08-08-2013, 09:55 PM
Steffen had written some good points while I was writing my ideas. Especially that mono thing is very good. And also the idea not to use EQ if you don't hear problems.
But here's what I wrote:
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I'm not pro, so I can't give any definitive answers, but here's my suggestions. At least what I do.
If your room is not best possible, buy best possible headphones for mixing. To me it was huge difference in my learning curve when I bought Sennheiser HD 600 headphones. Now I know what kind of sound many grammy winning mixers would hear if they listen my mix. I do have three different studio quality headphones and they all are suitable for different purposes, but only with HD 600 I can do mixes that translate quite well. When mixing, it's not a question which headphones sounds best, but which you can trust.
Always try to find a good reference, when mixing. If not sure what reference to use, pick something from here: http://www.digido.com/media/honor-roll.html
Compare your mix to the chosen reference track at the same RMS level. The same RMS level is important. (I use free TT Dynamic Range Meter.) Bring the track to your DAW so that you can easily adjust the listening levels. Normally about -10dB level.
COmpare your mix to chosen reference at different listening levels, and with monitors and headphones.
Use some kind of frequency analyzer, and compare your mixes to your well chosen references. With analyzers it's easy to see if overall frequency balance is totally wrong. But it can't help you with balances between instruments.
After ten minutes of mixing, I lose totally the sense of frequency balance. Every now and then I listen totally different high quality music, just to clean my ears.
I don't think that the purpose of reference CD is to imitate any sound, but more to give some kind of perspective how is your mix doing. But if you happen to have some spare time, chose two references and make two different mixes by imitating each single detail as much as possible. And then afterwards compare your two mixes.
So these were some thoughts by one longtime hobbyist who's hair is turning gray. If any one has more suggestions to this topic what to do, it would be nice to hear.
CHeers, Olli
But here's what I wrote:
=============
I'm not pro, so I can't give any definitive answers, but here's my suggestions. At least what I do.
If your room is not best possible, buy best possible headphones for mixing. To me it was huge difference in my learning curve when I bought Sennheiser HD 600 headphones. Now I know what kind of sound many grammy winning mixers would hear if they listen my mix. I do have three different studio quality headphones and they all are suitable for different purposes, but only with HD 600 I can do mixes that translate quite well. When mixing, it's not a question which headphones sounds best, but which you can trust.
Always try to find a good reference, when mixing. If not sure what reference to use, pick something from here: http://www.digido.com/media/honor-roll.html
Compare your mix to the chosen reference track at the same RMS level. The same RMS level is important. (I use free TT Dynamic Range Meter.) Bring the track to your DAW so that you can easily adjust the listening levels. Normally about -10dB level.
COmpare your mix to chosen reference at different listening levels, and with monitors and headphones.
Use some kind of frequency analyzer, and compare your mixes to your well chosen references. With analyzers it's easy to see if overall frequency balance is totally wrong. But it can't help you with balances between instruments.
After ten minutes of mixing, I lose totally the sense of frequency balance. Every now and then I listen totally different high quality music, just to clean my ears.
I don't think that the purpose of reference CD is to imitate any sound, but more to give some kind of perspective how is your mix doing. But if you happen to have some spare time, chose two references and make two different mixes by imitating each single detail as much as possible. And then afterwards compare your two mixes.
So these were some thoughts by one longtime hobbyist who's hair is turning gray. If any one has more suggestions to this topic what to do, it would be nice to hear.
CHeers, Olli