FDT: Check Your Mix On a Variety Of Speakers
I read a lot of forums. I see a lot of people talking about how, to make a great mix, they need this or that set of monitors or they need to treat their room in this or that way. And I agree wholeheartedly! It will make your life so much better to have a great room, treated correctly and to have sweet monitors that have a great frequency response.
But I also think that you should do what you can with what you’ve got.
That is why I think that you should always check your mix (several times in fact) on a wide variety of speakers. This way, you can cross reference how the mix sounds in a variety of environments and make sure that you tailor your mix accordingly. Here’s where I check my mixes:
On my good headphones (Grados)
On my monitors
On my crappy iPhone headphones
In my car (great system)
In my roommate’s car (crap system)
On a boombox
On a club PA (I usually do this when a project is close to done)
For every one of these, I take notes. I write down which instruments are too prominent and instruments are getting “swallowed.” Then, I compare these notes with one another. If I see the same problems arising on multiple systems, then I assume that it is a problem with the mix and I correct accordingly.
While this may seem janky, I have it on good authority that even the best sound engineers will eventually listen to a mix on a crappy boombox. The reason behind this is simple: only .05% of the population will ever listen to your track on anything resembling a hi-fi system. Most of us mere mortals will listen to it on a laptop at best and, at worst, on iPhone speakers. Even the most clubby of music now has to be able to be listened to in these different environments. So, take heart! You are just doing some field testing.
You scientist, you.
Leave a comment and tell me where your going to check your mixes! Extra points for bizarro answers.
As well as the crappy iPhone earphones, the tiny iPhone speaker is another good test as it completely lacks any bottom-end and is in mono.
My Denon earphones
They’re the worst speakers in the world! Thus a good test case, haha.
I play mine over the school PA system when everyone is gone. Worst sound quality ever, but a very good “lowest common denominator.”
Best answer. The janitors must hate you, haha.
taxis in shanghai. never had a cab driver not let me play my CD. the newer cabs have pretty pumpin systems actually but the old school VW Santanas are terrible. No rear speakers.
lucky to have a few friends who have clubs here so never a problem to go test something out on a proper system with subs.
and of course my shitty $30 speakers, cause that’s what 90% of people are gonna hear the mix on anyway.