is it useful to check mixes out of the sweet spot?

hey i have a treated room and after measuring have a pretty flat response at the listener position. After i get to a point where the mix sounds good in that spot, is it useful to walk around the room and listen to the mix? Or will i hear things that i think need fixing that actually dont and should just judge at the sweet spot?
 
You can do that...because as you walk around or from a distance, the balance changes and you might hear things you were missing, etc...but I wouldn't listen from some distance, and then make mixing decisions based on that.
It's like listening to a mix in your car, on your stereo, on your iPod, on a boom box...etc...all will sound a bit different, but you don't want to start chasing the mix across multiple systems.

You have to establish one system, one place that you can trust, that you know...and use that for mixing decisions, but checking on other systems and at other places is fairly common.
 
You can do that...because as you walk around or from a distance, the balance changes and you might hear things you were missing, etc...but I wouldn't listen from some distance, and then make mixing decisions based on that.
It's like listening to a mix in your car, on your stereo, on your iPod, on a boom box...etc...all will sound a bit different, but you don't want to start chasing the mix across multiple systems.

You have to establish one system, one place that you can trust, that you know...and use that for mixing decisions, but checking on other systems and at other places is fairly common.

yes i am deffintly hearing some things different that making me think needs readjusting. but since the room response isnt as flat at other locations from the sweet spot, for example i could be standing at a null or peak, wouldnt that make me think i need to eq or adjust something that doesnt need?

also regarding what you saying with like listening in car or home stereo im guessing the response also wont be nearly as flat, but thats just about learning the other systems and how they should sound, not what necessarily sounds right and balanced, correct?
 
Ideally, you mix and monitor in a properly designed/treated space...or at least, in a space that is well known to you.
Like if you play some commercial stuff on your mixing system...does it sound as expected or not...and your ears learn how to listen in that spot.

Once you start walking around and talking your mix ot other systems and other locations...all that changes, and yes, you will be dealing with a variety of acoustic anomalies that affect what you are hearing...which is why you shouldn't use that info to make lots of mixing decisions...but you can use that info more generally...like if your mixes sound very muddy on all systems, you can deduce that something needs to be done with the low end, but then go back to your mixing environment, and make the final decisions there.

The thing you want to avoid is chasing the mix. You hear it on one system and it sounds too bright...so you adjust for that. Then you go to another system, and it sounds like there's too much mid-range...so you adjust for that...and on and on...
...and after awhile, you lose track of what it is you are listening to or how it really should sound.
 
Ideally, you mix and monitor in a properly designed/treated space...or at least, in a space that is well known to you.
Like if you play some commercial stuff on your mixing system...does it sound as expected or not...and your ears learn how to listen in that spot.

Once you start walking around and talking your mix ot other systems and other locations...all that changes, and yes, you will be dealing with a variety of acoustic anomalies that affect what you are hearing...which is why you shouldn't use that info to make lots of mixing decisions...but you can use that info more generally...like if your mixes sound very muddy on all systems, you can deduce that something needs to be done with the low end, but then go back to your mixing environment, and make the final decisions there.

The thing you want to avoid is chasing the mix. You hear it on one system and it sounds too bright...so you adjust for that. Then you go to another system, and it sounds like there's too much mid-range...so you adjust for that...and on and on...
...and after awhile, you lose track of what it is you are listening to or how it really should sound.


thanks for the great advice, will do! :)
 
I don't do it so much in my current studio (due to the layout), but in one of my old studios we used to play the mix on loop while we went to the kitchen to make coffee, with the control room door open and the sound coming into the kitchen for some reason if there were any problems in the mix you could pick it straight away, I am not talking about sitting in the kitchen listening but while we are talking and drinking coffee the music plays in the background, like it would over a radio, non-critical listening.

Alan
 
If you're using nearfields, stay put. Play the tune in the car(s) and on the home stereo(s) and the mp3 player with different (decent) earbuds. They are going to vary, but by how much? If not a lot, you're onto something. Of course, you need to listen to all different kinds of stuff along with your stuff so you can get a good idea of how your stuff stacks up.
 
I am not talking about sitting in the kitchen listening but while we are talking and drinking coffee the music plays in the background, like it would over a radio, non-critical listening.
This might be the most important part of the excercize. Get out from in front of the screen and/or knobs. Maybe distract yourself just a little bit. Get out of that microscopic nitpicky analytical mindset and just listen to the thing the way a sane person might.

My mix room is open to most of the rest of the upstairs of the house, so I can go wash dishes or take a piss or even step out on the front porch for a smoke. Those different perspectives are invaluable. Anything that is really wrong is going to jump right out, but too you realize that some of the little things you've been obsessing over dont make quite as much difference as you thought.
 
I make mix decisions, particularly about vocal levels and snare drums, when wandering around the apartment listening to the monitors.
 
This might be the most important part of the excercize. Get out from in front of the screen and/or knobs. Maybe distract yourself just a little bit. Get out of that microscopic nitpicky analytical mindset and just listen to the thing the way a sane person might.

My mix room is open to most of the rest of the upstairs of the house, so I can go wash dishes or take a piss or even step out on the front porch for a smoke. Those different perspectives are invaluable. Anything that is really wrong is going to jump right out, but too you realize that some of the little things you've been obsessing over dont make quite as much difference as you thought.

yess this is exactly what i noticed. On a song im now working on, walking around the room the little details i was working so much on not so much difference, and something huge i think now was missing it sounds like i got the bass level way off. Gotta do this more often!
 
Just watch out with the bass...when you walk around, you can really hit the nodes/nulls.
If you walk more toward a corner....it might sound bigger/better...but it's just the build up.

I think what you really get with walking around or away from the mix position, is the feel of a typical listening experience, like when you have the radio going, instead of that focused, analytical monitoring experience.

Even though I might stay at my mix position...I will often just sit there, close my eyes, and play back some tunes I worked on...one after the other...and just listen to them, not staring at the screen or focusing on mix decision...but just listen to them.
It's not easy to do, because we become so tightly focused as we work on the mixes...but if you can take of the mixer's hat and just become a regular listener, you can learn to do that even at your mix position, rather than say...going to the car in order to change your listening perspective....but yeah, I often put the mix on loop, and while I'm setting up an amp or mics or just clearing things up around the studio, the music will play, and I'm concentrating on it, but I am listening to it...and it's a different experience from sitting there mixing with focus. :)
 
Just watch out with the bass...when you walk around, you can really hit the nodes/nulls.
If you walk more toward a corner....it might sound bigger/better...but it's just the build up.

I think what you really get with walking around or away from the mix position, is the feel of a typical listening experience, like when you have the radio going, instead of that focused, analytical monitoring experience.

Even though I might stay at my mix position...I will often just sit there, close my eyes, and play back some tunes I worked on...one after the other...and just listen to them, not staring at the screen or focusing on mix decision...but just listen to them.
It's not easy to do, because we become so tightly focused as we work on the mixes...but if you can take of the mixer's hat and just become a regular listener, you can learn to do that even at your mix position, rather than say...going to the car in order to change your listening perspective....but yeah, I often put the mix on loop, and while I'm setting up an amp or mics or just clearing things up around the studio, the music will play, and I'm concentrating on it, but I am listening to it...and it's a different experience from sitting there mixing with focus. :)

thanks. Yes this seems to be the challannge need to train my self to overcome, As while mixing we hear the song so many times after a while we dont hear it anymore. Gotta get out of the mixer and into the listener perspective, great advice! :)
 
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