I know this is a very common problem, but I'm trying to get some advice specific to my problem exactly. I had a mix sounding pretty good, or at least listenable for me, and now i cannot listen to it because it sounds so bad in the car!

I used headphones to mix and master, which I guess is part of my problem, because I do not have monitors right now. Regardless everything signed great. They're high quality studio headphones.

A few things I did after rendering my mix...
Changed the bit rate to 24 bit in reaper, which was a bit lower by default . I then imported it into Ozone 8 standalone to put some mastering presets on it , and bounced it down again. Still, it sounded really good on my computer.

Sounds like garbage in the car and I don't know why! It's pretty thin, so sloppy and falling apart. Everything DOESNT sound mixed together anymore, and you can barely pick out each instrument.

What I do now?

 

To avoid this create stereobuss and mono send tracks, send all elements in the mix to the stereo buss and mono elements to mono buss send Create a Mixbuss send track and put compressor on there. Do not put compressor on Master track only eq. Try Mixchecker software to test the mix.

 

how about don't rush the stages of doing things.... before u do any master, why not get the mix sound good first in any player or speaker as possible.. if the mix not good, master won't do it any better.

also without sharing with us ur material, its hard to tell u what actually make the mix not satisfy you on other players, such as ur car stereo system.

are u sure it only sucks at ur car stereo? or any other places as well?

if it is only good on ur high-quality studio headphone, let us be real, either ur headphone not transparent and honest enough to you or you just need more learning experience in hearing and creative decision making. Don't worry, practice make perfect.

few tips naturally would help you gain better experience, try not to mix with a loud headphone, and also don't mix way too long on headphone (or speaker) till u wore out ur hearing accuracy. Our ear does get tired when doing mixing way too long.

And for now, if the song doesn't work as you want it, don't stuck in the loop for far too long with it. It could make u frustrated and demotivated, it will cloud your judgement and lead you to second-guessing every decision u made in the mix. Move to the next song, so u can refresh your hearing and brain and able to keep the momentum to enjoy learning mixing and have fun.

Keep it up bro.

 

I see 2 options

Learn how to master properly, or buy a better system in your car

 

I guess you have to find a compromise. If well-mixed music, commercial records, sound well in your car, then you can A/B the same music on your cans. Listen for the differences between the sound of those records in your headphones and your car. You might start noticing, for instance, that balanced bass in your car is not so boomy in your cans or viceversa. Then mix accordingly.

A few pointers:

1. Mix as quietly as possible in your headphones, so low that you can hear outside sound. When a mix sounds good in low volume, it will translate well when blasted loud. The reverse is never true. It has to do with how the brain adjusts to different frequencies at different volumes.
2. Use reference tracks. Software like MCompare by MeldaProduction or Magic AB will give you a reality check against commercial tracks of the same genre as the music you make. Referencing often will keep your brain fresh and help you not lose perspective.
3. Use a frequency analyzer like Voxengo Span or Ozone's Tonal Balance Control to see how the curves of the frequencies in your mix compare to commercial records. It's not as good as having a good listening environment with speakers, but at least you can see if your mix is too boomy or thin just by looking at the graphs, again, by comparing your mix to commercial tracks of the genre your song is.
4. Don't overcook your mix. If you use midi instruments or sample loops, those sounds come by default in pretty good shape sonically. Just make sure you lower their gain. When your individual tracks are way too hot, it's harder to make them sit properly in a mix beacuse your 2-buss will be cluttered with high gain and clipping. I know that 32-bit floating point will never really clip your tracks, and you can get away with theorically unclippable tracks, but your headphones can only deal with so much gain. If your mix is quiet, you can always boost it. If you mix on a very hot 2-bus, lowering the volume will change your sonics. On the other hand, try not to abuse your use of plugins. If you use things like reverb, delays, and whatever not to shape the sonics of your tracks, commit to them and render the files to audio. Once everything is in flat audio files, then start mixing.

Best of luck.

 

I haven't tried it yet but there is Audified Mix Checker to test your mix in different applications to make one mix sound decent for more than one situation or making different mixes for different uses.
3s

 

A gramophone's place is the drawing room, not a flivver.

 

You can not really simulate your room but you can buy a garbage truck.

 

From what I can gather in your OP, here are my suggestions:
1) Get speakers. Get good audio interface. Treat and tune your room. Learn your speakers and learn your room. This will take a long time, even years.
Don't put coloring crap on your master (Audified Mix Checker, Reference 4, etc) as these are only crutches...or plateau shoes to make you "taller".
5) PROFIT!!1!!

Don't even listen in your car. Listen to mastered reference tracks on speakers (at same loudness level as your mixes). Use headphones only for referencing, as headphones lack cross-talk. Use a shitty mono speaker for referencing, as it will help you mix towards better mono-compatibility. Learn your tools inside out (speakers, room, audio interface, outboard gear, mics, intruments, etc).

Changing bit depth to 24bit (144dB of dynamics) will do nothing to the sound. That's not where your issue lies.

 

Last edited: Feb 23, 2020

Just make sure you are not using MP3s or some other compressed format.