3 Secrets To Making Your Mix Sound Good Everywhere 

Love your format: no annoying clickbait. no annoying RU-vidr cliches, concise, to the point, no snarkiness, no cringe jokes. Fantastic video

The car is always the final boss . If it sounds good in the car, it is good

I'd rather deal with some of the drawbacks of headphones than spend thousands of dollars on acoustic treatment and STILL not get it right. I use a couple pairs of headphones I know incredibly well. Then at the end, I play the mix on my laptop speakers. I haven't had any translation problems. I have a lot of problems with decision making and getting a good mix to begin with. But it's sounds exactly like what I expected. It sounds equally bad everywhere, lol.

One INCREDIBILY important thing you forgot to mention is almost all laptops and computers these days come with built in "audio enhancement" software which is on by default which do things like widen the sound, add a small amount of reverb, and boost bass and highs. Always check all your audio settings and sound card settings and make sure none of these effects are applied and that any EQs are either turned off or flat. It also wouldn't hurt to Google if your computer has any third-party "audio enhancement" software pre-installed that isn't directly accessed through the audio settings. On gaming laptops in particular, there are often audio settings hidden in the performance apps such as Alienware Command Center. I only found this out when I noticed a pure sine wave sounded distorted even through it wasn't clipping and found my computer had a built in bass boost, low frequency saturation, boosted high shelf, and stereo widening running by default which were absolutely ruining the sound.

tip #3 has definitely helped me the most and has become part of my mixing checklist! to anyone reading this, i recommend making a playlist of very well mixed music & then listen to that for a while before starting a long mixing session :D

Good tips. I'd like to add one TOTALLY FREE improvement: speaker and listener positions. For typical rooms - the "home" studio (aka bedroom/office), generally rectangular 10-12 x 13-20 rooms - align the monitors and listening position along the long axis of the room. Then placing the monitors near the wall behind your mix desk, and getting the ears at about that standard 38% distance from the front wall along the length of the long axis, (as a starting point) gives you at least a running start at maximizing your listening accuracy. This is a widely recommended set up for spaces of this general dimension. A little experimentation, moving the monitors and listening position a few inches at a time, will lead to the clearest sound picture with your gear. It's still a long way from "flat", but is a simple, cost-free step in the right direction.

I'm so glad I subscribed to this channel. I don't work in audio but I do produce my own music and I'm interested in doing the best job I can on a budget. The ear training aspects of this topic have always been something I struggle with, and I was amazed by your simple tip for relating frequencies to vowel sounds. I'm definitely going to start practising that. Thank you!

I used to focus on soundproofing, but now I've gotten some decent headphones and run them with Sonarworks. I got better results than with studio monitors.

Using reference has been my go to method for mixing with the worst equipment and I have to say its been the most helpful one. Every sound is translated exactly how its supposed to without owning the top most quality stuff in the market. What a great video👏

wow! that last bit on the vowel sounds was absolutely amazing...I've been in the pro audio industry for 30 years and can't believe I've never seen that before! I'm running FOH next weekend for a big music festival and definitely gonna keep this in mind to see if it changes my mixes at all!

I like a mono plugin on the master out for balancing (when things collapse to mono the true volume is revealed since left and right stack on top of each other). It’s also pretty useful to have a mid focus EQ on the master out to check the tonal balance of the midrange when equalizing. They say the magic is in the midrange and they’re not wrong. Having multiple different speakers is key (personally I use AirPods, Genelec 8030s, and sennheiser hd 650 headphones). You can use anything tho you just have to know your speakers really well. Listening to reference tracks is also really helpful. Look on RU-vid for your favorite records and search “drums only”, “bass only”, “guitar only” etc. Compare your instrumentation to theirs and see what you might be missing. Lastly you shouldn’t blast the volume. I’m not saying listen at a whisper quiet volume level, but just don’t blast the volume like you’re listening recreationally. That’s a great way to lose objectivity fast. Only blast if you’re checking for harsh frequencies that keep you from being able to turn things up loud (like around 4k for guitars) and even then, don’t blast it for long.

One of the best channels. Very concise, concrete and always to the point! Keep on with such a good work, i am a fan! :)

You want extra SOUND advice and I mean this will change your LIFE if you don't already do this. Set an EQ on the master with hp and lp filters from around 250hz to 4-5k Put everything in mono I do this at the final stages of my mixes once I have my overal sound and everything panned correctly. What this will do is help you focus on the most important area of the mix that will be most prominant on most devices including the car. I LOVE putting a multiband compressor on the master and only compressing the mids to give it a heavy place in the mix. I usually do this after a VCA compressor but you can do it before. Also, I like to have a parallel send from my Sub Mix/Pre Master and use tricks like saturation in the mids or an EQ for the mids and dial it into the mix to give it more energy in the center. BIGGEST TAKE FROM THIS TIP: If you mix with a happy face approach (Bass boosted and trebble boosted) I PROMISE you your mixes will feel weak and hollow in a vehicle and you will wonder why it was louder in headphones but weak in the car. You can capture brightness and body with harmonics and other tricks. No need to go crazy boosting bass and boosting highs. Most the pros have bass sounding incredibly low and it's not even registering much below 30 hz. Same with highs, they use harmonics to fill the space. Of course you use EQs for this but think about sidechaining an exciter plugin and boosting it with lets say a vocal before you add 6 db of 9k for that sizzle and brightness. Might only need 2-3db of gain and a little harmonics to do the rest. This will help things sit and sit HEAVY. Hope this helps.

There is one topic which is, for some reason, eluded or never spoken of when talking about mixing or mastering. Granted that Spotify has taken over and the majority of people listen to either their own phone's speakers or cheap chinese earbuds, you MUST be sure that your mix sounds good on those devices. I generally start adjusting the mix in very little steps because there's a threshold where the "main mix" (the one made on monitor speakers and which generally sounds good as well on my home hi-fi system) will start to suffer and sound worse and worse, while it will obviously keep improving as you move further and further away on low end devices. So the 1 billion dollar question is: how far do you go compromising your "main mix" to make it sound "good" on low end devices, since 90% of your listeners will be using those, a 9% with decent headphones and maybe a 1% on actually good audio system?

Very helpful video as always. I especially liked the saturation tip, I've seen it mentioned before but your explanation clarified everything.

Another excellent tutorial. Very informative and appreciated!

Tip #2 is absolutely solid advice. Listen to the music on the devices that normal people will be using. I don't think a music producer should bother catering their music to audiophiles. In my experience, audiophiles tend to spend all of their money on equipment and then do nothing to treat the room itself. The results they get are often a total roll of the dice, and they put too much faith in their $10k+ sound system to magically solve all of the problems. I also tend to notice that they will spend a lot of time and effort trying to tweak the EQ of their favorite albums to suit their own tastes, so it doesn't really matter what you give them in the end anyway. Best to focus on mixing your tracks so that they sound good on the kinds of devices you find in the general public. The only place where you _really_ need to dial in professional mixes for professional equipment is in cinema. But that's an entirely different business.

This channel is fantastic. Straight explanation, very easy to understand. Great

I like your videos. High quality production and your explanations are very clear.

Thank you. I love your channel, the way you explain things, it's top notch work.

Cool video, very thorough and complete overview. I loved the recommendation on using saturation for hearing base on a smartphone.

Another great video! You really have a knack for educating at the proper pace, and using clear, simple language to get the main points across. Bravo! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 There are real health benefits to checking my basement-studio mix in my car, too. I easily exceed the 10-flight daily stair-climbing target on those days … 😏

This video sounded great on my Vizio sound bar. I love when someone teaches something and they do what they say-hope that makes sense?! Excellent video!!

Great tip about using saturation to boost harmonics. Thank you!

Thanks! You make great videos. High quality content, well scripted and nice edited. Cheers!

Such a good teacher. Thank You.

Really great content. I think that there are myths out there that lead to people changing their mix by listening in their car. Some of the myth comes from old articles where a producer will state how they listen to the recordings on the way home and/or on their way to the studio. But in my experience that the reason for the quick cassettes of a session in the past, was more about arrangement and instrument placement etc. and not really about a mix. In the many years in the nineteen eighties, I had never seen an engineer or a producer leave a mixing session and check it out in their car. In fact I heard a really well known producer say after a musician had made a comment about a mix in his car, that if we can get everyone in the world to only listen to your music in your car, then we would be mixing in your car. I'm now involved in post production for video and the same problems arise where people have a myth that since everyone is using displays that aren't calibrated that they should make decisions on an uncalibrated display. Much like audio - and as you explained, the target still needs to be established - and on a display that is uncalibrated, we have no idea what the actual target is. So looking at the display if my monitor is a little bit blue, I add yellow - but if the next persons monitor is already too yellow - my push of yellow is then multiplied onto that too yellow screen and the image looks like urine. Newton's law applies here and it applies in audio - for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. As described in your excellent video here - adding bottom to compensate for the phone - what is that going to do to the home stereo that already has over compensated low end ( bass )? In the 1980s when I used work in the recording studios - the NS10m by Yamaha was pretty much on the back of every console. I could record in Vancouver ( where I live ) and walk into a studio in New York and except for some room sound - the mix would be identical. I think that time is the only time in history where we came close to having a standard when it came to reference. So I am a believer in calibration in video displays and in audio. Take the room out of the equation by knowing it is tuned. Thank you for this video. I have bookmarked it, and when this topic comes up again - I am going to link to your video as a reference ( and a referral )

I have a pair of Adam’s and avantones cubes. I hear the mix back through my monitors, but I only mix with my seinheisser 680 open back headphones. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper to get a set of headphones than great studio monitors and acoustic treatment.

The ear training part was brilliant ❤

Thank you for your explaination to all your viewers.

Hey brother your vocal texture (vocal module) is so professional.

Thank you very much for this

Thank you.. very efficient and accurate.

Great video as always!

Great video. Thank you!

Great advice. I’ve done all the things you mention and the shortest path to translation for me has been using a plug-in: “Metric AB” (or you could just say “reference mixing,” but this plug-in helps me do that especially well). -Particularly, having the ability to quickly toggle between several pro mixes and my mix in real time, and having them volume-matched (VERY important). For my job, I have to mix on the go all the time, so wherever I am, on whatever system, I can load my AB plug-in with my preset 15 songs and quickly calibrate my ears to what’s going on. I’ve not had a mix poorly translate since doing that and I can mix faster and with more confidence. The other trick for me is to have specific things I listen for out of a given reference mix, so when I listen, I’m not copying the whole mix, I’m using a tiny piece of it I like as a reference. One example would be: I like to use Frank Sinatra’s “Under My Skin” as a reference for vocal presence. There’s a very special harmonic distortion I like on his voice on that recording that sounds very present, without a lot of super top end. It’s also a lesson in leaving space for the vocal presence to sit, without boosting it with EQ. -I find little pearls like that in each reference mix, that quickly help me get MY sound, based on my taste, without just copying a mix wholesale. The last thing I like about Metric AB is: having that many songs available so quickly, cleanses my ear-pallet and allows me to hear a broader sonic potential than just one or two mixes would. Thus, I can push the creative envelope harder. Keep up the excellent work!

Great video as usual, Thanks for the info.

Very Informative Thank You 😊

I am working on a song and I installed Goyo an AI Vocal VST. On Beyers it sounded well fitting. After rendering it as an MP3 and heard it on my JBLs via smartphone and it was barely hearable. So I quickly figured out, it gotta be the Plugin, but also the lack of capability in the frequency spectrum. And no, my room I work in is not even treated, furthermore I only work via my Beyers. Your videos are very helpful. 🎉

I need that ending that's highl game-changing information thank you

Phenomenon Channel. Subscribed

I bought toneboosters 'Morphit' years ago to compensate the headphone frequency response. It was about 40 EUR (not sure what it is today) and until today it is one of the most useful tools in music production.

Good and important information. Thanks.

Just started watching. Already liked when I saw the "in denial" clip show up. Just because I can relate at such a personal level.

Great video. In my opinion when you make a mix sound great in even phone speakers, it sounds clearer on high fidelity monitors. I use Sonobus (Free) to stream audio to my phone speaker to mix on.

I’ve been mixing since 1991. I’m here to tell you that the only fool proof way is to know how to use professional VU meters the right way. It is 100% accurate no matter what your monitors say. In 30 years, it has mislead me exactly ZERO times

I like the vowels trick! 😄

Good video. I listen to my beats on different devices. I think it's important not only train your ears but also have faith in them.

In real terms, studio monitoring loudspeakers and headphones have way more pronounced treble than consumer speakers. And this is appreciated because it allows you to hear everything that is in the recording. It is the reason why people prefer ribbon tweeters if they can afford it as the sound is less fatiguing to the ears.

Loads of great tips here and some eye openers-learning the vowel frequencies and using a mirror to find the closes reflection spots in your studio, genius! My car speakers might be the best non-studio monitor speakers I own, so I am wary of this approach, but I’ve found that some mixes that sound good otherwise are sooo bass-heavy in th car that I’ve dialed it back and improved my mixes overall.

Great video!!!! What are your thought on mixing with headphone like the VSX?

Thanks!

HOLY SHEEEEET that O / A / EE / AHH. comparison is WILD ! ! !

Instantly subbed by this vid alone. It's not often you find someone who is so concise, and yet has all the important facts. Good job!

This was a great video

🎁 great video ... 👏great explanation ... Amazing dude👍 .

this thing in 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k is totally gem 🤯💎

Thanks

Leveling is key for good mixes. Gotta be hearing things correctly I suggest sonarworks if you don’t have the money to treat your room. 💯

Really good video man, I always reference a master of phones, HomePod, and car just to see what's lacking in real practice. Kinda sucks that you just have to buy better headphones lol but I guess it is what it is.

I tested my room and good crazy dips and boosts in certain frequencies but it doesn’t translate to how I hear it. I think we are assuming the brain counts all the sounds as equal but I think the direct sound out the speakers that hits your ears before anything else is mostly what your hearing focuses on and learns to ignore some of the buildup of sounds. Otherwise if we go off these room frequency charts then we would not hear a lot of frequencies.

Great!

Also, I can't understand why anyone would listen to music on a smart phone when a decent pair of headphones or a bluetooth speaker is so cheap. Call me a snob, but you might as well not even listen at that point. Still, I find that as long as you make sure to put a decent amount of midrange content in your bass guitar and a decent amount of "click" in your kick drum, it will be heard everywhere. You mentioned saturation, and I definitely agree. But even just an EQ boost at 800 hz can do wonders for bass guitar. That's a magic frequency for bass. It helps it cut through without sounding too "clanky." And it's a frequency where you're not stepping on the toes of other instruments. Guitars usually have their presence from 1.5k to 3.5k. Vocals are usually around 2k to 4k. Drums are often scooped out in that 800 hz area as well.

I love that screen set up! 8:23 What monitors are those or what stand are you using? Great video as always.

incredible

I understand the in the 60s the Abbey Road Studio had a small basic transistor radio set up as part of the monitoring setup for all their pop productions including the Beatles recordings as that was what most of their consumers listened on.

Before I send my songs off into the World I first listen to the final mix on headphones 🎧 then a pair of AirPods and lastly my car. Most people will be listening to your music on AirPods or in their vehicles, so those 2 are very important. 😉 🎶

Just to help ... (maybe), I often use a free app spectral frec analyser on my phone ( like spectroid) singing the U, O, A..etc..that I don't feel happy with when listening to the music. Then I observe on the screen of my phone app what is that frequencie I'm "singing" ( or amulating) to fix it on the mix. ( very use full in live music too). (whistling a feed back works very well too, to know quickly what you must fix). hope this help... Great channel !!!

What do you think about Ezmix2 from Toontrack using as a mastering processor on a daw's main out master channel?I think that the productions getting out after this plugin can sounded excellent in every system i did listening them.

The thing about studio monitors is even if you get some, you are at the beginning of the learning curve for those speakers. And it is a marriage. Take your time and choose carefully. You're gonna fall in and out of love with em over time. So make sure you choose ones that you really understand. You might not necessarily "like" them butas long as you understand what they do and where in the spectrum you can begin to trust your work.

just out of curiosity can I find one source having the entire spectrum with all the corresponding "spells" like EE or AH or A and so one... its kind of real helpful and intuitive.

use open back headphones the whole time. especially if u mix as u go. this took my mixing up so many levels. i mix as i go and now when im done the beat its already mixed. its got me hyped, i had to share lol

Hi I have a question? I’m using Logitech Z5500 in my home studio, should I listen the mix on 5.1 surround or better just switch to stereo ? Thank 🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂🤔

I saw a documentary about Motown and they had an old car out back and they would run the track through the car speakers to see how it sounds. I usually listen with my earbuds after I did the mix, then I put in voice memos and play through my car stereo. Like he said you get different sounds and go back for tweaking.

Thoughts on PMC speakers please....thanks.

I use a cheap pair of harman kardon pc speakers to mix and they allow me to hear how everything sounds for most of the listeners, basically I only switch to monitors for bass and to get rid of annoying frequencies.

GREAT VIDEO!👍 Please can you tell me, is it pointless having monitor speakers in a room that is untreated? Thank you!

By "saturation", do you meaning EQing(increasing) higher frequencies or adding bass-like melodies that are octaves higher?

I make music in FL studio mobile and it sounds amazing in phone speaker, monitor, headphones, and even a near broken Bluetooth speaker that my dad found in the park, but I never heard my mix in the car. Since many do the car test does this mean my mix is also sound bad even though it sounds good in all other systems?

Reminds me to software development. Most software developers have have extreme powerful computers, super fast Internet connections, super big, hires, HQ monitors, etc.. And they develop and test software on those machines. Their customers however have way weaker systems on average, so software running great for them may run pretty poorly on customer systems. We solved that problem in our company by forcing all software to be thoroughly tested before release and all tests are performed on the oldest, crappiest computers we still have available, just good enough to fulfill the minimum requirement to even run the software (including small, crappy monitors, Internet only via old WiFi standards with bad reception, HDDs instead of SSD, and the oldest version of the operating system the app can still work with). If developers then get frustrated when having to perform those tests because "the app takes ages to even start up" or "after clicking there, everything seems to hang for 10 second", this is the best way to get them fix these problems, not for the customers but for themselves to make their testing experiment a lot less painful - yet by doing so, they also improve the product for the customers.

there are very cheap ways to acoustically treat a room. ALSO I do find that mixing with just a laptop - what most people listen out of, or somewhat decent speakers gives you the most accurate sound. If my mix is coming through great on my computer, phone it will likely sound even better on excellent speakers, and in the car. You don't want to mix on super expensive speakers that are blasting out the track. It will effect your ability to hear certain things anyways. So i feel like mixing in a more natural environment with less equipment may help. Just my personal experience though

ahaha that in denial 😂 watched myself tired on these kinda videos, but when I saw it was you I sure was gonna give it a chance😎 nice & professional info as always. TY!

#1 I only mix with my ear and now with graph. Now, my mix sound balanced everywhere

Dam your videos are great

whats the name of the webpage at 1:32? i would like to check it out!

Ahhhhh.... cool stuff!

The “in denial” B roll had me unalived 😂

thanks..What model is the sound card shown in the video? can you please write.

To be honest, I think people really overcomplicate this. I’m convinced 90% of mixing is just mixing on something you’re used to the sound of, provided that it’s reasonably good quality.

I know this might be off-topic but can I ask a question? Our church wireless mic (Shure SM58) is still clipping even though the gain is already at zero. I don't understand why this is happening as all the other channels (both mics and instruments) all respond well to the gain knob when I set my gains properly.

Best tip. Use good sounds and go easy on the eq.

Many years ago I had this problem. Gladly I've reduced it a lot already but still not perfect. Ps, Funny. I got the DT770 pro as well. They are ok:)

Isn't background noise really bad if ur recording vocals?

You missed the part where you suggest mixing in a high sample rate to have a higher noise floor so it's easier to gain stage.

It appears U2 recorded and mixed their Songs of Surrender in a way that these songs sound good and intimate on those tiny earphones lots of people use. Even though I don't like the album that's an interesting approach and certain acoustic records don't really suffer from being played through these tiny earphones.

From what I’ve been learning, I’ll say, if you guys are mastering on your own, be careful with your mid-frequencies. If you feel the need to make big changes in any frequency range, you prolly need to go back to your mix and see what you can do. Mastering is all about tweaking little things to make everything mesh better together and for it to SOUND better.

dont let this man fool you, cables are a huge deal!

0:05 Uhhh, the "IN DINIAL" hits hard lmao.

A real expert! Do the mixing and mastering engineers really test their mixes for cars, iPhones, mono radios etc.? I think I‘m not able to apply these changes to my studio mix! So I shouldn’t release my songs?

To do them same thing for live sound mixing, walk the room. You might be surprised to hear how different it can sound on one side of the room compared to the other side.