mixing for average speakers and headphones

[wojf62902]

I am interested in a technique called mixing for the midrange. streaky covered this very briefly here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JACBQJ6Qz9U
interested to hear about how people use this method or how they would use it? if you have any ideas where would you use it? for example would you apply this in the first stages of mixing a track or would you apply it in the final mixdown? because in my master chain in the final mixdown I tend to use a few eq's that colour the sound a bit. so should I be correcting the mix after that with this sort of technique? and how would you work with this and referencing with your favourite music or music you use when referencing?

[andymcbain]

This is to emulate the sound of a "grotbox" speaker - e.g. cheap computer speakers that can't reproduce extended high frequencies or sub bass. The idea being if your mix works within these constraints then it should translate to every system - e.g. can you still hear the bassline, the hi-hats, etc.

I have a "grotbox" speaker for this very job - an Avantone Mixcube, so applying this EQ curve to the master bus isn't really necessary for me. But if you were to do it, then simply have it as the last plugin on your master bus chain and A/B test frequently while mixing.

How far you want to go down the rabbit hole of mix translation is up to you - personally, there's no way most of the stuff I'm working on is going to sound 100% correct on my Mixcube (or a stereo pair of them) but it's very useful for focusing in on the midrange when things are getting a bit congested there.

[excuse me please]

I assume it's a tip meant to enhance your midrange and then remove the LP/HP filter afterwards. Not sure.

[wojf62902]

This is to emulate the sound of a "grotbox" speaker - e.g. cheap computer speakers that can't reproduce extended high frequencies or sub bass. The idea being if your mix works within these constraints then it should translate to every system - e.g. can you still hear the bassline, the hi-hats, etc.

I have a "grotbox" speaker for this very job - an Avantone Mixcube, so applying this EQ curve to the master bus isn't really necessary for me. But if you were to do it, then simply have it as the last plugin on your master bus chain and A/B test frequently while mixing.

How far you want to go down the rabbit hole of mix translation is up to you - personally, there's no way most of the stuff I'm working on is going to sound 100% correct on my Mixcube (or a stereo pair of them) but it's very useful for focusing in on the midrange when things are getting a bit congested there.

yea I think that is the theory on this mixing technique. I was gonna buy some grotbox speakers myself but was thinking about trying this out instead. how often do you reference to your avantone's? through the whole process of mixing?

[wojf62902]

I assume it's a tip meant to enhance your midrange and then remove the LP/HP filter afterwards. Not sure.

that's the thing, it's gonna be removed from referencing at some point because we all need to work on the low frequencies and tops to make sure those are all in check too.

[DJ Warmonger]

Well, one guy (nickname Eltron John) advised me to do the following:

- High pass at 70 Hz
- Low pass at 13 kHz
- Collapse to mono

If your track survives that, it will sound fine on every sound system. If it doesn't - well, back to mixing board
I keep such effect rack on master so I can audition full mix as well as individual tracks to search for issues.

[andymcbain]

yea I think that is the theory on this mixing technique. I was gonna buy some grotbox speakers myself but was thinking about trying this out instead. how often do you reference to your avantone's? through the whole process of mixing?

Quite frequently - I've got a button set up to switch between speaker setups, so it becomes a useful "reality check" to reset your ears after working on monitors. As well as the midrange clarity thing it's useful for general mix balancing too, checking vocal levels etc - though that's also to do with it the mix being collapsed to mono and then played through a single driver.

Airwindows Monitoring Redux has an Auratone setting which can do this actually - though assuming your monitors have more than 1 speaker driver it can't emulate the Auratone to it's full extent. It's free though and worth trying, and could replace the need for using the EQ like in Streaky's vid.

https://www.airwindows.com/monitoring-redux/