Reworking on your mixes again, and again, and again

[golddust]

THEN the music goes onto my phone so I can listen to it in a variety of places and situations.

I think this is important and might make people realize there really is no such thing as a perfect mix, I listen to my tracks on at least five different “systems” (good living room stereo, 80s boombox, bluetooth speaker, car stereo, headphones) and it teaches you that things are going to sound different for everyone.

[tnussb]

and it teaches you that things are going to sound different for everyone.

And it also teaches you that most of your efforts you put into mixing and mastering won’t be heard by anybody, but the minority who (still) listen to music through excellent systems …

[jefones]

^This. A large majority of people listen to music streamed to their phones on earbuds that came with the device. Rather terrible listening conditions. Typical people don’t care about how well something is mixed and mastered, they just want something that’s listenable.

[Martebar]

I think I’m gonna try your method for a while, hooked the octatrack, digitone and space echo together and will just record stuff every morning and see what I get
It will definitely force me to learn to let go

[tsutek]

Indeed. Nowadays I always recheck balances and compression settings through “phone” monitoring, to make sure those vital aspects are represented favourably when listening from a mobile phone etc

But honestly, a lot of popular music has always been targeted to rather crappy speakers, boombox radios, shopping malls and so on… Heck, its why NS7’s and auratones were in demand items to have in a serious studio… the contemporary mobile phone speaker isnt that much worse really.

[Unifono]

I also check my mixes on the phone, but I assume my tiny target group will listen with good speakers anyway

[mess5]

It is very rewarding like playing an instrument.

[Martebar]

Yeah, recorded one this morning, felt a lot of pressure but also such a liberation from making a track so quickly.

Of course, now I realise the kick and bass are way to loud, but that’s part of the charm

[Cepheid]

The idea is that with each track, you will get better and better at mixing. You get to know your instruments really well, like if you need a cut on the high end or boost to the low end for example. Every recording will be different. Also, you can always do multiple runs and pick from the best session or even cut and paste sections from multiple takes in your DAW to show variation in the arrangement. You just have to make sure the volume matches between takes.

I like the track by the way! Bass sounded good on my old school Lexus system, boomy! Since it was just bass and kick that was louder can you just add a low pass filter?

[Bwax]

I’m at the point I’m starting to think I’ve basically screwed myself reading too much about this and overthinking it a whole lot, that a vast majority of the blog posts and YouTube tutorials about mixing and mastering are basically bullshit that no one can actually hear to sell you more plugins, but that on another hand I will never be able to get my tracks sounding the way I want them to.

I admit a lot of times those YouTube people will A / B some tiny improvement or plugin and I just don’t hear it. Or if I do I can’t decide if it’s better or worse. Most of it just seems like splitting hairs to me.

I think I’ve simply reached a point where I don’t care anymore. If it sounds good enough for me and my purposes, I do my best to let it go.

The main things that have helped me improve, imho, are:

1. Pen & Paper

The simple act of sitting and listening, away from the screen, and taking notes is very valuable. “This synth sounds too low at 0:30, pan the drums more, less distortion on the bass,” etc.

2. Listening on different Stereos

I’m not one of these people that has some perfect chamber for mixing/mastering and never will be. I try to listen in the studio, car, other cars, earbuds, headphones, at work, etc. and use the above Pen & Paper for notes each time. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

3. Gain staging, EQ

I solo the kick and bass, which are important in my main genre. Get that low enough - it never goes above -12-15db, EQ against each other, and then mix other instruments based on that volume level. It should be low enough that I have to crank the dial on my audio input device. Then EQ all instruments so they don’t clash. There’s tons of charts and articles about this out there.

Oh, I also roll off low end and a bit of high end on any send fx. Gets rid of some mud.

4. Templates

I like to think I am emulating a simple hardware desk approach with channel strips, EQ, and tape on each channel. It’s all ready to go. Saves a ton of time searching for plugins.

5. Master

My master channel is mainly for getting it loud enough. I roll off low end and a bit of high end with EQ. I have another instance of Satin. I might use a tiny bit of Glue compressor. Then make it loud enough with Pro-L. Nothing crazy.

That’s just my very basic method reached after doing a bunch of tracks. I think the past few years I’ve gotten to point where I’m okay with it. I think more work and late night sessions, and money spent on endless plugins, would not be worth it to me and my goals. It’s now a simple, fairly quick process to mix a song in my style, and let’s me get on with more fun and creative tasks.