Mix sounds MUDDY on my car stereo

UnCL0NED · Post by **UnCL0NED** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:39 am

I thought my mix sounded quite balanced on my KRK V6's in my room. But when I just played it over my car stereo this morning, it just sounded soooo muddy! The Bass and Kick had almost no definition and the low sounds of this sort of gong I used were hardly audible. Also the melodyline of the piano I used, sat pretty well in the song at home, but sounded far away and too soft on my car stereo.

My question is: now that I know this, how do I proceed to make it both sound good/reasonable on my home stereo as well as in my car? There's probably some more mixing/tweaking to do, but how do I know when it is okay, when I'm only monitoring on my KRK's. Are there maybe some general tricks to fix this (in Live)?

Yes, I am new to the game of mixing so maybe I'm asking a very silly question here!

Thanks for your help!

cram33 · Post by **cram33** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:56 am

Hi,

What you did is good! Go take your mix out, play it on as many stereo's as you can, even on clockradio-like shit, and judge your mix from there on. If it sounds fine in your room, but too bassy elsewhere, you need to compensate for that in your mix at home i.e. less bass in this example. Maybe your room needs some accoustic treatment. And final, listen to commercial cd's of the same genre you are mixing, in your studio to hear how they sound. Should be a good starting point. Good luck!

popoff · Post by **popoff** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:25 am

#2 listen to the music @ Your monitors as much as possible - to know its sound better. Especially listen to the releases which sound You wish to achieve.

For future - small excercise: tak a white noise loop/generator/whatever listen to it while cuting frequencies one by one, or leaving only selected. This is told to be a good way of teaching Your ear the sound of specific frequencies. but be carefull of the volume level - white noise is all freqs sound so when played to loud it can blow the hi freq speakers.

UnCL0NED · Post by **UnCL0NED** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:16 pm

Hey Guys,

Thanx for your quick, useful replies... I'm already at home working on the mix again!!!

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:14 pm

good/decent monitors give way more definition to low end than you will likely get from a car or similar. try to A/B your mixes against comparable songs from artists you think sound great, should help you.

John Sweet · Post by **John Sweet** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:16 pm

EQ and compression make a big difference when you hear it on yr car stereo.

electropoet · Post by **electropoet** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:55 pm

Hey man,
Maybe look into some 'grot box' speakers. There is a ton of literature on this stuff...but most learn trail and error...or posting on forums

In a nut shell...with the mp3 revolution...most people don't listen to music on anything near the qualities of your monitors...plus...if its club music...those systems are often mono with massive amounts of bass. Additionally, the acoustic environment you mix can make a HUGE difference in what you hear and how you mix...it can literally drive you mad.

in any case...the two biggest things you can do is invest (cheap) in some sort of sound attenutation material...it doesn't have to be much..and don't over do it...but if what you are hearing ain't whats actually recorded...you mixes will be inaccurate and you'll be chasing your tail. Again...lots of stuff about this...check out sound on sound magazine.

Secondly...those grot box speakers. they're usually cheapy's...you can use a cheap boom box...aura tones...pyramids...even the venerable NS-10's are somewhat grot...the idea is the use your krk's for fine adjustments...but you use something cheap to get a better idea of what your mixes will sound like through the system which it will probably be listened through. I've seen lots of pro's hook up a cheap sony boom box with heavy bass and just monitor through it real quick to make sure the definition is there and the bass ain't gonna blow out the speaker. They keep it hooked up next to there real monitors and use it frequently for a change in perspective.

In the end...I agree...monitor through as many pairs of speakers as you can...including headphones...and several different pairs. Learn you monitors and room over time...you can't expect perfection early on unless you get lucky...each mix will get better as you learn how it translates to that car stereo.

Finally, as a last resort...burn a cd and listen to it your car...that the old tried and true method...not very elegant...but I'm sure all mix engineers have used this technique at some point in there career.

good luck.

electropoet · Post by **electropoet** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:55 pm

Like i said...tons of info on how to get mixes to translate...its a science and an art.

many struggle to find success for a long...just keep trying...you'll get better and better.

DJDJ · Post by **DJDJ** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:30 pm

I think the #1 thing you can do is learn your monitors/room well. Lilsten to tons of music you know really well on them. Try to pinpoint any amy or exaggerated ferquency areas. By learning your speakers well, and compairing on other systems, you'll start to know the trouble spots in your speakers/room acoustics, and know when to compensate and when not to.

That's on the short term. On the long term, get better monitors, and acoustically treat your room a bit.

dj superflat · Post by **dj superflat** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:01 pm

this is all good advice.

but some of it seems to ignore that having a better room and monitors does you little good if you don't know how what you hear in your room will translate to the outside world (there are few completely transparent monitors/mixers/setups). i've mixed stuff in unbelievably good studios only to go outside and realize that what sounded good in the $5000/day control room doesn't sound so great in my car, or on my stereo, or etc.