If you’re looking to get faster at mixing, get comfortable mixing in any listening environment and make sure your mixes never fall apart again outside of your studio, then this video is for you.
It’s very easy to get lost in a mix and be unsure of what direction or steps to take next. This lack of direction can even happen at the very start of a project.
I use reference mixes all the time so I stay on track throughout every stage of a project. In this video, I show you how to put a reference set together.
Now, I’d love to know…
What tracks have you chosen for your mixing reference set?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Peter Gabriel – So
Steely Dan – Aja
Nice! Dark Side of the Moon is probably my favourite album of all time. Thanks David.
Selected a load of tracks I like
Mix of styles
Wasn’t sure if specific ideas you give e.g. re mid range should be in this lot or separate though?
Keep up the good work
Cheerz
Hi Stephen,
Thanks a lot for sharing your reference tracks technique and your free guide. Very interesting and will try to apply it :).
I have a question however: what is the difference between your reference tracks technique and using the “A B Magic” plugin ? Is using your technique (by layering several reference tracks in one file) better than using this kind of plugin ? Is there any downside using the “A B Magic” plugin ?
Thanks a lot in advance for your answer.
Hey Guillaume,
I’m glad you’re getting some enjoyment from the guide!
Magic A/B is used by a lot of people and I know it’s great. My technique is a little different in that you can use an entire set of references. I’m not sure if Magic A/B does that now. The references are also loudness matched. I see no downside to using Magic A/B as long as you loudness match the references to your mix.
Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot for your answer Stephen. MCompare plugin from Melda Production is great too because it can automatically match the loudness between your references tracks and your mix and you never get fooled by loudness levels. And it can have up to 16 reference tracks. I tried it and I loved this plugin !
Selected a load of tracks I like
Mix of styles
Wasn’t sure if specific ideas you give e.g. re mid range should be in this lot or separate though?
Keep up the good work
Cheerz
Hey Paul! I’m sure if you’ve selected lots of tracks you’ll like, there will be great examples and specific ideas in there. Don’t you think? Thanks,
-Stephen
I’m by no means new at this – 5 decades of recording starting back in the old Tascam 8 track era. I’ve been absorbing ideas and suggestions and thank you for taking the time and effort to teach ‘old dogs new tricks’. Might I suggest a lesson on limiters. I use the CLA 2A – optical limiter peak reduction and check by turning on and off the volume to reduce the input so when turned on and off the volume levels remain the same. I have a question, if you answer them: since I write for musical theatre, I often have many atmospheric tracks. When using a high pass filter, should I send my midrange and other tracks besides bass and drum kit to a bus where I just roll off the low end to all of these at once, rather than on each individual track? Thanks for your advice. I apologize for my website – I need to update all of my mp3 mixes, but you should get an idea of my unique musical situation.
Hey William. Great to hear from you! I love the CLA 2A and am using it even more than ever right now. Great question on musical theatre. You’ve caught me at a good time, as I’ve just completed some musical theatre mixes myself. I tend to roll off the low end on each individual track as I’m moving through but that’s not to say your inventive approach is in any way wrong. It’s all about what works for you! Love the samples on your site – great work.
Thanks for getting back to me. To clarify, the songs/music/FX I produce are backing tracks for theatre productions. So mixing these over the years has been quite different than radio etc. The range of live vocals plays a key role in this process, so yes, rolling off the bottom end is quite critical. I try to keep guitar rhythms and leads down into the midrange so they don’t muddy soprano mezo-alto voices performing live. I use Mister Mister as a good reference, their guitar work falls into a perfect range most times. Again, thanks for getting back to me.