About Us
The Song Mill offers world class music production right here in Northern Idaho. Operated by former Nashville producer/engineer/session musician, Michael Lewis, the studio serves clients worldwide. Michael Lewis, the owner/producer of the Song Mill has over 30 years of experience in the music industry with credits on dozens of major and independent projects.
How We Got Started
I opened a recording studio in Southern Oregon in 1985. Moved to Nashville in the 90's and returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2008.
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (2)
"Easy to work with very knowledgeable "
"Very professional, swift response to questions and feedback."
Products & Services
We take song ideas and turn them into radio radio productions. We don't just talk about big time players, we actually hire session players from Na...
We've produced many videos from concept to completion. Let us help you tell your story. Advertising, demonstrations, music videos -- whatever the...
Gallery
Recommendations Given (2)
"Carson is an outstanding entertainer... He knows a zillion songs and knows how to keep folks..."
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"Carson is an outstanding entertainer... He knows a zillion songs and knows how to keep folks laughing, singing and having a great time! Highly recommended!"
"One of the best live bands in the Inland Northwest!"
Recent Activity
I run a recording studio/production house. Our work load was increasing, delivery times were getting longer and we had customers who were waiting for long periods of time to get their songs produced. That's when I started to realize that I needed to hire some help. I found someone who...
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I run a recording studio/production house. Our work load was increasing, delivery times were getting longer and we had customers who were waiting for long periods of time to get their songs produced. That's when I started to realize that I needed to hire some help. I found someone who complimented my skill set, who could do the things that were hardest for me so that I didn't spend my time bogged down working on areas that I wasn't efficient at. I brought him onboard as a freelancer as opposed to full-time. It has increased our output, increased our income and made it possible for me to take on more projects. We are now a team of three and (sometimes four) people and I delegate project responsibilities according to people's strengths and we are all having a blast working together. I'm charging the same for the services that we were offering but we're getting the projects done faster now because we're having everyone focus on what they do best. As a result, this has increased our revenue. Customers are happier, we're keeping our prices low, we're cranking out projects faster, we don't have to turn away work and our business is growing. And it should be noted that we're not all in the same location. While our studio is still "operation central," my contributors live in other states. We just send files back and forth over the internet. My other producers can work on other projects, do gigs or whatever they need to do to meet their monthly expenses and they can work on our projects in a way that works for their schedules. I encourage you to out source some of your work. You'd be amazed at what it can do for your business. We are taking new clients and co-oping with other studio/production houses as well and we offer everything you can imagine. Mixing, mastering, editing, top notch studio players on just about any instrument you can think of, vocalists and real instrument parts such as B3, piano, killer horn sections etc... Back in the day we used to try and build studios with an A room, B room, C room, editing suite, midi production center etc... But in today's virtual studio, you hire independent contractors who in essence become your B, C, editing and midi rooms located just about any where. Hope that helps offer some perspective.
Craigslist is the best I've found so far. Other than that, nothing beats going out and meeting people in person. Find out who's planning on doing a new album and give them a CD demo of some of your work but just make sure it's in line with the style of the band you're pitching to. It won't...
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Craigslist is the best I've found so far. Other than that, nothing beats going out and meeting people in person. Find out who's planning on doing a new album and give them a CD demo of some of your work but just make sure it's in line with the style of the band you're pitching to. It won't help to hand a demo of classical recordings to a rock band. Let them know you dig their music, you'd really like to work with them and you can help them by_____ (fill in the blank.) Years ago I specialized in helping artists think about how they were going to recoup the investment of a record project. So while the cost of recording an album was intimidating, I helped them realize that it was an investment that could earn a return. The problem for these current times is it's not as easy as making and selling records. The way that people earn their money back is from live shows, Film/TV placements, song placements and if they can sell a lot of CD's off the stage, all the better. I digress...
The short answer to your question is: Pro Tools, Digital Performer and Logic (not sure about Logic for mastering) are all great software programs on the Mac side and I think PT and DP both work with Windows. However, if you are asking about "pro sound" not "demos," there is much more to it than...
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The short answer to your question is: Pro Tools, Digital Performer and Logic (not sure about Logic for mastering) are all great software programs on the Mac side and I think PT and DP both work with Windows. However, if you are asking about "pro sound" not "demos," there is much more to it than just buying some software. Pro sound is rarely achieved by simply getting the latest, greatest software. I've had analog 16 and 24 track studios, all versions of ADAT's, DA-88's, Digital Performer, Cakewalk, Pro Tools Logic and more. It doesn't matter what you use, at the end of the day there is still a great deal of skill required to bring it all together. And the software is not as critical as the hardware it's interfaced with and the hardware will only sound as good as the engineer who is using it. Professional mixes and masters won't be the result of any software program, even high-end mixing and mastering tools and thousands of dollars worth of plug ins with presets for every instrument won't magically achieve pro sound. As far as recording formats and sound quality goes, we haven't improved upon analog all that much, if at all. We have improved upon ease of use, more powerful editing tools, full recall etc... But there is a notion that anyone can crank out a pro recording with an iPad and some plug ins now but compared to truly great sounding recordings, it is really rare to hear someone who can actually achieve those results. That said a great engineer can make better sounding recordings in a well tuned home studio than a poor engineer will do in a world class studio. In addition to having the gear and the skill to use it, great monitoring is critical and (as alluded to above) having a properly tuned listening space of the proper dimensions is also important. I really cringe when someone asks what's the best software for mastering. Mastering is truly an art and achieving great sounding masters is difficult -- like mixing, it's not just about running your mix through a chain of plug ins. Rather than trying to master yourself, if you're trying to save money, you're almost better off running your mix through Landr or some other automated mastering system. It won't sound nearly as good as putting it in the hands of a real mastering engineer but it will likely sound better than what most people can do on their own.
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