Estimate of # of hours needed to mix and pre-master song...

Let's say for a 20 track song (rock genre) would a quote of 10 hours for mixing (including pre-mastering) be reasonable? This is AFTER the actual tracking has been done and I'm sitting with the raw tracks... Multiple electric guitar parts would be used to beef up the overall guitar element...

When I produce/mix I want to take the time needed to make any song or project meet my standards if I'm going to put my stamp on it, and so I just want to make sure I'm not crazy when I quote approximately 10 hrs per song... Within that time frame, some of things I do include:

- Edits, including most clips to eliminate white noise or background noise from unused mic's when a track instrument is not playing.
- Edits, such as small fades at the front and back of clips if there are any pops, etc... I usually snap to zero crossings, but sometimes I still have do do some small fades...
- Also may be required to do edits to replace entire parts of a track, if there is a better "take" at another part of the song and it wouldn't be easier to re-track (rental mic's returned, instruments not present during recording, etc...)
- Audiosnapping where needed... Could include increasing/decreasing tempo of entire song, or just doing small timing changes... This can be time consuming, when done right... Basically, re-performing the part to compensate for a sloppy initial recording that was missed.
- V-Vocal where needed... I also use V-Vocal to control dynamics on certain instruments to even them out, rather than drawing envelopes every time.
- Drawing envelopes to even remaining tracks out, where necessary
- Automating panning for certain tracks, where necessary
- If necessary, use Drumagog to replace certain drum parts. i.e., was required for the kick and toms in order to get a more "polished" sound out of the box...
- Rough mix now takes place, i.e. setting fader positions on non-EQ's, non-compressed tracks to get a relative rough mix...
- Check mix in mono, and at low levels to double-check relative balance of tracks...
- Adding compression to tracks, being careful to ensure correct attack, release, threshold settings are set up (based on careful listening as the compression is added and the track plays)
- Using Voxengo GlissEQ to start with complementary EQ to make sure no tracks are fighting with each other and that each part sits comfortably in it's own tonal space...
- Adding any reverb to individual tracks, where necessary
- Adding delay, either for audible effect (vocals, perhaps) or for creative panning (Haas Technique Trick)
- Setting up sends and aux buses for groups of instruments, and applying plugins/FX to those in order to support the mix
- Audition project in mono, as well as at low levels...

I probably have forgotten some of the other things I do on a regular basis when mixing, but I'm very thorough when I work... Before it gets to the mastering stage I want to be absolutely thrilled with the mix (if I can't call it a "master", then I go back to the mix and fix what needs to be fixed...)

I could very easily take dry tracks and with no edits throw on some plugins (using presets) flip some faders for a relative balance, and call that the finished mix... I can't bring myself to do that, and so I do a lot of what you see above... I live in a small city with not a big recording scene (or at least one that most local musicians/bands can afford) but I refuse to put out anything that sounds remotely "local"...

That said, I decided I'd set a flat amount of $300 CDN per song to mix and pre-master (EQ, Multiband compression, mastering reverb, stereo imaging, limiter, dithering, etc) ... That works out to about 10 hours of work based on my $30 per hour rate... What I want to know, is 10 hours a steep estimate for how long it's gonna take to perfect a mix of a fairly complex project/song?

Here's one of the singles I finished:

http://www.myspace.com/chapterfourrock

Still some mix tweaks that need to be made, but you get the idea... The myspace quality isn't the best either, so don't judge the overall sound by the final EQ you are hearing...

You can also see my setup at http://www.greenroomeast.com ... I've sunk some coin into my setup, and although it's on a small scale, I feel I can justify charging what I charge for recording/mixing/mastering, etc...

Any thoughts, opinions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

Dave

ORIGINAL: Crg

Who are trying to hire on the forum as a consultant?
The question you are asking, especially with all the details would require reveiwing what you are doing and what may or may not be wrong with your tracks, and that's before the customer sees-hears it. There is no definite # of hours to give you in any editing profile you choose. Whatever you're charging X's when the customer is satisfied.

Yeah, I suppose I should have been more clear... I've gone back and forth between if I should charge per hour for mixing, or just charge on a per-project or per-track... Charging per-hour for mixing/edits (without the client there) might get a little touchy if the band/artist somehow doubts that I'm actually doing the work they paid the hourly rate for... So I was trying to figure out if just saying 10 hours per song flat rate for complex mixes (even though it may likely take more) would be about average... They were told that a song should take no longer than 3 hours to fully mix, but I don't know if they realize everything I do versus what some other project studios might be doing... I'm sure I could mix something in 3 hours, but not sure if it'd be the same quality in the end...

So yeah, charging $250 per song with the freedom to take some extra time not on the clock to mix, and the client knows exactly what they are paying to be able to budget for it, seemed to make some sense to me... They all ask me before starting, "what's the total cost going to be?" That is so hard to guesstimate when going strictly with an hourly rate for the whole thing. So, I charge by the hour for tracking, then a set rate for each track/song within the project...

PS. I'm not trying to hire a consultant. I'm asking for opinions from people that might follow the same mixing methods as myself, who may from experience know on average how long it'd take to edit/mix-down a song...

Dave