Pre-mixing

The foundation for a successful mix

Understanding Monitoring in Small Studio Operations

Small studio operators face challenges making objective listening decisions.
Objective decision-making is crucial for efficient and confident mixing.
Creativity alone isn’t enough—you need objective mixing skills too.
Making practical, objective decisions improves commercial mix quality.

Monitoring systems in small studios can show you where you are in the mixing process, but reaching a polished mix depends on your subjective judgment and decision-making skills.
Balance personal creativity with objective technical decisions. Creativity makes your mix unique, but objective decisions ensure it fits commercial standards efficiently.
Small-studio users have plenty of creativity, but the real challenge is making objective decisions that align creative output with technical quality for broader appeal.
Small studio environments are often untreated and subject to low-end resonance problems caused by ported speaker designs and room modes. Nearfield monitors placed close to the listening position help minimize room interaction.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 1: Monitoring in Small Studios

Fighting Your Own Ears in Mixing

Your ears naturally color and adapt to sound.
This adaptation can mislead you during mixing and affect objectivity.
Understanding how your ears work is crucial for accurate mix evaluation.
Knowing these quirks helps you compensate and mix more accurately.

While the human ear’s nonlinear response and adaptability are essential for daily life, they create significant challenges for maintaining objectivity during mixing.
Your auditory system automatically balances and clarifies sounds, which can deceive you into accepting a subpar mix by masking imperfections and subtly altering your perception.
The human auditory system is naturally adaptive—it colors sensory input and can begin compensating for a “wonky” frequency balance within a few seconds, effectively hiding mix problems from the engineer’s consciousness.
At high volumes, the ear’s internal protection systems reduce dynamic range and overcompensate on frequency extremes, often resulting in a mix that sounds “limp” at quieter levels.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 2: Hearing Adaptation and Psychoacoustics

Shock Tactics for Objective Mixing

Switch between monitoring systems frequently (nearfields, grotboxes, headphones).
Use the “Hallway Trick”—listen from an adjoining room to hear overall balance.
Check your mix in mono to expose frequency masking and balance issues.
Use Auratones or similar midrange-focused speakers to simulate consumer playback.

Your ears compensate for tonal imbalances in daily life, but this same ability masks mix flaws during prolonged listening sessions. Frequently switching between different monitoring systems (e.g., nearfields to an Auratone) resets the tonal frame of reference and provides a brief moment of clarity.
The “Hallway Trick”: Listening to the mix from an adjoining room or hallway helps evaluate overall balance and “average the room” resonances.
Mono monitoring from a single speaker is a “ruthless” way to identify frequency masking and ensure central elements like the lead vocal are properly balanced.
“Grotboxes” and Auratones provide a midrange-focused perspective that mimics mass-market devices and resists room-acoustics problems.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 3: Objectivity Hacks; Auratone monitoring techniques

Breaks and Hearing Fatigue in Mixing

Take a break every 2 hours to rest your ears and maintain high-frequency sensitivity.
Apply the “Morning After” Rule—never finalize a mix late at night; revisit with fresh ears.
Leave the studio during breaks; remind your ears what the real world sounds like.
High-volume sessions reduce your effective workday from 10–12 hours to just 6 hours.

Extended mixing periods cause hearing fatigue, reducing your ability to accurately perceive and balance high frequencies—which are critical for a polished mix.
Experts suggest taking a break every two hours to rest both the ears and the eyes. A break should involve leaving the studio to get fresh air or reminding the ears what the real world sounds like—such as the sound of a kettle boiling.
The “Morning After” Rule: Objectivity is lowest late at night; therefore, engineers should “sleep on the mix” and listen with fresh ears the following morning to spot obvious mistakes.
Prolonged high-volume monitoring reduces a mixer’s workday from 10–12 hours to as little as 6 hours due to physical fatigue.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 3: Taking Breaks and Ear Fatigue

Monitoring Level for Effective Mixing

Mix primarily at 79 dB SPL (“conversation level”) for critical balance decisions.
Use brief 105 dB checks (20–30 seconds) to verify punch and set levels.
Balances made at low volumes translate better to louder systems (not vice versa).
Equal-loudness contours explain why frequency perception changes with volume.

A frequently cited standard for critical balancing is 79 dB SPL, often described as “conversation level.” Balances made at low volumes tend to translate better to louder systems, while the inverse is rarely true.
At low volumes, the ear is most sensitive to the midrange while extreme lows and highs become harder to perceive. At higher levels, the ear perceives a flatter response (Fletcher-Munson curves).
Specific dB SPL benchmarks: 79 dB for mixing work; 85 dB for monitor calibration (pink noise, C-weighted); 105 dB only for brief (20–30 second) checks to set levels and ensure punch.
George Massenburg suggests monitoring at extremely low levels—just 5 dB over background noise—to bring all elements into focus and ensure no instruments are lost in the balance. Listening very quietly simulates hostile listening conditions (car, office) to check if the lead vocal cuts through.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 4: Monitoring Levels; Fletcher-Munson/Equal-Loudness Contours; George Massenburg interview

A Jury of Your Peers in Mix Evaluation

Getting external feedback is crucial for objective mix assessment.
Even skilled mixers lose objectivity—outside perspectives are invaluable.
Learn to filter and apply feedback constructively to improve your mixing.
Use reference tracks to clarify vague feedback and guide adjustments.

Professional mixing requires not just technical skill but also courage to face critique. By the end of the mixing process, your own ears are likely the least objective judge of the mix, making external feedback essential.
George Massenburg suggests getting reference material from the artist at the beginning of the process to identify “irrationalities” early—what they envision vs. what’s technically achievable.
Build a “snag list” by listening to the whole mix against references from start to finish, ideally with fresh ears first thing in the morning.
When feedback seems vague or contradictory (especially from non-musicians), use reference tracks to provide a concrete basis for comparison. This helps clarify the intended direction for mix adjustments.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 5: External Feedback; George Massenburg interview on client communication

The Art of Mix Referencing

Mix referencing is essential for objective mixing assessment.
Compare your mixes to top commercial productions to ensure quality.
Referencing affordably bridges the gap between amateur and professional sonics.
It compensates for monitoring limitations and grounds your decisions in reality.

Mix referencing is the most powerful technique for making objective mix decisions and compensating for the inaccuracies of monitoring environments. It provides an anchor for relative judgments.
George Massenburg advises picking several of the Top 100 CDs and using them to prove to yourself that your ears are not deceiving you.
Continually comparing the work-in-progress against commercial reference tracks provides an objective anchor and compensates for the inaccuracies of a small studio’s monitoring.
Check references across all available systems—nearfields, “grotboxes,” and headphones—and even listen from an adjoining room or hallway to assess the “averaged” room response.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 6: Mix Referencing Fundamentals; George Massenburg interview

Choosing Your Material for Mix Referencing

Never use MP3s—only CDs or 24-bit high-resolution sources for accurate comparison.
Use “endstop markers”—tracks that define limits (max sibilance, max sub-bass, etc.).
Vet tracks on multiple systems; choose for sonic quality, not personal taste.
Resources for finding references:
- The Mix Review
- Best Reference Track For All Genres – Mastering The Mix

Engineers should systematically trawl their record collections and vet potential tracks on multiple listening systems. Avoid choosing tracks based on songwriting or personal favorites; select them based on sonic excellence.
Never use MP3s or data-compressed streams—their side effects lower the quality bar and compromise comparison effectiveness. Use only CDs or 24-bit high-resolution sources.
Use specific tracks as “endstop markers” for frequency extremes—one track might represent the absolute limit of acceptable vocal sibilance, while another defines the maximum allowable sub-bass.
Mandy Parnell warns that modern references are often “hypercompressed” and masterfully loud, which can lead young engineers to chase technically incorrect production standards.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 6: Choosing Reference Material; Mandy Parnell interview on modern loudness standards

What Makes a Good Reference in Mix Referencing

Balance personal sound preferences with commercial standards when choosing references.
Use genre-specific, contemporary references to ensure relevance and market alignment.
Avoid letting musical taste bias your selection—focus on production quality.
Mix references inspire and validate decisions rather than dictate choices.

“You want to sound contemporary,” says engineer Jimmy Douglass, “but you can’t know what that is unless you listen to the records the audience is digging at the moment.” Choose tracks that relate to the specific genre you are mixing.
Ronald Prent recommends Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” (specifically “Isn’t She Lovely”) and Lyle Lovett’s “Joshua Judges Ruth” (mixed by Massenburg) as ideal references for their sonic and dynamic footprints.
Use reference tracks to evaluate: overall tonality/frequency balance, low-end consistency (kick and bass relationship), stereo image width and placement, and effects/ambience (reverb depth, length, and level).
Alastair Sims states that reference tracks are the best way to determine the level of audio editing (tuning and timing) expected by the client.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 6: Reference Track Selection; Jimmy Douglass, Ronald Prent, Alastair Sims interviews

Activity: Evaluating Reference Track Recommendations

Best Reference Track For All Genres – Mastering The Mix

Listen to 2–3 of the recommended tracks in genres you know well.
Consider: Do you agree with the author’s choices? Why or why not?
What sonic qualities make these tracks good (or poor) references?

Getting the Best Out of Your References

Use A/B plugins (Magic AB, MCompare) for instant, level-matched switching.
Match loudness using LUFS meters—louder always sounds “better” and deceives you.
Reference in a separate DAW project to stay disciplined and avoid “tail-chasing.”
Edit reference tracks to highlight key sections; skip intros for faster comparison.

The ear adapts to tonal imbalances within seconds; therefore, comparisons must be instantaneous to highlight differences before the hearing system recalibrates. Use A/B switching plugins (Magic AB, A|B Assist, or MCompare) for instant level-matched switching.
It is human nature for anything louder to be perceived as “better,” which can deceive the engineer during comparisons. Use EBU R128/LUFS meters to match the Integrated Loudness of the reference track precisely.
Referencing in a dedicated DAW project (rather than inside the mix session) can prevent “tail-chasing” by making the engineer more disciplined about checking judgments across different monitors.
Chuck Ainlay always creates a “bass up” or “bass drum up” version during mastering to ensure the low end translates, often referencing the original rough mix to see what the artist preferred.

Sources: Senior, “Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio” - Ch. 6: Effective Referencing Techniques; Chuck Ainlay mastering workflow; A/B plugin recommendations