An Audio Project Intake Checklist That Protects Your Deadline

A booking request is useful only if you can tell what work is being booked. “One mix, next Friday” leaves room for several misunderstandings: how many tracks, which version, what outputs, and whether the files are ready.

Keep intake short enough to complete and specific enough to estimate. Here is a starting checklist for a solo remote editor or mixing engineer.

Ask for the details that change the work

1. Project type and package: editing, mixing, or another clearly scoped service.
2. Number of songs, approximate lengths, and source track count.
3. Requested delivery date and when all source material will be ready.
4. Required outputs, including separately agreed alternate versions.
5. Existing source-file links and a short description of the requested result.
6. The person responsible for consolidating feedback and approving the result.

Use examples beside ambiguous questions. Alternate versions could mean instrumental or clean versions, depending on your service. Explain which are included and which change the estimate.

Separate requested dates from confirmed dates

A preferred date becomes a commitment only after you check source readiness, scope, and capacity. Label the request status clearly: received, awaiting files, scope approved, or confirmed.

Give the client an agreed handoff date for source material. If that date moves, review delivery availability again. That is easier to manage than silently borrowing time from the next project.

Reserve time for the feedback loop

Write down the included revision rounds, expected feedback window, and what counts as a change in scope. Ask one person to consolidate notes into a single response.

Leave room for that agreed work in your capacity plan. A project may have reached first delivery while still consuming revision time later in the week.

Try the checklist on two requests

Notice which questions prevent follow-up emails and which are ignored. Remove questions that do not affect scheduling or delivery, and improve explanations for those that do.

Mixslot is an early-access concept connecting a scoped request to the workdays behind its delivery date. Tell us where your booking process breaks down. The price being tested is $19/month; there is no live booking service. No payment is collected through the inquiry form.