Mixing hints - how does my track sound?!

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Parkesy50

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Hi all,

This is almost certainly a silly question, but nevertheless it's something that's doing my head in.

I'm currently mixing a track, and am regularly exporting to audio and listening to it on various sources. The problem I'm experiencing relates to the various things I listen to my mix on - my ipod with 2 different types of earphones; my PC through both speakers and headphones, and my home stereo. The mix sounds completely different on all of these - ie too trebly on some, too bassy on others etc, so it's got to the point now where i don't actually know how my mix 'really' sounds.

As I say, it's probably a daft question, but any tips on how to get around this? Is it best to listen to as many sources as possible and try and get a mix that sounds acceptable on all? Or listen to the best quality (in my case, PC with Headphones) and mix to this, irrespective of how it sounds on all the others? I would have thought that this would be the better option, but then different speakers, headphones etc boost the sound themselves (eg increase bass levels) so I might end up over-compensating for the headphone-boosted-bass.

If it sounds like I'm confused, then I am! Any tips or hints would be great!

Thanks
Parkesy50
 
You need good monitors to give you as flat a response as possible. All the playback devices you are using are coloring the sound. Headphones are particularly bad for this and also give you a false sense of the stereo image. Your home stereo probably gives you the best overall sound out of the choices presented. Use a commerical recording (ie CD) of a similar-sounding artist/band and listen on all these same systems as a reference point.
Adjust your mix to give the best overall sound on any system the listener uses.
 
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That's helpful, thanks...I would have thought that headphones would be best, so I'll try it more on the home stereo. I don't have any monitors unfortunately, might have to invest in some. Good idea to compare with professional recordings as well. Thanks for your help!
 
Yup, invest in decent monitors, but also invest in room treatment. Your room has to have a flat response. For a DIYer, it doesn't have to be expensive and is about the best bang for the buck to getting a good mix that translates well across different listening platforms.

Speaking of which, if you listen to your favorite tunes on your home system, your car, your ipod, etc, I bet you'll notice they sound different as well.
 
If you put your track up in the Mixing Clinic, you'll have lots of ears hearing it on lots of speakers.
Some folks with good ears and good monitoring will be able to give you some insight on getting your track to translate well to other systems.
 
Thanks both, again great tips. I'll be looking into room treatment to see if that helps, but I'll also stick it in the Mixing Clinic as well once I've finished tweaking it...thanks again!
 
Parkesy50 said:
Good idea to compare with professional recordings as well.
Click to expand...
Ever since I was a little boy, I've always found that different mediums colour the sound of a particular song, whether it was a record player with one speaker or one with two speakers, cassette players with one speaker, stereo cassettes, walkmans, car stereos, CD/hi~fi units, MP3s, minidiscs, radio.....not to mention the different speakers, their wattage and how and where they're set up in the room and the ratingg of the amp. I've also never had two sets of headphones make any song sound the same. I don't think it's scientifically possible, so I would say, get it sounding healthy on some monitors or a great set of stereo speakers. It will sound like whatever it will sound like on the myriad of different combinations it will be played on.
 
Great stuff, thanks. I've put my most recent mix in the 'Mixing Clinic' forum, so if anyone has a spare 5 minutes (and 38 seconds) to spare, please have a listen and see what you think needs changing.
Thanks
Parkesy50
 
The key to listening to your mixes on different systems is to listen to mixes that you know well on those same speakers. Listen to snippets of your five favorite songs and then flip to your song. That sort of blunt comparison will instantly tell you what's missing in your mix.
 
different speakers

..ive heard that the biggest advantage a professional studio has over a home recording studio in the mixing process is that a large studio generally will have 4-6 pairs of different monitor speakers to listen to every mix over. I own 2 pairs, ns 10s and m audios and when i listen to them in the same room with the speakers hardly 3 inches away from the other pair, the music sounds completely different. collect speakers and have 4/5 different sources to listen to.
I use:
-m audio monitors
-ns10 monitors
-my car (with subwoofer)
-my girlfriends car (without subwoofer)
-my shitty $15 headphones
-my computer speakers
-my laptop speakers

Start collecting speakers it will help your mix and every time you buy a pair you will not regret it!
 
Noah Nelson said:
I own 2 pairs, ns 10s and m audios and when i listen to them in the same room with the speakers hardly 3 inches away from the other pair, the music sounds completely different.
Click to expand...
Which kind of makes the point I made earlier. In a sense, regardless of your mix, different combinations of amps, speakers and rooms are going to make your mix sound different. They're never going to be the same on all of them. So adjusting to suit one set, be they for the car or computer or whatever seems logically odd.
 
I never mix it so that it sounds good on all speakers. That almost seems like it's impossible. I feel like you'd have to make it sound worse on one to make it sound better on another.

If I'm using multiple sources, like a boombox and car speakers and my monitors, I just like to compare it to commercial tracks. If my track sounds bad, but a commercial track sounds equally bad on that same set of speakers, maybe it's not the mix that's a problem. My best advice is to not only compare your mix on other speakers, but compare it on other speakers next to commercial tracks.
 
Parkesy50 said:
The mix sounds completely different on all of these - ie too trebly on some, too bassy on others etc, so it's got to the point now where i don't actually know how my mix 'really' sounds.
Click to expand...

That means your mix is not in balance:

- Learn one source really good (etc. your car or headphones) so you can instantly say if theres something wrong.
- Collect lot of different speakers. I mean really different.. from tiny toy speakers to huge systems. They don't have to be expensive ones!
- It's all about space and depth, since you figure that out your mixes will translate better.
- No excuses :)
 
Yeah, I think a decent sent of monitors is the way to go. I'll have to look into getting some at some point. For now though I guess I'll just listen to it on as many sources as I can! Thanks for the reply!
 
Even the greatest monitors won't tell you the truth in an un-treated room. Room treatment is a whole other subject on it's own, but well worth learning about.

I'd rather use cheap home speakers in a treated room than have the best speakers in the world in an un-treated room.

Good room+good speakers+good ears=You don't need to run around comparing on a million different systems.

Pro studios do not have a bunch of sets of speakers to mix on and pro engineers don't run out to the parking lot to check their mixes in their car.
 
Parkesy50 said:
Hi all,

This is almost certainly a silly question, but nevertheless it's something that's doing my head in.

I'm currently mixing a track, and am regularly exporting to audio and listening to it on various sources. The problem I'm experiencing relates to the various things I listen to my mix on - my ipod with 2 different types of earphones; my PC through both speakers and headphones, and my home stereo. The mix sounds completely different on all of these - ie too trebly on some, too bassy on others etc, so it's got to the point now where i don't actually know how my mix 'really' sounds.

As I say, it's probably a daft question, but any tips on how to get around this? Is it best to listen to as many sources as possible and try and get a mix that sounds acceptable on all? Or listen to the best quality (in my case, PC with Headphones) and mix to this, irrespective of how it sounds on all the others? I would have thought that this would be the better option, but then different speakers, headphones etc boost the sound themselves (eg increase bass levels) so I might end up over-compensating for the headphone-boosted-bass.

If it sounds like I'm confused, then I am! Any tips or hints would be great!

Thanks
Parkesy50
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're just beginning, and I don't know your budget, so I'll just give you a quick run down. First, I'm not an engineer, nor do I pretend to be. I'm more of a hack in that department. I'm a composer. I write scores, songs, and soundtracks, but I do my own mixing. I know enough not to embarrass myself with a mix. I don't have a treated room, but then my room doesn't have the parallel wall syndrome either. It's got enough junk in it to break up standing waves, but the room is far from perfect. It could use a some work, but I'm not running a business either. Still I can make a mix that's decent enough -- I did enter Gearfest and put up a respectable entry. I know my room.

You'll need an interface and might I suggest a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, and a pair of powered monitors. The monitors that have been being suggested recently on some other forums are these Equator D5 nearfields that run about $400/pr. I'm thinking of getting a pair of these myself unless someone trashes them thoroughly. But they've gotten good reviews in Sound On Sound, but I'm going to wait until June 21, because you never know. lol.

But you'll need to take time to get to learn your software and how to mix and stuff. It's not going to come overnight no matter how good your gear is. I have a friend who has $30,000 worth of mixing gear and can't mix worth a damn. It's not what you have it's how you use it. Take your time and study, and learn how to use the tools you have. Use reference recordings, and don't be afraid to ask for help. I have some friends locally who are at least part time engineers, and I have other friends who are musicians like myself who can give feedback on what I've done. It's interesting to hear the differences of opinions.
 
RAMI said:
I'd rather use cheap home speakers in a treated room than have the best speakers in the world in an un-treated room.
Click to expand...

This is 100% truth. You can basically use any speakers for monitoring as long as you're familiar with them but they have to be in a treated room. I wrote an article with pictures of my old studio setup on my website about How to Acoustically Treat Your Mixing Space. Give it a read and see if it's something that is feasible for you. Before I setup my own studio - before I even set up a set of speakers or a computer - I treated the room with some type of acoustic panels. Of course now I have about 12 panels and bass traps in there but the article gives you the basics of what you'll need to get started. Good luck.
 
I never use headphones for mixing. Quality Stereo speakers will do the job!
 
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