Hello fellow producers,

Today I am coming with you with a big problem that I'm having as a starter producer. For the beginning I think I gotta mention what gear I am using for mixing and mastering and some of the settings so you can understand the context of this. And the list goes like this:

- Interface: Behringer Uphoria UMC204HD
- Headset: Audiotehnica M40X
- DAW: Studio One 3 Proffesional
- ASIO Buffer Size: 1024 samples
- Sample rate: 48000 Hz

(if you need any further info to "solve" my problem, just ask, I'll give you more, or even search for, if needed)

So, my problem is like this... I'm not really sure when and if my mix/master will sound good on other devices too. Until now, I've made few beats that sound good on all devices but that only by making th mix master again, and again, and again until it got good. Getting the interface and the headset that I've mentioned upper, I think that I should be sure at some point that my instrumentals will sound good on any device. So here comes my question: how do I know when my mix and master is good for all devices and I got nothing left to do so it will be perfect anywhere?

I am really grateful that you've read this until the end, and I am really looking forward for your replies.

Thank you,

I hope that you're having a really productive day.

 

You are done when you say "Yep. I think I'm done with this mix (or master). I don't think I can make it any better than this."

 

I think a lot of others struggle with this as well, including myself.

What I found to be helpful is that I invested in multiple pairs of monitoring headphones/speakers. I use 3 headphones and have 3 sets of bookshelf monitors (1 for mixing the others for reference).

In my opinion, it's all about getting to know your room/headphones/monitors, and utilizing reference songs if the rest are not an option for you or seem to be stuck.

Just some ideas

 

That way I won't ever evolve... That's not a good ideea.

I don't really think that I want to invest that much money into this, and this mainly because of the fact that I'm currently in the university and besides the money, space in the room is a really big problem.

Still looking forward for some answers. Aren't there any plugins to somehow visually show me by meters and other such things if I am doing this things right or not?

 

understanding the basics rule of thumb should get you half way across most devices.
Learn the sound of your room or wherever you're mixing at. (Play your favorite industry major artist songs) on all the available devices
then bounce your record and reference on all available devices then make decision on what element you're missing
jot down all the "potential problems" on a piece of paper as a checklist with device category.
go back to fix your mix. rinse repeat till you get the niche of how to produce the proper sound out of your room

 

That's how everyone evolve. We do our best and learn something while doing it. Next time we mix/master the result will become better.

When I started I was just using regular stereo EQ, compressor and limiter to master my tracks. Now I listen and use analyzers and then use M/S EQ, M/S compression, multiband compression, compression, saturation, etc. If my tracks, or other's tracks, needs it (sometimes it doesn't).

I have fully treated room and expensive hardware. When I started I barely had room treatment, but a bookshelf and a bed. We all learn by making mistakes. We make mistakes by doing the best we can. We learn by doing.

 

These questions could need a somehow enormous answer, but to make it shortest as possible I would say that you need at least 2 tools that will really help you to achieve this goal, this supposing that you already know the technical imperatives (if you don't know them, you'll have to inform yourself about them) :

1) - Calibrate at least your heaphones with Sonarworks Reference 4 Headphones Edition ; if you can afford it, calibrate also your speakers with Sonarworks Reference 4, or with IK Multimedia ARC ; this is to get some as much as possible reliable listening systems ; it will help you to make quicker and more reliable mix and mastering decisions without being auditorily deceived by some big defects on the listening systems that you would have to try to mentally compensate (which is a tiring intellectual gym, not good for the creative flow).
2) - Learn and use Har-Bal for mastering. This tool will really help you to understand what's going on, and to make mixes-masters that will sound everywhere as intended.

This is the shortest helpful answer to the problem you expose. With adequate tools you could make good and quicker works, without relying on good luck.

 

Now I kinda understand what you said earlier. Can you please, give me some examples of analyzers? And what is the M/S compression?

I start somehow now as you did. But I am doing it from a college room.

Thanks mate.

Can you give me a link of the "basic rule of thumb"?

 

And there is another deal that is making me a bit nervous. How can I know that the ASIO sample rate is set well? Or is that related to my system's performance?

 

https://www.flux.audio/project/pure-analyser-essential/
https://dmgaudio.com/products_dualism.php
https://dmgaudio.com/trackmeter
Free: https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/

M/S stands for Mid/Side. Mid is mono information. Side are the sides information (the opposite of mono), that will cancel itself out when summed to mono. You can EQ, compress, saturate, filter, etc these individually to make a more coherent and "impressive" stereo image (and a much more focused, controlled and balanced mono image).

 

Don't underestimate good headphones and monitors. No matter how used you are to your equipment, you can't judge, and thus mix, what they don't show.

A freq analyzer like SPAN helps you to get an impression of the freqs of single sounds and/or subgroups. But even a song with a perfect looking overall freq response curve can be mixed badly.

You/we all need a bunch of experience until the mix sounds really good. Try to separate the different sounds in freq range and pan and when you can't make it any better at the moment, you're done.

When you look back in a few years and think 'OMG, that sounds terrible', be happy, you learned something.

 

iZotope´s >Tonal Balance Control<

 

more than 3 pusssies (kitties of course) a week -> you doing something very good with your mix

 

If you can find a similar song style and use as a reference it will really help. Otherwise you can mix yourself into a hole and not end up near what you were intending. If you can take a break and listen to some other music it can help get some better perspective also. Can do this on cheap speakers and headphones too.

 

I really don't know any other way to learn your gear, trial&error trough referencing, at one point you will know how good mix sounds on your gear, so patience, learn your gear or cans in this case.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 13, 2018

T-RackS 5 has a great tool called Master Match which will match the spectral qualities of your work with other reference songs or presets.

It is simply amazing, mixes sound great everywhere. It took my mastering to a new level.

 

If you don't have a lot of gear, you can also take your music along with other songs you know, to other places and play them. Oh never mind I see you've got that covered.
Can't delete a post? Weird I could not find a way to delete it.
Even more weird, this is the first time i felt a need to delete one.

 

Spend time on your room with your system and listen to the different song every day, it can help you to calibrate your ears,
Room treatment (Acoustics, Diffusers, Absorbers ...)
use the reference songs, it could help you few more steps,

Best regards,

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2018

That's the way to do it. It's called experience and it can't be bought. Or downloaded. Get to know your gear.

 

Metering can be helpful but is not the end all, just like to me the specs of, for say, a microphone doesn't speak of how it sounds in front of a guitar cabinet or a vocalist. Experience, experience and then some more is the way to become competent in this audio endeavor. Reading everything you can get your hands on in magazines and here and elsewhere (here you have amazing folk like No Avenger, Baxter and many other giving folk, freely sharing of their precious time, tried and true educators of the golden class) to parse as much as you can in order to translate it into your own working knowledge that you can pass on to others starting out in your own glowing future. That, and reference songs that you wish to emulate is an absolute necessity. I have seen people at huge consoles with admirable production resumes doing just that. If a consummate pro would listen, compare and tweak their mix there must be something in the exercise that can make a great difference. Even if you only have headphones and not yet monitors or a dedicated room to practice your new passion, reference songs can and will help you to manipulate your material to make it the best it can be. If you live, eat and breathe audio outside your more important educational responsibilities there is nothing that can stop you from growing into your greatest potential.