The optimal way to test sound consistency across all speakers

[globet]

Say you bounced off your project and of course you want it to sound -consistent- across all speakers from ultra high end monitors to smart phone speakers. 

The issue is your mix and master sounded perfectly balanced in the studio but on the smart phone speaker the vocal is extra loud with appears to be a +3Db boost. You then go to your local Apple Store and listening to it on the MacBook, the drums are now too quiet. 

Any thoughts?

 

The obvious cumbersome approach is to have speakers and headphones of every level and test listen it on each. Even this isn’t efficient as there are numerous scenarios outside of this listening approach.

 

Optimal solution would be say a mixing and master approach (maybe mixing in mono?) that would guarantee consistent sound across all speakers.

or a website / app / software / plugin that can help. 

[fuzzfilth]

Well, this is the craft (not the art, which is making it sound beautiful) of mixing. There is no magic bullet to conquer this. Experience will tell you how loud the bass can be to translate well enough on most systems, experience will tell you what you can and can not do with stereo width and phase, experience will tell you how to EQ and compress the vocals against the drums, and so on. Try things and then listen listen listen on every speaker system you can find. You will ruin a good number of mixes until you eventually get acceptable results. 

Edited April 19 by fuzzfilth

[olavsu1]

This is exactly what a matrix mixer is for monitoring in studios and several different sets of speakers behind it, starting speakers from kitchen radios, to Adam s6x inside the walls.

[des99]

Basically, make a thousand mixes, and over that time, assuming you’re putting in the effort and trying to do you best and learn as you go, your mixes will get 1000% better. There aren't really any shortcuts for skill building, no matter how cool our toys and tools are. It's a life skill.

Sorry, I know people find those responses unsatisfying...

But yes, evaluate and listen to your mixes on your phone, your laptop, in the car, various headphones, and note problems, and tweak your mixes a little to address those. If that sounds cumbersome, well, as you build skills, you'll likely need to use those references less as you will have built up the experience to kinda know how the problems that show up and will get better about mixing pre-emptively . But at the beginning, you need to reference the hell out of things and really understand the performance of your mixes, if you want them to get better.

[Holger Lagerfeldt]

· One set of main monitors in a good room
· Know what you're doing - the first part of what des99 wrote
· Make it sound as good as possible.

Easier said than done, but that's the real explanation.

No second or third pair of monitors, no second-guessing, no funny apps.

Referencing other tracks and checking on other speakers can be part of the learning process (the second part of what des99 wrote), but it's not intrinsic to the final process.

You make one version that sounds as good as possible on the best possible speakers and then the dice fall where they may during playback: a Gaussian or so-called normal distribution curve.

Consistency in this context is synonymous with normal distribution, and that's how you get the best and most consistent sound across all speakers.

[olavsu1]

Then the listener must also have the best possible speakers, because otherwise he will hear something about which he will write a bad comment somewhere on social media....

Because look at what is actually sold to the common man as speakers:

https://www-elfafoorum-eu.translate.goog/forum/audio-ja-videofoorumid/kõlarifoorum/15001-?_x_tr_sl=et&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=et&_x_tr_pto=wapp   (originally estonian forum for electronics professionals/hobbyists (older posts will not have pictures)).

And they dare to charge money for these speaker-like things...

 

[des99]

People also listen in mono on phone speakers. You have no control about the listening environment, and no real control over the fidelity level your music will be heard at. The only control you have is to make a mix you're happy with, and that doesn't translate poorly, and put it out into the world. From there, it will do (or not do) what it's gonna do...