How to send vocals to an engineer

What a mix engineer actually needs from you, so the first pass is the good one.

An engineer can only mix what you send. Most delays on a record are not the mix; they are a second and third round of “can you resend the…”. This is everything they need in one delivery.

Before you export

5 steps

Record at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, 24-bit, and keep every take at the same settings
Turn off every effect on the vocal track: no reverb, no delay, no tuning, no compression you cannot undo
Leave the beat’s instrumental exactly as licensed; do not bounce it with your vocals baked in
Peak no louder than -6 dBFS on the loudest word; quieter is fine, clipping is not
Name the session after the song, not “final final 2”

What to export

5 steps

Every vocal track as its own WAV, all starting from bar one, so they line up when dropped in
Lead, doubles, ad-libs and harmonies on separate files, named for what they are (Lead, Double L, Double R, Adlibs, Harmony 1)
The beat: the untagged WAV from your license, and the trackout stems if your license includes them
A rough mix as an MP3, however ugly, so the engineer hears what you were going for
One text file: the song title, tempo, key, the artist name as it should appear, and anything you want kept or killed

How to send it

4 steps

Put everything in one folder named Artist – Song, zip it once
Use a file transfer that keeps the originals (WeTransfer, Dropbox, Drive); never a messaging app, which recompresses audio
Send the link with the deadline and the reference tracks you want it to sit next to
Keep a copy of the exact zip you sent

Reference tracks

Two or three songs whose vocal sound you want, and one line each on why: “the vocal this upfront”, “this much space on the hook”. It is the fastest way to skip a revision.

What not to send

Session files from your DAW unless asked, MP3s of the vocals, a beat with tags still on it, or a 3 GB folder of every take. The engineer needs your chosen takes, clean, lined up, and named.

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22/08/2026