How to calibrate your ears for mixing?

[Benedict]

I know everyone says "reference tracks" and to flip back & forth when working is the right thing to do, but I am not a fan (I know some name mix engineers aren't either but I'll leave you to find them).

I am all for referencing your speakers and therefore to some extent your ears - which is actually your brain.

Choose some really great recordings. I always start with The Alan Parsons Project "Eye In The Sky" album. If that works then I am not too far off anything. If it sounds boxy, then I have an issue. Now I know there will likely be two complaints:

1. It's like a trillion years old dude and therefore shit quality as they didn't even have 24/96 back then - ok, but why do we listen to music? To hear quality or lack thereof? I hope you said no, we listen to hear the Story. "Eye" is a very storied record with great Balances (which is what mixing really is). If it sounds good and lively, esp as the orchestra opens up on "Old & Wise" then I'm doing ok in this room.

2. It's like totally not EDM/Rap/FutureWave/BroStep dude. I only eva make that so your shit record is shit because it is shit - ok well I assume you don't like music at all then only Genres Music is about subtly (yep, even Skrillex) so why not train yourself to this speaker/room with subtle material? Now I didn't say you could only ever use that record. Merely that is a great example of a great record.

I will next use Pink Floyd "Delicate Sound of Thunder" or "Division Bell" as they are newer & wider range recordings. Again the emphasis is on hearing and understanding the beauty of the music as it translates as I am not ever mixing to unleash the 894.568 Hz in a track, I am always mixing to unleash the beauty in the record (yes even if it is Death Metal it should be beautiful in its own bloody way).

Lastly, I pull out an Oz Rock band song from their first record that is a lovely track but sounded a bit crap on the original vinyl. The remix helped that but I like using the original if I can as it sounds poor yet lovely at the same time. This record is all about subtly, esp with that original harsh, grainy sound profile.
https://youtu.be/_76YPAT1JR4

I never listen to another track when working on mine. I am there to tell my Story not clone Metallica's or Kenny G's stories. A/Bing against someone else's record makes the mix about technicalities and not the track in front of me. Same when I am working with someone else's songs. I need to find the story in that song not try to make it sound like Hotel California.

[Jbravo]

nobody can hear 24/96 anyway

[xandde1]

Thank you all for taking a few minutes of your time to share thoughts! Actually, I spent 2019 really digging and crafting my own mixing process. I concluded that a song can be mixed a lot of different ways with a lot of different results. However, I eventually found out how to get consistent results (always aimming for one of the infinity results one could achieve)! I also found out that mastering is an important step of the final sound (especially if you don't master your own mixes).

It appears that the problem of "decalibrated" ears has no solution after all. Your mix is a product of a conjunction of factors that influences how you perceive the sound in a given moment of time. If you mix the same song a few months later, you will certainly achieve a different result (not necessarily better or worse, but different). Referencing can help a lot!