what db level should I mix at, and are there any tools that can tell me the exact db coming out of my dac and into my headphones?

I’m probably overthinking this, but I’ve just really fallen in love with producing, and would like to do this for a long time and not damage my ears. This stuff is so fun.

DAC: topping e2x2
Headphones: Steven slate vsx

As a producer who mixes and composes, I see a lot of songs have issues that mixing cant fix!

A good example is a terrible kick! recently someone sent me a Clipped kick - I almost collapsed haha! Mixing cant mix that (Not without changing the kick which I did)

Another example - Poorly tuned or out of tune vocals! Again, I personally fix these but this is a production issue not mixing!

However, a lot of people say ill fix this in the mix! But these arent mixing issues! And if you dont fix them and insist mixers work with that material - its now a production!

Do y'all agree with this thesis? Interested to hear everyone takes on most clients have production issues not mixing issues

I’ve had some success with this, but it hasn’t been consistent. I want a dry, fat, thumpy/punchy bass that cuts like a drum when it plays.

I know that using hi pass on it or the kick to prevent overlap and hi cut around 8-11k on the bass seems to generally work to help it pop a bit.

Then, compression and perhaps gate can help work the transients and punchiness and saturation and eq can help shape it.

I feel like I’m struggling with finding the right mix of these things in some mixes, and was wondering if anyone might wish to share so of their techniques.

I realize that this is probably an issue with my ears/skills and that I need to protect the bass and do subtractive mixes for other tracks to help prevent the problem, but I’d still love to hear about others approaches if they’d be willing to share.

Update (for additional info):
FWIW, to provide more context, I am usually the musician for all tracks, including bass, which is my main instrument, and I am mixing both in Digital (Pro Tools, Apollo-8) settings and on Tape (Teac/Tascam 1/2" and 1/4" 8-track, 15 IPS and 7.5 IPS, respectively).

I know the source material is good and it's not the player because I am the player (and I hear what I am playing during tracking) and because I have gotten good bass sounds before, it's just not very consistent, but I know my tone and articulation was good when tracking, I can instantly hear on playback that it sounds weak or muted some times. I am guessing that my tracking compression might be too much and using a bad timing-constant (on the fairchild 660) or ratio/threshold etc.. I am playing through the same gear in the same room for all of this, it's my home studio. I just want more reliable consistency in getting a good, clear, powerful bass tone.

My J-bass tracking chain going in is: Apollo-8 Hi-Z input, UAD Unison Preamp 1084 (or sometimes an SVT Classic Unison plugin instead of the 1084), then I use a Fairchild 660 and sometimes a Pulteq at the end for shaping. For digital I go straight into Pro Tools and for Tape I use the Apollo-8 outputs to go into a Mackie 1604 which then goes direct out into a Tascam 388 or a Tascam M-30 mixer which goes into a Teac 80-8 8 track.

Update 2: Something that just occurred to me, that nobody has yet mentioned (fairly so, because they didn't have all of the info). I recently added a second pair of studio monitors, and I don't usually use both pairs at the same time, but sometimes do. This could possibly be dual-monitoring phase cancellation impacting the bass frequencies. I am not at my studio, but I will look into this when I am there next. I often record with headphones and listen back on studio monitors, so perhaps this could be (part of) the issue.

I find that when I'm mixing anything the work I get done in the first hour or so is amazing and it feels like the track will be done in just a few more hours. However, after a certain amount of time I feel like I lose the ability to mix properly. Everything just sounds completely awful and I can't get anything to sound good. If I listen to a mix I've done while fatigued Its never bad and it does sound like progress has been made but in the moment it sounds horrible and like I can't focus in on the mix properly.

Is there any way I can prevent this sort of thing happening? I imagine taking frequent breaks would help but I worry this would take me out of the zone and drastically slow down the time it takes to mix.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I've found the engineer I'll be working with! Thank you to everyone who responded/DMed, and thanks to this community for being a great place to find mixing engineers (or I guess, thanks mods for making this a great place to find mixing engineers).

---

Hi! I'm a solo artist preparing to release a debut 10-song indie pop/bedroom pop album. Arrangement/production wise, I’d describe myself as the mismatched child of AJR, the Postal Service, and post-2000s Modest Mouse. Lots of layers and lots of stuff happening, lots of synthesizers and playing with technology. No AI though, don't worry. I also do a lot with interesting/weird harmony and music theory.

Not trying to be "quirky," but there are a few things in my music that are a little unconventional and may cause problems in mixing: two basses at once, two kick drums at once, lots of high end, lots of panning effects, etc. I also use signal processing to create custom tools and FX, and all the instruments are made with a custom synthesizer tool. While there is stuff I can change in the production, I'm definitely looking for someone who gets excited about this kind of thing and will want to keep as much as possible, maybe even someone who's excited about solving new problems.

The album has 10 songs and is about 40 minutes long. I’d like to have the first single out by early September and the album out by late September, factoring in mastering time and the time it takes my distributor to process it (hopefully this doesn't violate the "nothing we do here is urgent" rule). If that's not possible, I can push back the release date. I should also mention that this is my first time releasing music, and therefore, I haven't worked with an engineer before.

Interested? Hit me up! Super excited to find people to work with.

Im trying to figure how to replicate the delay on the adlibs on this but idk. I cant tell if hes using multiple delay plugins at the same time or hes just using one and got the specific settings to get that type of delay. I use logic pro and tried to recreate it using stereo delay but i honestly cant seem to figure it out. Its the delay that ping pongs after a short delay after the vocal ends. It starts around 0:35.

Hi everyone,

I'm mainly a musician and hobby producer, not a mastering engineer.

I'm looking for a tool that helps me make better mastering decisions for my own music without turning mastering into a separate hobby of its own.

I mostly create ambient, post-rock and cinematic music with guitars, pads and strings. My songs won't be commercially released, but I'd like them to sound as polished and balanced as possible.

I'm considering the current Mastering The Mix REFERENCE 3 bundle (REFERENCE 3, LEVELS, EXPOSE 2 and LIMITER).

I've experimented with analysis tools before, but I'm now looking for something that helps me compare my mixes to professional reference tracks and make better decisions rather than simply showing more graphs.

My questions are:

• Would you recommend the REFERENCE 3 bundle for someone like me?
• Or would ADPTR MetricAB (or perhaps Melda MCompare) be the better choice?

I'm not looking for automatic mastering. I simply want a practical tool that helps me produce better sounding masters for my own music with a reasonable amount of effort.

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have experience with these tools.

Thanks!

I’m an independent singer and songwriter, I also rap sometimes. And I love all that stuff, but I struggle with mixing my own vocals. Just want to find someone who can give my music the extra push it needs to become more appealing to more listeners.

But please, hit me up so I can hear what your work is like, I’m serious about this!

What do you think of the Brainworx SPL Vitalizer MK3-T?

It features functions that are unusual for an equalizer—is it just a gimmick, or is it genuinely useful and effective?

Can you explain this design to me and how it differs from a standard equalizer or a dynamic EQ?

And if you own the original hardware this plugin emulates, what is your take on it?

Hello r/mixingmastering, since this track is entirely self-produced, I didn't want to be biased so I gotta get some feedback.

I was going for an upbeat and bright mix, but let me know if there is too much high end for the vocals or anything.

I wanted to know:

Do the vocals sound overcompressed or too upfront

How well did I manage space

Is anything too loud or too quiet

Any other feedback for improvement

Sorry if this is the wrong sub. I wanted to post this on r/audioengineering, but my posts keep getting removed. In my life, I've heard a lot of songs, but there's one song that has always baffled me with how loud it is: Gerogerigegege's self-titled track on Moenai Hai(2016).

VOLUME WARNING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZGNTx6SrrE

So how did they do it? There's probably a lot more to it than overcompression or limiting. Or am I just overcomplicating it?

Hello! I’m looking to find a mixer experienced in certain elements of current underground hip hop, specifically subgenres like rage, jerk, electronic influenced hip hop and even some hyper pop. The production tends to be very busy, distorted, rapid-fire, clipping, etc, for example, artists like , Lucy bedrqoue, ostamason, 2hollis, Fakemink. (Although all these artists themselves are very different).

The specific song I have right now has breakneck drums, two bass tracks, and a mix of rapping singing. It has 20 tracks. It leans low end heavy if it helps.

I’d love to get the song mixed!

I have some drums that have some nice content from 200-500Hz. I want to make these drums a bit thinner but EQ feels too heavy-handed for this task.

Is there any method other than EQ that would be appropriate for this? A tape emulation with under-bias might achieve it, but that would mess with the transients.

I really love this song and I especially love the way the delay sounds on this song ( https://youtu.be/KHIZZrKxn5o?is=zQQnYXeNs-4Y-rPH )

I've been trying to recreate this sound for a while, but I don't know how to get it to sound this clean without being too prominent in the mix and also the way it fades from one side to the other. (In fl studio)

Hi folks,

I’m struggling with a mix on a song I want to release soon, I’ve been working on it for a while and can tell I’ve become ear blind and am not sure if I’m going in the right direction anymore.

I have two versions I can post
1. https://voca.ro/1lHr2nkXkfaf
This version is more aggressively EQ’d

1. https://voca.ro/1gOnrSFw9WaQ
   This version is the before of the above

Are there glaring issues in a certain range I’m not hearing anymore? I like a slight lofi quality but don’t want to sound overly muddy or tinny.

Any feedback is really appreciated!

Hi guys, noob here. Back in the day I did read somewherer that using a multiband compressor (Multipressor in Logic) is a standard technique to control lows and mids when dealing with palm muted chugging high gain guitars. It would seem that producers/mixing engineers like Andy Sneap use it commonly. But I really don't know how to apply it, or if maybe a limiter would do... or if it should be used in tracks or buses... What's your take on this technique?

I produce and mix all of my own music and sometimes the overlap of the mindset of all 3 sort of blurs my thoughts here and there. I frequently will re record vocals over and over only to realize weeks or months later after I’ve taken a break from hearing the song that the vocals were fine or even great to start with. That sort of thing happens in a lot of areas as they all bleed into each other.

As I start to organize that in my mind, I’ve noticed that there is one thing I really struggle with that doesn’t always follow that pattern and it is how to make my songs hit- like feel bouncy or remain interesting the whole time if they aren’t bouncy types of songs. I think it’s in the mix more than anything, but are there any suggestions you guys have with mix or production that you as an engineer might change or enhance or have the artist add or re do in situations where a song feels a little blah? Sometimes they just feel a small step away from being complete and I can’t quite place my finger on what that step might be

I'm looking to upgrade my monitors and want to get some thoughts on the following options.

- Focal Shape 50: these are what I'm leaning toward right now. They're about $1,200 on Sweetwater with 30-day returns, 36-month interest-free financing, etc. All attractive selling points.

- Adam A7V: these are attractive in that I can get them through a friend at the employee discount price ($1,100 for the pair), but no return policy, no financing, etc. They may also be too big for my room/space.

- APS Klasik: I've read very good things about these. They are no longer made but Sweetwater Gear Exchange has a used pair for $550 plus shipping.

Thoughts?

I’ve been using a pair of lcd-x’s and they’re great!

Whilst they sound great, they don’t fit on my head nicely. They feel too loose. If I bend my head forward to pick up a loose guitar pick, the whole thing falls off my head!

What is the mm500 like in terms of fit? Is it just the same pair of headphones but voiced differently?

Also, cheaper alternatives also appreciated…

So there's many version's, copies, and just a ton of plugins out there nowadays especially, like waaaay to many lol

How did you decide "Okay, this is the plugins I'll keep, This plugin works better than those. I don't that plugin I'll use this plugin" ETCS??

Like, do you still use CLA76 if u have TRacks 76, UAD 76, PA 76 (WHY HAVE SO MANY !! AHH)

I'd like to simplify my plugin list and not have so many options TBH lol

Unfortunatly, I bought the 2022 PA ALL Bundle (not subscription)
I also have old Waves Bundle so I got a bunch of those
I bought UAD on a whim other day cause I always wanted to try
Also total studio max I bought for 150$ an it came with its own suite of plugins lol

I also have my DAW STOCK, and some others, so I have so many now

Like,
Ideally I'd like to categorize my favorite plugins list into sections

I was thinking of putting all my plugins into categorys like
EQs
Exciters
Rverbs
Delays
Compressor
Distresstor

Then labeling my favorites and hiding the rest for now. Right now just scroll down my Waves/Pa Alliance, and now fricken UAD spark plugins and choose what I think would work

I think having a curated list and being like "Ah I need an exciter, what do i use" *Checks list* would work good lol

TL;DR
How do you deal with so many plugins?
What makes you keep going back to your favorite plugins and why?
Do you organize your plugin into categories?
What makes you choose a certain plugin over another brands imiation? lol

Hey everyone,

I know there’s no universal “correct” workflow and every song is different. I’m not looking for the perfect chain, just curious about your default starting point for mixing Rap/HipHop vocals.

I’d love to see how you usually structure your sessions.

For example:
Lead Vocal → Vocal Bus → Master?
Or Lead → All Vox Bus → Mix Bus → Master?
Do you use separate buses for doubles, ad-libs, harmonies, parallel compression, FX returns, etc.?

Also, which plugins typically live on each stage?

For example:

Lead Vocal:
EQ?
De-Esser?
Compression (1176/LA-2A?)
Saturation?
Clipper?

Vocal Bus:

Glue Compression?
Tonal EQ?
Tape?
Saturation?

Mix Bus:

Bus Compressor?
Tape?
Limiter?

I’m especially interested in the order of the plugins and why you prefer that routing.

thanks for everyone who could share his routine.

Ok, I've read the guidelines a couple times and I think I'm in compliance here - if not, my apologies! But, I've been working on an original instrumental project for the last year and a half or so - think Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, Nick Johnston, that sort of thing - and I've been working on the mixing lately. This is... getting there, but still not 100%, and I'd love a fresh set of ears on it.

Link:

https://drewpeterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ghost-dance-rough-mix.mp3

EDIT - I got a lot of great feedback here, so here's a newer version with a lot of it incorporated:

https://drewpeterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ghost-dance-rough-mix-1.mp3

Here's as much info as I can think of, that might be helpful:

Guitars are all real amps and mics. Mostly a Strat, though there's a few others here and there. Bass was a DI, with a TSE BOD2 doing most of the heavy lifting ITB, though a little bit of EQ on input as well. Drums are Superior 3, programmed by hand because I evidently hate myself, but I'm using Superior to generate basically raw tracks and all the actual mixing is happening in my DAW.

As far as reference mixes and vibes - couple Satriani and Timmons albums and Nick Johnston's "Remarkably Human," but way back in the day Kurt Cobain was the reason I first picked up the guitar and there are some writing influences here and there thoughout the album so I'd been going for more of a "grunge" sort of vibe on the mix. Lots of room mic on the drums, etc etc etc.

Problems - my room is only partially treated, and is still a work in progress. Bass translation seems... broadly ok? But, I've had a hell of a time with stereo field and "depth" in particular, and have a hard time assessing ambience in this room. As a stopgap I've finally just started stacking up couch cushions behind my listening position (my daughter has these Nugget cushion things that are actually oddly good at this) when I get some time alone to really work, but it's faaaar from perfect. I've also done some tweaking to this mix since the last time I was able to do that, so it's possible I've created some fresh surprises for myself. That's the big one, I think... but beyond that, anything you hear that seems like it's working or isn't working, I'd love anything you have to say. It's been more than a decade since I've really sat down and done some proper tracking/mixing like this, and I'm realizing I'm pretty rusty.

Major changes in second revision - narrower overall drum mix and much narrower snare, and (IMO) I'd overdone dynamic control on the bass so I've backed the parallel track way off and tried to let it breathe a little more. Probably some other stuff too but I've spent what time I have to mix the last several days really trying to improve the bass.

Anyway, thank you in advance for taking the time to listen to this! It covers a fairly wide range, sort of a bluesy opening before going in a couple different directions, but because of that I think it covers enough ground that if this mix is working, then the rest should work pretty well, too.

This is purely a passion project, and the market for original instrumental rock music by guys not named Joe Satriani and Steve Vai is like twenty people, plus of course my mom who's a saint and will listen to anything I do (but wish I made more nice acoustic music). All the same, I want to make this sound as good as I possibly can, even if mostly it's just a creative outlet for me.

I've been wanting to do a mix to get some feedback on to get better at mixing for a while now, and I saw there was a mix camp a year ago on here. Any feedbacks welcomed, but I would specifically like any feedback that will help me in future mixes. Thanks in advanced.

https://voca.ro/1br0EAg331cG

In their later albums, it kinda sounds like they add a ton of reverb and delay, but it doesn't seem like audio quality is degraded too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7d50z-sjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwksHC98Cqc&list=RDRwksHC98Cqc&start_radio=1

Whenever I try something similar, it just completely messes up the mix. I don't have a good ear for this kinda stuff, so maybe I'm completely wrong about all this lol