platform for indie artists to deliver their music to streamers like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube music, etc. Distrokid is hands-down the best on both pricing and features. One essential feature Distrokid offers is splits. In their words:
DistroKid can split earnings from any song or album, and automatically send those earnings to other DistroKid users. Add your collaborators, producers, bandmates, managers and more. We'll pay them directly, so you don't have to think about it.
ASCAP or BMI registration
Every song we create needs to be registered with performing rights organization (ASCAP or BMI) so the writers involved can receive performance royalties. These are my template songwriter splits for producing:
50/50 for writing together with artist
75/25 for artist-written song
ASCAP Writer:
Andrew Jarred Mantia
IPI #514800189
BMI allows you to register writers without a publisher. ASCAP has an option you can check “This writer has no Publisher on this work” or use my ASCAP publisher name:
Drewmaniamusic IPI # 554777607