Kyle Lent

Over the years, I’ve done work in just about every avenue of record-making. I own a studio and do lots of production and engineering, and work extensively in post-production in mixing. But I’ve also done lots of songwriting, arranging, performing; I also do a lot of “distanced” guitar, keys, and percussion tracking (taking existing productions and recording these elements at my studio in Austin.) If you’re looking for quality drums, bass, or just about any other instrument, I will happily line that up to do long-distance as well.

Further, I am actively involved in many things in the non-“creation” side of record-making, including helping project manage records, develop marketing strategies and plans, and communicate with labels.

Most often these days, I tend to mix records more than anything, just given the nature of distance and availability of all parties! But I’d love to work with you to figure out how I can best serve your project. Send me a message!

Obviously, it is up to the artist to decide what parts of their production they want to do themselves, and what parts they want to bring someone in on to assist. Simply put, I’ve learned, in over 20 years of record-making, that almost always, collaboration is better. With rare exceptions, it leads to better art overall.

It can be difficult to let go of parts of the process, but typically, trusting someone who isn’t as “connected” to the songs as you may be has a huge benefit: they have an objective opinion that you may not. If you’ve written the songs, arranged the songs, and worked on the songs for years, sometimes the best thing you can do for the songs is allow a professional with a fresh eye a chance to speak into what will make the songs better.

Personally, I highly believe that hiring a Producer is important unless you really feel confident in putting together a project and balancing the technical aspects with the feeling you’re going for. I always advise someone to hire a Mixing Engineer to mix their project: unless you have extensive skilled training, Mixing is a combination of technical and creative needs. And again, a Mixing Engineer will hear the songs fresh, without subjectivity, and bring out the best in what has been recorded.

It depends on how far along you are in the process and what all I can help with. Most often, I am sent either Pro Tools sessions or audio files via Dropbox or similar, and I’ll go from there. I am happy to do drum editing and vocal tuning if that is needed. Additionally, I am happy to add percussion elements to help round out the production, but obviously only if the artist/producer want.

Once we have the final set of tracks, I usually prefer to do a first pass mix on one song (usually the single or the song that is most representative of the whole project), and make sure that it is going in the direction that the artist/producer want. Depending on schedule, mixing the first pass of the first song on a project usually takes two or three days.

I don’t ever want budget to be a primary reason to not be a part of a project, especially one that I love, so please contact me and let’s discuss your budget and what is realistic!

I always leave it up to the artist/band if they want to be present for this incredibly important process; it is, after all, your music. Anyone who wants to be present at any part in the process is more than welcome to!

However, I generally suggest that the best option is for artist/band to be present after the first pass is already completed, once revisions begin. There are a lot of reasons why, but the summary version is that since everyone has their own way of working, those rhythms can often clash in a counter-productive way.

I have a way of working and need to follow that process for the mix to go as smoothly as possible and get the best result, and it can be understandably hard for all those present not to interjection during the process as they hear something. Sometimes the mixing process is a roundabout one: what I try in one moment may be abandoned altogether in the next hour, but sometimes you have to take that detour! That can be hard for those present to be patient through it.

So I usually suggest letting me take a crack and the first mix by myself to get us to a solid first mix as quickly as possible, and then jumping in together to tackle revisions.

Here’s a pretty extensive document I have on the subject to set everyone up in the best way possible!

Mix Prep

In this day and age, limiting the number of revisions on a mix is mostly counterproductive to me! It made sense in the days where mixes were 100% done on analog gear that had to be recalled. However, these days, that is a rarity, and even with analog gear that I may use, I print stems for easy recall and later adjustments.

With that in mind, I don’t have a hard and fast number of revisions for a mix, but I do suggest going into the process with the mindset of doing the original mix (Mix1), followed by no more than 3 revisions (Mix2, Mix3, and Final Mix). While there’s nothing magical about that number, without a “deadline” (albeit self-imposed), the truth is that we could probably iterate and iterate forever! Imposing a limit on ourselves helps get to the focused goal faster. That being said, I will be happy to revise until you are satisfied!

I’m happy to deliver anything specific you need, but in general, I’ll provide you with the following of the final mixes:

• Final Mix
• Final Mix – Vocal Up
• Instrumental mix
• TV Mix (no lead vocal)
• Stems in 48kHz/24-bit

“Spec” mixes usually occur when an artist/producer isn’t quite sure who they want to mix their project yet, and have several mixing engineers mix one song to see which feels closest to what they’re wanting. The mixing engineer only gets paid for the mix if theirs is used. There are varying opinions on if this is helpful or not. A spec mix will not go through to a final mix, but rather include only an initial mix to see if the direction is right.

In general, I’m usually happy to do a spec mix to see if I may be a good fit. I understand the need for finding the best fit for your music. However, I would say that it usually depends on my schedule and availability on whether or not I am able to accommodate this request! Also, there’s a good chance that listening through my recent work will give you an idea if I would be a good fit. But contact me and let’s chat.

Absolutely! I do this all the time. In this day and age, collaboration in this style is more and more common. I track guitars, keys & programming a ton, and since I own my own studio with a great sounding room, we can easily get acoustic drums (or other instruments) tracked. I have tons of gear (guitars, pedals, amps, keyboards, synths, grand piano, Rhodes, etc.) as well as tons of soft synth/emulations to get any sound you’re looking for.

Mastering is the process of taking the final mix (stereo left & right) and adjusting it to sound best, usually with EQ & compression, be brought up to standard levels (mixes are usually much quieter than what you would hear on the radio or Spotify), and tie the whole project together from song to song so it sounds and feels cohesive. It’s an incredibly important step in finishing off your record.

While I have mastered things occasionally, I highly recommend that you hire a mastering engineer to master the mixes that I do for your project. Mastering is such an important and fine art, it is better left to those who specialize in such things. I do not recommend using an “online” mastering tool. While they have their purpose, they do not come close to replacing an actual human being who is making intricate and detailed tweaks to your beloved songs! I have several mastering engineers who I trust and would highly recommend.

Coming soon!