Home Studio Mixing Tips, Pt. 3

My Mixing Cheat Sheet has all the deep dive details on the audio mixing process. In this series, I’m going over some quick tips for home studio mixing.

Any tips on volume level during mixing?

If you’re mixing and you want to hear it louder, simply turn up the volume on your speakers or headphones, don’t adjust the mix itself.

I hear instruments disappearing in my mix on certain playback systems. What do I do?

While you’re mixing, frequently check your mixes in mono, making sure your music sounds substantially similar in both stereo and mono. Beware of instruments disappearing when switching from stereo to mono. This method will allow you to catch and correct these types of problems before your mix is finalized.

Is mastering my music necessary?

Yes. For any music being released to the public, mastering is an essential step for making your music sound cohesive and competitive, in comparison to other artists.

Any tips on mastering music?

The quality of your final mix has a big impact on the improvements that are possible during the mastering process. I recommend getting your mixes as excellent as possible before mastering, as waiting to fix something during mastering can lead to results that aren’t as good as they could be.

Mastering is ideally an enhancement process, more than a fixing process. It’s also a very specific skill set that requires a different type of studio and workflow than a recording or mixing studio. So, I always recommend hiring this service out, rather than doing it yourself.