Top Class, Major Label mixing and mastering is my goal for your projects. My objective is to make sure your songs competes well against other major record label mixes. To achieve this it requires experience, knowledge, patience and good interpretation of the material. With my 20 years of mixing experience, you are at the right place.
Michael Manitshana is a Mixing and Mastering Engineer with 20 years of experience in the trade. With earlier experience as a music producer he's able to understand most productions and intentions of the producer thereby high-lighting the most important elements when doing mixes. Michael is known for top-class quality sound whilst many producers and artist enjoy working with him because of the creative elements he brings about in the mixes, this gives his mixes that extra flavor of creativity.
My experience tends to shine more on R&B, Hip-Hop, Afro-Beat, Trap and Pop music genres.
When sending songs for mixes please send with detailed notes, a rough mix or bounce of the project, other references/similar songs that are similar to what you want to achieve. My goal is to help you sonically achieve what you want for your music and a little bit beyond.
Please feel free to contact me to analyze your project and should I feel I may not bring justice to your music I will be honest enough to let you know. Music is about connection.
Send me a note through the contact button above.
Credits
AllMusic verified credits for Mike Manitshana- Tiwa Savage
- Tiwa Savage
- Ari Lennox
- Nasty C
- Ari Lennox
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Dream Boyz
- Dream Boyz
- Brandy
- Tiwa Savage
- Brandy
- Tiwa Savage
- Dream Boyz
- Dream Boyz
- Tiwa Savage
- Amaarae
- Tiwa Savage
- Amaarae
- Leanne
- Kabelo
- T.I.
- Nasty C
- T.I.
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
- Nasty C
16 Reviews - 3 Repeat Clients
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Amazing work! Quick turn around time as well.
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Great to work with as always! My standout is the quick turnaround time.
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Another awesome job by Michael, will be back for the next one as usual!
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Another great job done by Michael as always
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Michael, is always on top of things ! Really well organized ! Always a pleasure to receive files from him.
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Michael is the man if you really care about your project !! I'm more than happy with his work on my album !! we worked easily together, good communication, Michael is versatile and can touch a lot different styles ! I recommend him of course to anybody !
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Another one ! Great communication with Michael to shape the sound of my record. Really happy with how it came out. I recommend Michael to anybody who is really serious about music quality ! Michael is the man! But don't book him too much please, I need him for more projects :-)
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Another one !! Always great to collaborate with Michael ! I can only recommend to everybody !! Professional, available, open minded, Michael always have solutions and creative ideas for your project ! Thanks so much for your positivity and energy Michael !
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Michael did an amazing job on my song ! From a demo to a top commercial mix with ease with Good communication and advice! I definitely recommend Michael to anybody who cares about sound quality !
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Another great service with Michael
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Another project with Michael that went flawlessly, he really knows how to carry a song to its fullest potential
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Michael was spectacular. Very professional. Fast turn around time and even provided additional feedback to better the song. Will most definitely work with him again in future.
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Best engineer I've worked with on Soundbetter.
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One of the most talented engineers I know with such great creativity. Can't recommend him enough. Looking forward to working with Michael again.
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It was a pleasure working with Michael. His job description was very clear making it easy to collaborate with him. He was also very prompt and professional with communication. I highly recommend him.
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Michael did an amazing job on my song, going above and beyond my expectations. I was able to enjoy listening to my song as if I just heard it for the first time. He pays great attention to detail and will enhance things where he sees fit. He is very consistent with communication and has no problem taking the extra time to make sure you're satisfied with your song. I'll definitely be working with him in the future again.
Interview with Michael Manitshana
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Nasty C - Strings and Bling Album. I am the mixing and mastering engineer on this album. Although as an enginner and creative person you always feel you can improve upon work that you have done the minute you listen to it outside the studio, I was really proud of this album because of the outstanding feedback that I have received from everyone that has listened to it. More that what I did it is the feedback from people that make me proud of the work.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Nasty C singles, Sauti Sol Album 2020, DRP Album and NGA 7 song project and various other projects.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: I am new to the platform and hope to meet more people.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Hybrid. At low sample rates (44.1kHz & 48kHz) digital still suffers some side effects but processing outboard and bring back to DAW helps to reduce those without having to work at 96kHz for every project. Also there is a certain vibe that cannot be technically explained at times that Analogue bring to the table thats very hard to feel on digital.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Promise to give the my best efforts and a little more than any other mixing and mastering engineer.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Client satisfaction. It is the most rewarding feeling when a client cannot stop talking about the work that you have done to make the song come alive.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: What do you think of the song --> I give them my honest opinion.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Its that mixing can take a poorly recorded song and make sounds high quality like chart toppers. Although mixing can improve the song quality but if the quality of production and recording is good we can take the song to the utmost quality.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What do you want your listeners to feel? Give me as much references as possible for the direction that you want your mix to follow. Whats your deadline?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Analyze very carefully what you need. Hire the best producers that you can afford. Make sure your vocals are recorded with high quality microphones and preamps and a good acoustic space (they are your perfomance). The elements used to make a good a quality mix need to be good quality also. i.e. You cannot make a Rolly Royce with Toyota parts even with the Rolly Royce designer and engineers working on it.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: 1. DAW (MacBook Pro with all my plugs), 2. Genelec 8050 (with stands), 3. Apogee Symphony MKII, 4. UAD-2 Satellite, 5. Clariphonic
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: To simplify a long story. Started as music producer around 1996 and from 1999 started mixing and mixing has worked out really well (according to client satisfaction) that I have never stopped since then. In 2019 I am now 20 years Mixing and Mastering.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Well I would say clean, warm, loud and punchy. Because those are the elements that I like to get on everything mix because most people/clients identify and enjoy them.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Charlie Puth - The attention to detail in the production is simple of another level, really inspires one to take mixing to another level.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Build instruments according to their frequencies. Remove what is not necessary (Keep it Simple). Don't forget to make space for the Vocals during the production stage, it becomes complicated in the mixing process.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Mostly Hip Hop, Afro Beat, R&B, Pop.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Mixing. Clarity and Bringing life to the Music.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Maintaining important elements that the client wants on a song. Bring about creative elements such as breaks, stops and other out of the world effect that complement the song. If the song feels like it needs them I put them and if it does not feel like it needs them, keep it simple.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Listen carefully to client demo or rough mix to understand balance and most important elements. Build upon that, maintaining the balance but bring about quality and clarity and needed separation of instruments and frequencies. Add that extra "Mike" flavor that I am know for.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Mac Mini latest, Cubase 10 Pro, Pro Tools 12, Genelec 8050a, iLoud Micro Monitors, Apogee Symphony MKII, UAD-2 Satellite, All Plugin Alliance Plugins, Most Waves, Most Kush Audio Plugins and various other hardware and secrets :)
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Manny Marroquin, Jaycen Joshua, Dave Pensando
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Mixing and Mastering.
I was the Mixing and Mastering Engineer in this production
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $500 per song
- Mastering EngineerAverage price - $80 per song
Each Mix comes with 3 Revisions & a Free Master. Turn around on average 5-6 Days. Deliverables include High Resolution Masters, Backtrack, Instrumental and A Cappella with Clean Versions.
- Genelec 8050
- Apogee Symphony MKII
- Clariphonic
- UAD-2 Satellite
- Exceptionally Good Set of Ears and Bags of Mixing Creativity!