How do you make your mixes translate to every speaker system?

I asked my Facebook followers about how they make their mixes translate and they all had some great ideas.

All the home studio musicians had their different approaches. They mixed in mono on a mixcube. They used visual metering to help gauge their frequency balance. And they all tried to check their mixes on different speaker systems, some even going so far as to check their mixes on their surround system.

Here are a few comments I thought stood out:

Michael Kowalski said,

“Generall, I kinda feel that if it works in earbuds it will work everywhere. I have really bright earbuds, that exaggerate, harshness, esses. If the mix works on them, or even better is exciting to listen to 😉, then it’s ready.”

Rodrigo Franco elaborated further,

“Checking on multiple sources, different cars, cheap and expensive ear/headphones, home hifi system. When it sounds killer on higher end stuff and the best it possibly can on cheaper stuff, it’s ready”

Thomas Hofstad’s process was similar to mine that I talk about in my Step By Step Mixing book.

“I have three sets of monitors….Genelec Yamaha and Presonus-Eris….the best ones are actually Presonus(cheapest too)! When the mix sounds good on these, it sounds good evereywhere Highly recommended monitors that translates a whole lot better than my ultra expensive Genelecs”

Peter Thompson had a novel approach:

“I mix using a crappy set of PC speakers as well as my main monitors. I also run an aux out to my mobile phone for extra crappness 🙂 it’s helped me better handle low end, particularly in bass guitar”

Peter Thompson is one of my favorite Audio Issues followers because he took the time to show me the results he got from the Drum Mix Toolkit.

If you want to hear how he completely transformed his drum sound with the techniques inside the Drum Mix Toolkit, I’ve embedded his before and after example on this page.

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