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There was a time when you'd finish a song, do a mix down, put it on CD and listen to it in your car, or other home player to get an idea of how it sounds on a different system. It always amazed me how different a song would sound when it's not going through my JBL's. Sadly, newer cars no longer come with CD players. In fact, outside of my studio monitors, my other choices to play CD's on are no longer "state of the art". I'm just wondering what you folks are doing these days to make sure you've got a great mix...no matter where it's being played...

Harry

Use 3 different types of speakers all connected via a switchbox.

Main APS Monitors

Mono Avantone Mixcube ( see other thread )

Boombox type unit

If it works on all of those then I know it's fine. Sometimes I do want to listen in the car , so I upload to Soundcloud and play it via App over the bluetooth connection on my phone to the car stereo

Not burned a CD since about 2005

Mark

My car is on the more uh "vintage" side so I'm always still burning CD's which is annoying because now I am making more and more mixes and invariably right after I burn a CD but before I get in my car, I decide the mix needs another tweak.

I'm going to be getting IK Multimedia's ARC 3 system and trying it out. I was looking at some of the others on the market-- but just today I saw that IK has released Total Studio 3 Max and in addition to the nice discount for customers who already bought Total Studio Max 2, they're giving personalized prorated discounts to those who have bought additional software and I'm able to get the whole thing for a steal. And TSM3 includes ARC3 in it-- I just gotta get a calibration mic.

I see that in ARC3 there are modes for different consumer listening device emulations which should be a cool feature.


I do wish there was something included for headphones like Sonarworks has, but I think this will be really useful to me. Especially since I've been bringing my DAW to a few different locations to track and mix.

Telefunkin wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:31 am

Switching boxes is another minefield to negotiate. They add connectors and cabling to the mass of wires you've probably already got. The info I discovered when researching them a few years ago was that the basic passive ones are least likely to colour the sound but don't offer much flexibility. I bought the cheap and cheerful Mackie Big Knob and it does all I need, but after a few years of light service the switches have become noisy and unreliable. Then again, its cheap enough to replace every few years. The switch boxes that offer more flexibility are usually active, but they risk colouring the sound unless you go for top quality (with cost to match), and they also add yet another power supply (wall wart) to the mass of wires.

BTW, although many newer cars don't play CDs, a lot will play mp3s from USB sticks, so its even easier and faster than burning a CD.

May I ask what speakers you're using? I'll be looking into the Big Knob for more info.

I'm not crazy about using mp3s, unless it's the highest kbps. I tried plugging in a USB stick, but got an odd static-ish sound. Maybe I need to try that again...I'm an older guy trying to re-learn a lot of stuff, but so much of it is new and presents quite a different learning curve....

CTWF wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 3:44 am

guest4254 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:01 pm

I'm not crazy about using mp3s, unless it's the highest kbps. I tried plugging in a USB stick, but got an odd static-ish sound. Maybe I need to try that again...I'm an older guy trying to re-learn a lot of stuff, but so much of it is new and presents quite a different learning curve....

My car's system plays WAV-files from the USB. You could try if yours can too and you get a better sound.

Tom

I've been saving my wave files as 24 bit 48000 hz....probably a stupid question, but I know CD's are 16/44100, but do they need to be the same for usb, in order to work right in my car?

Telefunkin wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:54 am

As for mp3s, there's endless discussion on the differences. Your track will end up as mp3 on streaming platforms and for many library submissions, so its worth knowing what it sounds like in that format. For me, I see no reason to encode at less than say 192kbps and at that rate I find it tough to hear much if any difference from the wav file. However, if there are 'bad' things in my mix (like too much sub) the codec can struggle to render that well and then there certainly is an audible difference. YMMV.

Good point! Even more reason to test mixes by converting to MP3; a similar result as listening on a different pair of speakers.

guest4254 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:15 pm

I'm just wondering what you folks are doing these days to make sure you've got a great mix...no matter where it's being played...
Harry

Hi Harry.
FWIW: not only several different devices - but at varying volumes (low volume review can reveal strengths and weaknesses). Seems most consumers are gonna be listening on earbuds,
or some other 'personal device' that is not the big FEEL of listening on high-fidelity speakers & subs... that give you a body response, in addition to what your ears hear.
To that end:
At the engineer's studio: Mackie monitors (for most mixing); Advent monitors - more boomy; lets us micro-manage the lows;
Scarlett CM25s (the comfy cans that came with the 2i2 'Bundle') for instrument placement and panning choices.
At home: JBL 305s (like them!); earbuds - tend to be bass-heavy; SHURE SRH840 headphones - are very "sane" and reliable for all-around.
In the KIA van: even though there's a CD player and good speakers - I now only use the USB port for a thumbdrive loaded with mp3s.
The volume levels there can reveal any mastering issues from track-to-track. BUT - who's releasing albums these days?

HTH.
Your mileage may vary.

Hey Peter and Tom,

Thanks for all the useful info. First off I just got back from a road trip and I used my usb thumb drive with a wave file one of my songs at 24 bit 48 kbps, and it worked fine. Not sure what the problem was the first time I tried, but at least now I know that it'll work at that level.
In the room with my old surround system, probably some 15-20 years old, is where I'd normally listen back to songs I've mixed on CD. Unfortunately, the CD player is temperamental, and not always reliable, which can be a problem when you're trying to get a song to Taxi for a listing that expires that night. I suppose just getting a new CD player (they still make those, don't they?) would be a solution...The whole burning CD's is also getting old too. I just wish there was a way I could plug in a USB thumb drive to the receiver that I already have. I tried running cables from my upstairs computer to it, but the sound is all muffled. I'm trying to update all things in the process of recording/mixing/mastering without breaking the bank.

Any suggestions are always welcome!

I'm currently using a pair of AKG MH50 headphones, then I listen to the mix on a pair of cheap PC speakers with sub. Lastly I drop the mix to my iPAD and listen through my earbuds. I don't use my truck system cause it sounds horrendous... But my wife's car sound pretty good, so whenever I need that last confirmation I'll listen to the mix in her car via bluetooth.

Two thing that's helped me tremoundously has been listening to my mix in mono and using iZotope's Tonal Balance Control. I've found that if my mix sounds balanced in mono and my eq is balanced within the plugin's spectrum, 95% of the time my mixes sound good on other systems. It's that pesky 5% that keeps sending me outside to the car...

CTWF wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:41 am

guest4254 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 10, 2021 8:21 am

I've been saving my wave files as 24 bit 48000 hz....probably a stupid question, but I know CD's are 16/44100, but do they need to be the same for usb, in order to work right in my car?

I usually only export the WAVs at 16/44.1k, so I don't really know if other formats would cause issues.

Tom

Most libraries want 24bit 48k WAV files so I would be exporting them all in that format and not 16-44