FINAL MIX TESTING

Hi all. Does anyone have a tried, true and accurate way of checking out a final mixes sound compatibility in the real world without having to resort to playing on a myriad of different players like a car, desktop speakers, ipods, ipads, home stereos etc?? What I was thinking of is a program that will load the audio file and show a pass/fail graph for each of the above players. I know something like this sounds too unrealistic and fantasy like but I also know the best way is testing on different players ---but--- how do the pros do it? I can't imagine they play the mixes out to all different media players.... I have heard of a K meter...is this going in the right direction? Thanks, Steve

The pros have different monitor speakers and also know their baseline speakers like the back of their hand. The reason they're called professionals is because they have developed and ear for what will work in the majority of listening environments and what won't.

I've been mixing for a long time but I don't do this 12 hours a day.  So I too listen to my mix on headphones, monitors, in my car, with earbuds, etc and make adjustments along the way.

I do use TB-Isone which simulates different environments and speakers but it's only an approximation and just speeds things up a little bit. But it's pretty good for the price.

Like the saying goes, a mix is never finished, it's abandoned!

The best thing is to tune your room as flat as humanly possible and then have a plethora of different monitors, headphones and earbuds in your studio.

If your environment is tuned and your ears are trained you can tell if a mix is going to sound good on other systems outside of your studio.

Cj

The best thing is to tune your room as flat as humanly possible and then have a plethora of different monitors, headphones and earbuds in your studio. If your environment is tuned and your ears are trained you can tell if a mix is going to sound good on other systems outside of your studio. Cj

I agree with this 100%, but I will add that I can't totally do the room correction thing so I invested in ARC.  It helps A LOT.  Instead of 10 trips to the car/living room system/boom box, I'm down to just a few.....

sven450

I can't totally do the room correction thing so I invested in ARC.  It helps A LOT.  Instead of 10 trips to the car/living room system/boom box, I'm down to just a few..... 

With ARC I'm down to just a few visits to the loo.


But that is another story for another time.

I bought the Focusrite VRM box, finding it pretty useful for testing on various speakers. also I can use it on my laptop without needing an external sound module.

Roy

royarn


also I can use it on my laptop without needing an external sound module.

Roy

Isn't it by definition an 'external' sound module?