![]() Monitoring Too Loudīeyond nailing the technicalities and sonic integrity of the track, the mixing stage is all about defining and maximising its vibe, energy and mood and since loud music always comes across as more vibey and energetic than quiet music, giving in to the urge to crank up that monitor level knob is perfectly understandable. No, modern trends aside, keep the mix and master separate, we say. And needless to say, if your mix is going to end up being mastered by an actual mastering engineer, they won’t appreciate you half-assing the job for them before they get their hands on it one bit. Get the mix done, then master it as a bounced WAV/AIF, returning to the mix if any failings reveal themselves during mastering. ![]() There’s no doubting the efficacy of Ozone and the like when it comes to polishing finished mixes as a discrete mastering process, but you just can’t make consistently sensible decisions with regard to EQ, compression, panning, and effects processing if the whole mix is being subjected to even gentle master EQ, multiband compression, stereo widening/narrowing and all the rest of it. Once upon a time, the distinction between the mixing and mastering stages of production was clear, but the advent of mastering plugins such as iZotope Ozone has enabled anyone to sling a full mastering chain on their master bus at the mixing stage. While you can simply play your reference track or tracks in a media player, we highly recommend investing in Adaptr Audio’s Metric AB or Mastering The Mix’s Reference, with which you can switch between your mix and multiple reference tracks right in your DAW. It’s probably no good referencing a super polished R&B mix to a rock track, for example. What’s most important, though, is that your reference mixes are tracks that you genuinely love and know inside out, and that they’re appropriate for comparison to the mix in question. Of course, your reference mix will in fact have been mastered, so bear that in mind while making your comparisons and do make sure your reference tracks are in an uncompressed audio file format – ie, full quality WAV or AIF – and level matched to your master output. In general terms, referencing is really helpful in assessing relative instrument levels, reverb, stereo imaging, overall energy and the like, but you can even get as specific as running a frequency analyser on your reference track and using it as the basis for EQ shaping of your own mix if you like. Indeed, not doing so can all-too-often result in a mix drifting off in all sorts of wrong directions as your ears tire and judgement lapses. No matter how experienced or golden-eared you are, your mixes-in-progress can always benefit from being constantly compared to established commercial tracks in the same genre and/or sonic territory.
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