What Mixing Engineers Charge in 2026: 313 Public Rates, by Genre and Country
An independent mixing engineer who advertises indie, alternative, shoegaze, post-punk or folk work asked a median of $162.50 per song in October 2026, based on 313 public listings on AirGigs and SoundBetter. Half asked between $100 and $300 per song. Engineers on SoundBetter asked more than sellers on AirGigs (a median of $250 against $150), and shoegaze and folk listings sat higher than post-punk and punk.
Tapetown Studio is a mixing, mastering and live-recording studio for indie and alternative music, with studios in Aarhus and on Djursland, Denmark. We don't publish a price list ourselves: we quote each project after hearing the rough mix. Bands ask us what a mix should cost all the time, and the honest answer was always "it depends", so we collected the numbers. They are other engineers' asking prices, read on one day, and every figure below comes from a script that reruns on the same listing file.
The numbers
Listings with a per-song price | Median per song | Middle half (25th–75th percentile) | Range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
All listings | 308 | $162.50 | $100–$300 | $10–$800 |
AirGigs | 214 | $150 | $100–$250 | $10–$700 |
SoundBetter | 94 | $250 | $150–$300 | $50–$800 |
Five of the 313 listings quoted an album or package price only. They are in the data but not in the per-song figures. All prices were shown in US dollars.
By genre
Genre the listing advertises | Listings | Median per song | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
Indie, alternative, indie rock | 233 | $170 | $100–$300 |
Shoegaze, dream pop | 30 | $225 | $112.50–$300 |
Post-punk, punk, noise | 85 | $160 | $100–$250 |
Folk, Americana | 107 | $200 | $150–$300 |
The groups overlap: a listing that advertises indie and folk counts in both. The differences between genres are smaller than the difference between the two platforms.
By country
Seller's country | Listings | Median per song |
|---|---|---|
US | 136 | $200 |
Canada | 15 | $300 |
UK | 40 | $150 |
Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland) | 24 | $225 |
Germany | 9 | $150 (small group) |
Rest of Europe | 41 | $150 |
Australia and New Zealand | 8 | $189.50 (small group) |
Other or not shown | 35 | $150 |
Read this table with the platform in mind. More of the Canadian and Nordic listings are on SoundBetter, which runs higher, and more of the UK and European ones are on AirGigs. On the same platform, US engineers were not cheaper than UK engineers: on AirGigs the US median was $199 against $122.50 for the UK, and on SoundBetter $300 against $200.
How the prices are spread
Per-song price | Listings | Share |
|---|---|---|
$50 or less | 32 | 10% |
$51–$100 | 59 | 19% |
$101–$200 | 107 | 35% |
$201–$300 | 63 | 20% |
$301–$500 | 42 | 14% |
Over $500 | 5 | 2% |
More than half of the listings (55%) asked between $101 and $300 per song.
What the price includes
Mastering: 31% of all listings said mastering was included. On AirGigs it was 42%, mostly gigs sold as "mix and master". On SoundBetter it was 6%, because SoundBetter lists mastering as a separate service with its own price. On AirGigs, the median was the same with or without mastering ($150).
Revisions: 56% of the SoundBetter profiles stated how many revisions they include, from one to "unlimited". Every AirGigs gig page we opened listed a revisions count.
What that means for an EP or an album
As plain arithmetic, the median per-song price comes to about $810 to mix a five-song EP and $1,625 for a ten-song album. With the middle half of the prices, a ten-song album runs from $1,000 to $3,000. Many engineers price albums below the per-song total, so treat these as a starting point for a budget, not a quote. Mastering, if it isn't included, comes on top. For the rest of a budget, see What Does Professional Mixing Cost in 2026?
How to read these numbers
They are asking prices, not paid prices. AirGigs shows a list price, and some engineers run introductory or sale prices. SoundBetter shows the engineer's own average per song. Neither shows discounts, custom quotes or what clients paid in the end.
They are the marketplace, not the whole market. Only engineers who sell on these platforms and publish a price are in the data. Many studio engineers with long credit lists quote on request and don't appear here, so the top of the market is missing.
The sample is not random. We read the listings that the platforms' own searches and web searches returned for our genres. English-speaking sellers are over-represented, and the German and Australian groups are too small to say much.
Fiverr is missing. It refused automated reading on every page, so there are no Fiverr prices in the data.
How we collected the data
On 28 October 2026 we read 219 AirGigs mixing gigs from its search results for indie, alternative, punk, folk, shoegaze, Americana, post-punk and dream pop, and 94 SoundBetter mixing profiles found through its genre and location searches and web searches. We kept listings that named at least one of those genres and gave a price, and left out vocal-only mixing, remix and production gigs, and "contact for pricing". One row per listing, the seller's country as the listing shows it, no names. On AirGigs, a gig with no unit in its title counts as one song, which is how AirGigs mixing gigs are sold. On SoundBetter, the price is the profile's "average price per song".
FAQ
How much does it cost to have a song mixed in 2026?
In 313 public listings on AirGigs and SoundBetter in October 2026, engineers who advertise indie, alternative, shoegaze, post-punk or folk work asked a median of $162.50 per song. Half of them asked between $100 and $300.
Is SoundBetter more expensive than AirGigs?
In our data, yes. The median SoundBetter profile asked $250 per song and the median AirGigs gig $150. SoundBetter's figure is the engineer's own average, and AirGigs shows a list price, which can be an introductory price.
Do mixing prices include mastering?
Often not. 31% of all listings included mastering: 42% on AirGigs, where "mix and master" gigs are common, and 6% on SoundBetter, where mastering is priced separately. Ask before you book.
Is it cheaper to hire a mixing engineer in another country?
Not in a simple way. In our data, US engineers asked more than UK engineers on both platforms, but the platform made a bigger difference than the country. Choose the engineer for the sound of their records, then compare the quote.
How does Tapetown price mixing?
For context, professional mixing in Europe is commonly quoted at roughly 400 to 1,200 euro per song, and the marketplace medians above sit below that. We quote each project individually after hearing the rough mix, in DKK, EUR or USD, and we don't publish a price list. Send a rough mix through online mixing and we'll reply with a quote.
Before you pay anyone
The price says little about whether a mix will suit your record. Listen to records the engineer has mixed, in your genre, and pay for one song before you book an album. If you want to know who mixes the records in your genre, our lists may help: shoegaze and dream pop mixing engineers. For mastering, see online mastering.
