Reference tracks!

andrushkiwt

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
Alright, I've been thinking about starting this thread for awhile, so might as well go for it.

What are your prime examples of songs/albums for reference when mixing (assuming you have any). If not, then, in general, what are your most highly regarded tracks/albums as far as mixing. If there is something specific about that track, please state it. For example, although I'll never be able to reproduce in my environment, Thirty Seconds to Mars has a great "wall of sound" that I would try to match, if I could:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j73g8JMHOA

I notice how clear the bass lays under everything. Just a perfect spot for it to sit. It's my ideal bass tone and one I'm kind of chasing, I think. Notice all the sibilance on the vocal? It's very breathy too - it was recorded with a Rode NT1A, per the mixing engineer. Makes sense. It's a very close, intimate vocal, but smooth and not the slightest bit harsh. I really think this album sounds amazing, regardless if you like the band or their music.

I could have named this thread "best mixed albums", but I wanted to keep the topic on what you actually use or would use as a reference.
 
fat_fleet said:
Rusted Shut
Click to expand...
Would have been a reasonable reference for a project I did in March. It's not a particularly interesting track, and I'd have done a couple things differently, but I bet that's pretty close to how the sound live, and if you actually crank this up on big speakers it's pretty brutal.

It's kind of all relative to the goals for the project and the expectations of the band and their potential audience. A lot of really great, influential albums have been really poorly mixed. Like, I think most of Jimi Hendrix's catalog is really shitty overall. Then there's all that old punk stuff that was recorded in those little studio holes that were used to hair bands and radio jingles by engineers who didn't know or care what the band was shooting for. But that is almost part of the aesthetic at this point. You can't have a power-violence crustcore band's album come out sounding like Rumors. The engineer would get curb stomped.

Even short of the extremes, though, every project is different, and I try to pick references that are appropriate. Not necessarily exactly the same thing, but maybe a few things that share characteristics. Kind of like defining the neighborhood that I want to build in. On that corner over there we have maybe Joshua Tree, across the street is maybe Retribution Gospel Choir, looking out the back door we have CCR, and Automatic hangs out down the alley selling cigarettes to the school kids.
 
Last edited:
I think the best engineering job I ever heard is Dark Side of the Moon, even though I'm not a huge PF fan. If I used reference tracks I'd probably go there.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
For reals though, I've never used a reference CD.

But when I bounce stuff down it goes onto my iPod with the rest of my digital music.. usually gives me an idea of how the mix sits with the various other musics I listen to. So I guess all my other music is my reference cd, though I'm not too concerned with matching any one particular sound.

I imagine if I tracked other bands professionally I might have a different outlook.
 
fat_fleet said:
For reals though, I've never used a reference CD.

But when I bounce stuff down it goes onto my iPod with the rest of my digital music.. usually gives me an idea of how the mix sits with the various other musics I listen to. So I guess all my other music is my reference cd, though I'm not too concerned with matching any one particular sound.

I imagine if I tracked other bands professionally I might have a different outlook.
Click to expand...

More about how things mesh/sit with each other than any one particular sound. Not to copy something exactly - just to see how one sound sits in relation to another.

But cool, gotcha
 
Sidenote -- I use reference tracks occasionally to (A) test the system and (B) to "warm up my ears" -- Using them as a "director' occasionally might be a decent thing if you're trying to chase a particular sound, but a lot of the time, you might just be chasing a specter...
 
Ears seem to get used to whatever is around them. If you accustom them to shit, they will be fine with shit. Garbage in, garbage out.

I've been listening to some of my favorite albums on my monitors. They don't sound how I thought they would sound. I listened to Jeff Beck's Wired and it sounded completely different than what I expected. I'm not sure using those old analog recordings as a baseline is productive. I don't know if I could ever even come close to that flavor for whatever reason.
 
I only reference towards the end of a project, and always use WAV never mp3 or youtube because of the lossy compression.
 
firstly, you don't compare it to mixes but rather masters,
until you have access to original mixes before mastering process.

Personally I love the quality of US productions/recording from 70's.
All that soul/funk stuff - beautiful..
but obviously when I mix certain genre, I check it with the songs I know from that genre
Being mad music collector and audio hifi fan for years, helps here:)
Let me know what musical genres, you are looking for and I will make a list for you, my references (mixing-wise, but also good music, as this is for me very important too:)

One of most important factors when working professionally with sound/music is having good knowledge about how different music sounds on your system/translates to other places. I remember I used to re-listen my audio collections each time I set up monitors or get new ones, or improve/change acoustics. Thousands records listened in your room is a great thing to start working with any music imho

best
 
If you're working for other people, it's often a good idea to ask them for reference tracks. What do they want it to sound like? I feel like this should be done early in the process. If you're also tracking the project, you'd usually want to have this discussion before the session even starts. Ask for albums that have some aspect of what the client is shooting for. Ask why or what parts of those albums they like, and maybe even what part they would change for themselves.

This way everybody gets at least close to the same page early on, start with something of a shared vision, and then all of the decisions you make throughout the process can work in the direction so that there's less guesswork and fucking around at mix time.

It also gives the client a bit of a warm fuzzy knowing that you actually give a damn about what they want and think, and are actually working to achieve their vision.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top