A trick I often see mentioned is to go outside your control/mixing room (like out in the hall) and listen to your mix from there.

Paul P


A trick I often see mentioned is to go outside your control/mixing room (like out in the hall) and listen to your mix from there.

Guitarpima


I think that if you can't get your mix to sound decent on any system then your not doing something right. It's just a matter of finding the right balance.

Recently, Bapu made mention of lowering the volume of playback so you can barely hear the mix. You should be able to hear all of it. Maybe not the real lows and real highs as your ears hear things different at lower DBs as it does higher DBs. Then check it at a high volume then at all different volumes. You would be surprised at what you hear.

two really good ideas I will be putting in my mixing toolbox.

+100 to last 2 posts ,, Guitarpima and Paul. Old tricks that I too often forget to use. Turn it way way down, or at a medium volume leave the room, run a fan, flush the toilet, I guess I've got so tuned in to my monitors now I don't use these trick anymore. But the goal no matter what is that the "mix" will sound right on all systems from high end to the lowest of lows. And by "mix" we mean the balance and blend of all the parts. Were not talking sonic depth or all those other things that only sound good on a hi end system. 
What was the story about the Car in a spare studio room with one oval dashboard speaker that some vary famous people used for the ultimate listening test. 

I find listening with the volume way down really helps me hear what the compressor is doing, when sometimes I just can't hear it at a higher volume. 

I have an older pair of Polk RTi4's and I've been really impressed with how clean they sound. I always play my mixes through them since they catch stuff sometimes that my monitoring rig doesn't. 
I plan on upgrading to one of their newer systems sometime. Great value for the money.

So Noel, you have two sets off them?

+1 on Bose speakers screwing with mixes.
I was very depressed hearing my best mixes on them.
The trax sounded separated. 
Worse than the car stereo at highway speeds.
Thanks for this post..

It is all too easy to lump all Bose speakers together. I had a friend in a previous city I lived who had those amazing Bose 901's but also driven from that monster Bose receiver. The sound was breathtaking. A good mix is a good mix and a good mix sounded killer on those. My mixes sounded killer on those too. But I do agree I would never mix on them though. They are simply not designed for it and no studio that I ever encountered had them as their monitors. 

But saying that I think the 901's were an exception and probably the most expensive model they made at the time and now they could be very different and the cheaper Bose models are probably nowhere in that class. But I have found once you get a great mix it does sound good everywhere and on any hifi system too, cheap or expensive.

There are ways of ensuring your mix translates well and I have been saying for years listening on a single Auratone type speaker in mono way down low is a good start. I suspect you still have not got your mix right.

Put it up on Soundcloud (wave not mp3) and make it downloadable and I would be happy to check it for you and see if there are any glaring issues that you may be overlooking.

I love the title of this thread, although its not at all what I thought...
I think the important thing to think about here is,

1; all playback systems will potetially sound different...

2; if the client is happy you can be too...

I remember the first time I heard those 901's, it was like wearing a pair of 501's, eating at the 99, listening to 107.3 fm, drinking a 7 up and a steak with A-1 sauce.