I have a mixing question that I would like to ask. I am attempting to produce an album on my own. So right now, in my home studio, I have a MA-15D Edirol pair of speakers (it is a Roland speaker). My situation now is that I dun have a mixer, and I want to be able to do mixing properly on this speaker. The problem now is after I mixed my song in a project (where each track in that song is in wave file), and after I burn the song into a CD, when I play the song in a CD player, the mix just doesn't sound right. The mix sounded good on my MA-15D speaker, but it doesn't sound good on a car CD player or my home CD player which have a different speakers. So, how do I solve this problem? Should I try to adjust the Treble and Bass of my MA-15D speaker so that it can emulate the ordinary speakers with my car CD player? If so, how much treble and bass on my MA-15D speakers should I adjust? Thanks.

Well - if you want to let your stuff sound good on several systems, it is not enough to listen to one set of speakers only. You have to indeed listen in your car, on your stereo, on (if possible) a small transistor radio etc. and make notices what does not sound "right". Then you go back and make corrections and try again. That's the way it works.

But I guess you make a fundamental mistake when you are mixing on a pair of speakers and just mix until its sounds "right" (that is - only the most pleasing). If you do it that way, you are only make a piece of music that plays right on your MA-15D set, bot not on anything else. Keep in mind different systems have different dynamics, frequency spectrum's etc. Also - the environment (closed car, cellar, living room, hall) have different responses that boost or dim certain frequency's.

What you should do is listen to reference material first. Take a song/piece of music that sound right in your car, stereo etc. and then take a good listening how this song/piece of music sounds on those MA-15D. Eventually make notices how the balance and spectrum sounds on that system (like "gaps" or "boosts" in the frequency spectrum). Do not use one single piece of music, but compare several pieces to get a global impression.

Now - with that reference in mind do your mix again, and try to "home in" to the balance and frequency spectrum you heard in the reference material. After that you still have to try out how this "works" on other systems, but you will see you have much less work to do.

Read the book: "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio" by Mike Senior. It was an education for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Small-Studio-Senior/dp/0240815807

Regards,
Dan

I use the same speakers and they are decent speakers. Cakewalk is now owned by Roland. One if the biggest things that happened to cakewalk is the introduction of hardware. Cakewalk has a version of the same studio monitor

http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/746 

They are basically the same speaker. I would suggest that you first make sure that the treble and bass knobs are in the neutral position. (set to 12 o'clock) you don't want the speaker to add treble or bass to signal that is not there.

Second I have discovered that the problem sometimes lies in the export and not the speakers. Sometimes the export itself sounds different. To eliminate that as a cause go to the start menu click on the control panel. Click on the sound speaker and then set your audio interface to the default setting.

Now play your exported song back through your Edirols and see if the signal sounds the same after it is exported. If it does not then the change is happening at export.

In the past I have changed dither settings to address this. If the mix sounds great but has to much bass on the export I go back and readjust the mix and export again.

Once you get the exported mix to sound good through your monitors then go back and listen to the mix through other speakers to make sure everything is ok. This is all part of the mix process. Mixing does not end at the export function. 

You also need to tune the room your mixing in so you actually hear the true sound of what your mixing. 

If your room is not treated and tuned and your ears are not tuned to that room, then your mixes will not translate onto other sound systems, meaning it will not sound there best on all sound systems.

CJ