You finish a mix that sounds enormous in your headphones. The cymbals stretch from ear to ear, the guitars feel like they are 12 feet apart, and the keyboards float somewhere behind everything. Then you play it through your phone speaker. The whole image collapses into the middle. Half the elements vanish. The wide, three-dimensional … Read more

You do not have studio monitors or a treated room, just a good pair of headphones. And everyone keeps telling you that you cannot get a professional mix that way. Worse, your mixes seem to prove them right. They sound great in your headphones, then fall apart the moment they leave your ears. The bass … Read more

You finish the mix and it sounds huge on your headphones. The low end is deep and powerful. Then you play it on your phone, and the bass is not quiet. It is gone. On a laptop it turns thin. In the car it booms. The same bass that felt perfect in the studio falls … Read more

You add 4 dB to the snare fader, and it gets louder. You add 6 dB at 200 Hz, and now it is thick but ringy. You add 4 dB at 5 kHz, and now it is sharp but harsh. You print the chorus. The snare still does not crack the way it does on … Read more

You solo the kick, and it sounds fine. You bring it into the mix, and it disappears. You add 5 dB at 60 Hz, and now it is muddy. You add 4 dB at 4 kHz, and now it is clicky and harsh. 20 minutes later the kick is louder, worse, and still not punching. … Read more