If you’d like to avoid feeling disappointed when comparing your mixes against the pros, then I’m confident that what I show you in this video will help you get on the right track.
Over the course of my next two videos, I’ll show you how to get the most accurate comparison between your reference material and your mix so that you know the decisions you’re making can hopefully help your mixes stand up against the best in the business.
I loudness match all of the tracks in my reference set against each other because even half a decibel of a difference in perceived loudness can influence our decisions as to what sounds good. More often than not, our brains perceive louder as better and that’s really what caused The Loudness Wars.
Accurately matching your reference tracks to each other and then your own mix will fast track your mixing progress and see you get even better results!
Part 1 of this video will focus on loudness matching by ear and without a meter.
Part 2 is here when you’re ready!
professional sounding mix every time...
Hi. Great video on creating and setting up reference track. Totally understand the need to loudness match the mix being worked on against the ref set. My question is this. Clearly, the mix under question can vary in perceived loudness as the song progresses from start to finish… So, at what point within the mix under progress do we make the reference set a loudness match? Apologies if I have completely missed the point……this is something that has always confused me when trying to use reference tracks. Many thanks. George
Great question George! What I recommend doing is setting up your meter and playing your own mix (once you have your faders balanced) from start to finish. You’ll then get a reading of what the average loudness is for the entire mix. You can then move the fader of your reference track to match that loudness. Make sense?
I am using my reference track on all my listen mediums right now. I feel I could be rising to the next level as an audio engineer. 🙂
Amazing! Delighted to hear that good news. Long may it continue 🙂