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The Power of Using Reference Tracks

When finalising your track, you want it to sound as good as possible. Perhaps you even want it to emulate what you listen to on the radio or like some of your favourite songs. So, here’s a quick way to help you do that – using reference tracks.

A reference track is pretty self-explanatory – it’s a track you use to reference your mix against. For my own work, I tend to use about 2 reference tracks that have the same sort of style and sound that I want to emulate.

There are a couple of different ways that you can use reference tracks, for example, I know of producers that import them into their DAW, volume match the reference track, and then use the reference track to guide them and influence the way they EQ the mix. This is done completely by ear and can really help your critical listening skills.

The other way of doing it is by Match EQ’ing your track against the reference track. This involves analysing the EQ of your final mixing, and then analysing the EQ of your reference track and then matching them together. There a few plugins out there that do this for example Izotope Ozone 6 Equaliser, FabFilter Pro Q 3, and Logic Pro X has an inbuilt plugin called Match EQ.

Overall this tends to be a great way to sonically lift and reshape your track. You can also adjust the parameters after matching the EQ to get your desired sound.

If you’re new to using reference tracks start off by just critically listening to a few songs you like and acknowledging what you hear (does it have a smooth high end? Is the bass really prominent? etc.) Then you can try to add those elements to your own mix. You can then start using Match EQ to emulate a certain sound.

Trust yourself though, if it sounds good to you then you’re probably onto a winner.

 

The Importance of Reference Tracks

While mixing and how to use them.

One of the first things I do when I schedule a time to record a band is asking them what albums, and songs they like the sound quality. I ask so I get a good idea of what they might be *subconsciously* looking for in a mix or master. Then I will ask, “What would you like your reference track for the mixing process to be?” I ask these in two separate questions because what you like and what’s right for a mix of a particular song can be two different things. I want to have options, so when I go to pick a reference track- I am picking one that’s right for the song, and that the band will like too.

Reference tracks are essential because often while mixing, your ears can lose perspective. A reference track is helpful to have this happens; you can play the track and compare it to where your mix. Once you’ve done that you can hone in on anything that isn’t where it needs to be in your mix- and with a specific goal in mind you can get it where it needs to be because of the reference track.

Now, to utilize this correctly, you have to do it right. You don’t want to just download your reference track from Youtube and upload that wav file into Pro-Tools. You also don’t want to use an MP3. When using a reference track, you want to get the rawest and uncompressed version of the track you can find (WAV file). Another thing, you need to know how your reference track translates onto different sound systems. Listen to the track in your car, at your house, on your laptop, on your headphones, in your parents’ car…you get the point. Then do the same for YOUR mix. Listen to it everywhere you can, so you know exactly what to fix when you sit back down at your computer to do revisions.

You can use plug-ins to help you compare the track to your mix. Magic AB is my favorite. It’s straightforward to use. You upload both tracks, one is A, and one is B. Then you level the two songs out, so your ears aren’t being tricked because one mix is louder than the other (Hello, Fletcher Munson), and then you just click between A and B to compare your reference track to your mix! Easy as that!

I hope this helps your mixes grow as it helped mine when I discovered how to use reference tracks! As always, you can send me examples of your mixes, or even email me just to chat about how you noticed a difference in the process after you started using reference tracks at virginia@backbeat365.com.

 

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