Mix Referencing



The most powerful technique of all: mix referencing

Although every sensible small-studio operator eventually acknowledges the basic concept of mix referencing, in practice most people working on a small scale fail to extract the maximum bene t from the referencing process. This is a real shame, because conscientious referencing is the ultimate bang-per-buck studio tool. It’s the best way of closing the gap between amateur and professional sonics, yet it costs very little money.

It’s
important to
resist the powerful
urge to eliminate reference tracks purely on grounds of musical taste. It’s the sonics
of a production that make it a good mix reference, rather than the songwriting.

Another crucial thing to realize is that you shouldn’t try to reference your whole mix from a single track, because different tracks will be useful for vali- dating different mix decisions. For example, Skunk Anansie’s “In delity (Only You),” Sting’s “All Four Seasons,” and Dr Dre’s “Housewife” are all tracks I reg- ularly use to help me mix bass instruments. By contrast, I might use Cascada’s “Hold You Hands Up,” Gabrielle’s “Independence Day,” Norah Jones’s “Sunrise,” or Paolo Nutini’s “New Shoes” for exposed vocals.

Other tracks can be useful as “endstop markers,” such as Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn,” where the vocal air and sibilance are pushed too far for my liking. If a vocal in my mix approaches “Torn,” then it means that I have to rein in the high end—and that it’s probably time to comb the Chihuahua or water the trif ds or something.


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