Remote mixing: send your session, get it back on your timeline

A great mix is the difference between a demo and a record. But the engineer you want is rarely down the road, and shipping a session back and forth by email is where momentum goes to die. This guide is about doing it properly: what to actually send, why routing files through your DAW beats a folder of downloads, and how booking through the Hub keeps everyone honest so you can focus on the music.

Stems vs full-session: which to send

There are two ways to hand a project to a mix engineer, and the right one depends on how much control you want them to have.

Stems are consolidated audio bounces — one continuous WAV per instrument group (kick, snare, drum overheads, bass DI, bass amp, rhythm guitars, lead vocal, backing vocals, and so on), all starting from the same bar one so they line up when dropped in. Stems are portable: the engineer needs no plugins you own, no specific DAW, nothing but a way to play WAVs. The trade-off is that your processing is baked in — if you printed a heavy vocal compressor, they inherit it.

A full session hands over the project file and all its audio, so the engineer can rebalance from the raw tracks, adjust your edits, and see your routing. It gives them the most control — and it only works if you share a DAW, or export to an interchange format like AAF. For most people, well-labelled stems are the pragmatic choice; full sessions suit ongoing relationships where the engineer knows your setup.

Why file-delivery-to-DAW beats a Dropbox round-trip

The usual remote-mix loop looks like this: zip the stems, upload to WeTransfer, wait, email the link, they download, mix, bounce, upload the result, email you the link, you download, drag it in, realise the vocal is 2 dB too hot, and start the whole cycle again. Every lap is a manual export, a manual upload, and a wait — and files have a habit of expiring, landing in spam, or arriving named FINAL_mix_v3_real.wav.

SessionLinked shortens the loop by moving files through the DAWs rather than through your inbox. Delivered audio lands in the companion’s Files tab already carrying its position, ready to drag onto your timeline where it belongs — and when both sides are connected you can audition changes together in near real time instead of describing them over email. You still get lossless WAVs; you just stop babysitting upload bars and hunting for the newest version in a folder of near-identical filenames.

How the Hub escrow booking works

Hiring a stranger to mix your record involves trust in both directions: you don’t want to pay upfront and get ghosted, and the engineer doesn’t want to deliver a mix and get stiffed. The Hub handles that with a simple held-payment flow.

1. 1
   Fund the bookingYou choose a package and pay upfront. The money is held by Stripe — it has left your account, but it hasn't reached the engineer yet. Nobody starts work on a promise.
2. 2
   Work in the booking's workroomThe booking opens a private space for the two of you: messages, reference links, and file exchange in one place. You send the session or stems here; revision notes live here too, so nothing is scattered across email threads.
3. 3
   Review, then releaseThe engineer delivers the mix. You review it; if it needs changes, you ask inside the workroom. When you’re happy you mark it complete and the held funds are released — or, if you go quiet, they release automatically after the agreed window so the engineer isn’t left hanging. If something genuinely goes wrong, you can open a dispute and a human steps in.

The upshot: you get the protection of paying only for work you’ve actually received, and the engineer gets the certainty that a funded booking means the money is real. See the FAQ for the exact commission and payout timings.

What to send a mix engineer

Give them a clean starting point and you’ll get a better mix back faster. A tidy handoff includes:

• ✓Consolidated stems (or the session), all starting at bar one.
• ✓A rough mix, so they hear your intent.
• ✓The exact tempo, key, and time signature.
• ✓Any reference tracks whose vibe you’re chasing.
• ✓A short note on what you want — “vocal-forward, modern pop, keep the low end tight.”
• ✓A flag on anything unusual — a deliberate distorted bus, a sample that must stay exactly where it is.

The clearer the brief, the fewer revision laps.

When you’re ready to find someone, browse mixing engineers on the Hub, listen to their portfolios, and shortlist by the genre they clearly live in. If your track also needs a final polish for streaming and vinyl, line up a mastering engineer in the same place — many people book the mix and master as a pair.