Professional Mixing & Mastering in Brooklyn

You just recorded your song. Now what?

Recording captures the performance. Mixing and mastering turn that performance into a finished record that stands up next to what you hear on Spotify, Apple Music, radio, and in the club. This is where most independent artists either level up or get stuck.

At Donut Shop Studios, we offer professional Brooklyn mixing and mastering services designed for real-world translation. Grammy-winning engineer Maxime Morin leads a team working with a hybrid analog-digital workflow, combining classic outboard gear with modern precision. Every decision is made through a custom Augspurger monitoring system, widely regarded as the most accurate listening environment in Brooklyn.

Major artists and independent musicians trust this room because it removes guesswork. What you hear here is what your audience hears everywhere else. This page walks you through why mixing and mastering matter, how the process works, and how we help your music compete at a professional level.

Why Mixing & Mastering Matter

If you have ever played your raw recording next to a commercial release and wondered why yours sounds quieter, flatter, or weaker, you are not alone. Every artist hits this moment.

Here is the simple breakdown:

Recording is capturing raw ingredients. Mixing is cooking the meal. Mastering is plating it so it is ready for the restaurant.

A recording session captures performances. Microphones, preamps, and interfaces do their job, but at this stage everything is still separate. Vocals, drums, bass, instruments. Nothing is balanced yet. Nothing is polished.

Mixing is where those individual tracks become one cohesive song. Levels are balanced. Frequencies are shaped so elements do not fight each other. Vocals are brought forward. Drums gain impact. The emotional intent of the song becomes clear.

Mastering is the final step. It prepares the mixed song for release. Loudness is optimized. Frequency balance is refined. The track is adjusted to translate across every playback system and meet streaming platform requirements.

Without professional mixing and mastering, common problems appear immediately. Vocals feel buried in the beat. The low end lacks punch. The song sounds thin on headphones and muddy in the car. Turn it up, and it still does not feel exciting.

This is the gap between “just recorded” and “release-ready.”

Every major artist uses professional mixing and mastering because this step is what makes a song competitive. Your recording captured great performances. Now we make them translate. The goal is not to change your vision. It is to present it clearly, powerfully, and confidently to the world.

What Is Mixing? And Why You Cannot Skip It

What Mixing Actually Does ?

Mixing takes twenty or more separate tracks and turns them into one unified record.

At its core, mixing is about balance. Vocals, drums, bass, melodies, effects. Everything must exist together without masking or competing. Engineers use EQ to carve space, compression to control dynamics, effects to create depth, and automation to shape movement throughout the song.

Ever notice how your favorite songs have crystal-clear vocals and punchy drums at the same time? That does not happen by accident. That is mixing.

Without proper mixing, instruments fight for attention. The low end becomes cloudy. Vocals disappear when the beat gets busy. The song might sound fine in one place and fall apart everywhere else.

Recording captures great performances. Mixing makes them work together as a song.

Our Mixing Process and Monitoring Environment

Professional mixing is not about plugins or presets. It is about hearing the truth and knowing what to do with it.

At Donut Shop Studios, mixing happens in a purpose-built control room designed for critical listening. The room is professionally tuned and optimized so frequency response is flat, controlled, and predictable. This eliminates guesswork and allows precise decisions that translate across every playback system. Cars, phones, headphones, clubs, and streaming platforms all tell the same story.

At the center of this environment is a custom Augspurger monitoring system, widely regarded as the most accurate monitoring setup in Brooklyn. These full-range main monitors reveal detail, balance, and low-end information that smaller speakers simply cannot reproduce. You hear problems early, fix them correctly, and move forward with confidence.

Just as important as the room is the human element. Your music is mixed by engineers with decades of experience working on real records, not bedroom demos. Grammy-winning ears, trained judgment, and taste developed across major-label and independent releases guide every decision. The goal is not to impress with processing, but to serve the song.

This combination of acoustically treated space, world-class monitoring, and experienced Brooklyn mixing engineers with Grammy-level expertise is what delivers professional mixing and mastering results. When the room tells the truth and the engineer knows how to respond, your mix holds up everywhere.

What Is Mastering? The Final Polish

Why Mixing Is Not the Final Step

A great mix is essential, but it is not finished until it is mastered.

Mastering prepares your song for release in the real world. Streaming platforms normalize loudness. Radio chains add processing. Vinyl and physical formats have strict technical requirements.

Without mastering, your song will sound quiet, flat, or inconsistent when played next to commercial releases. This is why artists often say, “My mix sounded great, but it feels weak on Spotify.”

Mastering ensures your song meets loudness standards, maintains clarity, and translates across all systems. It also creates consistency across an EP or album so tracks feel cohesive.

Mixing shapes the song. Mastering prepares it to compete.

Technical Mastering Details

Mastering at Donut Shop Studios is led by Kokoyo Villagomez, an experienced mastering engineer trained in modern streaming standards and analog processing.

Each song is optimized for platform-specific loudness targets, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube. Vinyl mastering is available for physical releases. Deliverables include high-resolution WAV files, MP3s, streaming-ready masters, and DDP files for manufacturing.

The mastering chain combines high-end analog processing with precise digital control. Every master goes through quality control checks on multiple playback systems to ensure consistency and translation.

Fast turnaround is standard, without sacrificing detail.

The Beauty of a Great Mix & Master

This is the moment everything clicks.

Before mixing and mastering, your song might feel like a demo. The emotion is there, but it does not hit. The vocal does not shine. The beat lacks impact.

After a proper mix and master, the transformation is undeniable. Vocals sit confidently in front of the track. The low end hits with authority. Every instrument has its own space. The emotion you felt in the booth finally reaches the listener.

There is a moment every artist recognizes. You hit play and think, “That’s it. That’s what I heard in my head.”

Your song sounds powerful in the car. Clear on earbuds. Massive in the club. Balanced on streaming platforms. You stop worrying about how it compares because it holds its own.

This is when independent artists realize they can compete with anyone. Not by chasing trends, but by presenting their music at a professional level.

Why Choose Donut Shop Studios ?

Donut Shop Studios delivers Grammy-level quality to independent artists. We're Brooklyn's top-rated mixing and mastering studio for independent and major-label artists.
Lead engineer Maxime Morin is a Grammy-winning professional who has worked with major artists including H.E.R, Beyoncé, and many more. The same team and standards are available to independent musicians.

The studio features Brooklyn’s most accurate monitoring environment, over twenty years of professional audio experience, fast turnaround times, and competitive pricing.

This is not a bedroom setup. It is a fully acoustically treated studio with professional gear, proven workflow, and engineers who understand modern sound and streaming requirements.

Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 910 Grand Street, we also offer online mixing and mastering services for artists worldwide.

Pricing

Online mixing: $500 per song
Online mastering: $110 per song
Mix and master combo: $520 per song (save $90)

In-studio sessions are available. Custom packages are offered for EPs and albums. Volume discounts available.

All services include revisions. Typical turnaround is three to five days, with rush options available.

You can send files from anywhere and receive finished mixes and masters digitally.

Next Steps

Book a session
Schedule a studio tour
Contact us for a custom quote

Explore more:
See our studio and equipment
Start with recording
Meet our engineers

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