ALL Mixes sound Different on Different Speakers and Headphones

ALL Mixes sound different on different speakers and headphones.

This is something I struggled with for many years as I noticed that my mixes sounded very varied on every system yet the HIT songs from the radio seemed to translate or sound exactly the same everywhere. Why?

They don’t. The problem is that you have just spent 8 – 10 hours mixing your track. You are HYPER focused on it. Every nuance and frequency expands in your mind. While the reference track doesn’t suffer from this same issue. You’re just listening to it once or twice and you’re not intimately involved with each and every track.

Now this doesn’t mean that your mixes do translate from system to system like many other great mixes do. They may not. But you might need to take a break and listen to them fresh. After an hour break or even the next day. Going from system so quickly after you have cemented your mix in your brain may not be the best thing to do in that moment.

Get a great set of monitors. (I use the Yamaha NS10s) and learn them. Learn how things SHOULD sound on them. Listen to other great mixes on them and notice how the frequencies respond on them. Eventually you won’t need to go from system to system. But don’t get depressed when your mixes don’t translate on first listen. They probably won’t. For any of us.

Good luck. I hope this message finds you. Well…