An amazing part about being human is our aptitude for willpower, intelligence, and consciousness. It lets us take abstract ideas, like music, and create such wonder. Sometimes we get lost in our own self importance, our ego. One of the first things you’re going to have to learn as a Mixing engineer is to get over yourself. It’s no longer about how good that guitar solo was, or how fantastic that synth bass is. You have to look at it objectively.
Something that helps us reach that objective is referenced. The way the ear and mind works is it adjust over time. We also get this thing called ear fatigue. If we listen to the same thing over and over, it has a different impact than when we first put it on. Over time we don’t want it so bright because we perceive it differently.
Because of this we must always understand our references and out reference points.
What do I mean by a reference. A Reference is a source of information in order to ascertain something. Just like The Stargate or any other type of navigation. You need to know where you are, where you are facing, where you are going, how far to go, and when to stop.
Here is another way of putting it.
You need to have your point of origin dialed in. This is your Listening environment, which is your speakers and your room. you also need to know where you are going by referencing other tracks. it gives you perspective and an objective to reach for. Your ears are the vehicle that brings you there. You need to upkeep your ears, make sure you don’t run out of gas (ear fatigue), and protect them. If you pay attention to all 3 of these things, then you have the tools to create a great mix.
Lets look at your point of origin. Your listening environment which is your speakers and room.
The first thing you should look at is calibrating your speakers. First of all, you might ask why you want to calibrate your speakers. The most important reason why is the human ear perceives sounds differently at different volumes. We naturally EQ things differently when they are quite then when it’s loud. Here is a graph of the human hearing.
Graph showing how our ears hear volume.
During the test for the Equal Loudness Contours, in red, and the Fletcher – Munson test (blue) they sat down a bunch of participants and had them listen to some sounds to see what they thought “load” was. They did this by playing a 1000hz sound at any given db. So lets say 20db. They then played a second sound. That sound was sometimes a bass sound, 100hz, or a higher sound, like 10k. They then let the participant set the volume of the second sound to match the 1000 hz sound. They then did this with a lot of people at many different db for the 1000hz sound. The graph above shows the results.
What they found out was we drastically hear different at 20db then at 80db. Our perception of sound actually begins to flatten out at around 80db. Because of this it is best to mix and master at around 80db level. That way you will get a much rounder and full sound that actually represents the track better. It also means your mixes will sound better in a loud club, but still translate to iphone speakers.
There is one more advance method of calibrating your speakers and that is the K-System. The K System was made by Bob Katz and can greatly improve your mixing as well as calibrate your system.
Here is a really good video that walks you through the K System:
The K-System lets you set up your speaker volume in a way that will make sure you get good mixes. The image below shows off the different K Systems you can use and the correlated settings. Lets say you are working on pop or electronic music. You would do well the k-14. To set this up you need to use an Sound Level Meter. You can even get an app for SLM.
You then want to dial your speakers. Download the pink noise file below. It is set to -20db. Just drag it into a track. Play the track at full volume. Then change the volume of your speakers t0 79db. If you do that, then your system is perfectly calibrated.
Now just keep your master output at around -14db and you will have a mix with tons of headroom and dynamics.
A graph showing how to set up your monitors with the K System
The next big thing that affects your listening environment, and those your perceptions around your mix, is your room. There are a lot of amazing videos on dialing your room for mixing. My favorite was made by my good friend and fellow trainer Jake Perrine:
Once you have the room and speakers set you have a clean slate to work on for your mixes. Something important to keep in mind here is the end goal. With mixing you are always looking to have your mix translate.
What is translation in your mix?
A mix that displays good translation will play back well on any number of sound systems, with all its individual parts being balanced and clear.
So of course a completely clear room, perfect speakers, and the best ears would help you but sometimes you don’t have that. It’s better that you know your system and know how it translates to other speakers. This comes with practice, so take your time. Just know that better gear won’t always lead to a better mix. Just learn how your gear has color and how to mix on it to still sound good on everything else. That is why a simple K System Calibration and room treatment will go a long way with any setup.
This article is part 1 of three going over referencing your mixes. Part 2 we will be going over how our ears perceive are mix and how to keep them sharp during the process.
In my private One on One class I go in depth into mixing techniques such as headroom, the k system, eqing, gain structure, compressors, and more. If you are interested in taking this to the next level then check out my class Leveling up the Mix.
You can also check out the Mixdown Toolset for an easy to use and fast way of adding dynamics and life to your mix.
