How much should you charge for mixing and mastering?
"How much do you charge?" is the question that makes most engineers freeze. Price too low and you train clients to undervalue you; price too high without framing it and the conversation ends. The number itself matters less than how you arrive at it and how you present it.
What actually drives the price
Forget round numbers for a second. Your rate is a function of four things:
- Your experience and track record — credits, results, and the confidence to stand behind the work.
- Scope — a single vs. a 12-track album, stems vs. a printed mix, how many revision rounds are included.
- Turnaround — rush work is a premium, full stop.
- The client — a label with a budget is not an unsigned artist funding it themselves, and your price can flex.
Pick a pricing model
Per song (most common)
A flat per-song price is the cleanest for clients — they know the total up front. It rewards you for getting faster over time. Most mixing work is priced this way.
Day rate
Good for attended sessions, production, or open-ended work where scope is fuzzy. Protects you when a "quick mix" turns into a full day.
Hourly
Best reserved for revisions beyond the included rounds, or small fixes. Hourly as your primary model tends to punish efficiency — the better you get, the less you earn.
Rough ranges (with a big caveat)
Rates vary wildly by market, genre, and reputation, so treat these as orientation, not gospel. Mixing commonly runs anywhere from a modest two figures per song early-career to several hundred and up for established engineers; mastering is often priced lower per track and offered at album rates. Anchor to your market and your results, not to the cheapest person online.
How to present the number
- Quote a total, not an hourly mystery — clients want certainty.
- State what's included: number of tracks, revision rounds, deliverable formats.
- Put it in writing. A clear quote that converts to an invoice removes the awkward back-and-forth.
- Don't discount silently — if you flex on price, flex on scope too, so your full rate stays intact.
The cleanest way to protect your rate is to make the deliverable unlock when the invoice is paid — so "can you send the final?" and "have you paid?" are the same conversation.
Levels Flow lets you send a branded quote, convert it to an invoice in one click, take card payment, and gate the final master behind it — so pricing and getting paid live in the same place as the work.