Do you listen to your mixes then compare them with other tracks and think they don’t sound as good? There’s three possible reasons for that, here’s what to do about it.
The Wrong Ears
When I wrote my book, The Book Dad Told Me Not To Write, I was asked to produce a talking book version. I have a studio and all the gear, I’ve made hundreds of podcasts and recorded for over 40 years. What could be easier? Well, it seems, a lot of things. I hadn’t even made it past the foreword of the book and as I listened back I thought it sounded terrible. So I decided to hire voice talent to be my voice in the talking book. It wasn’t the words, it was the sound of me!
Do you hate the sound of your own voice? You’re not alone, there’s scientific studies that explain why that’s the case. Dr. Yale Cohen, director of the Hearing Sciences Center at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine explained in an article for Live Science, here’s an extract;
“Your ossicles vibrate a little bit whenever you encounter an acoustic stimulus, but your own voice will always sound loud (because of how close your mouth is to your ears), so the ossicles vibrate more when you talk. This ends up muddling the sound, causing you to incorrectly perceive your voice as having a lower pitch. For this reason, you may find that a recording of your voice sounds much higher to you than what you're used to hearing when you speak.
But why does hearing yourself speak at a higher pitch illicit such a strong, and often negative, reaction? Because ultimately, people think they know what their own voices are supposed to sound like, Cohen said.
Research suggests that people make real-time modifications to preserve the integrity of their voices. For instance, Cohen said, people who listen to themselves speaking into a microphone where the pitch has been altered will subconsciously change the way they talk, to counteract the adjustments. This fundamental understanding of what people think their voice sounds like is why they balk when they hear themselves sounding so different, he added.”
So that’s the science behind why you hate the sound of your own voice, but there’s something different going on when you listen to your own mix… subjectivity.
When you listen to your own mixes, especially songs you’ve worked on for months, you lose any kind of objectivity. You know where you made a stumble during record, or how hard you’ve worked to get that vocal sound. It’s very hard to listen to a mix as an entire work, rather than the sum of its parts. Is the guitar too loud? Is there some odd tuning on the high bass notes (probably)? The list is endless. I talk about this in my article The Mixer’s Curse.
There’s also what I’d like to call the backstage view of a mix. My wife and I love going to the theatre, especially West End musicals, in a couple of weeks time we are taking our 7 year old to her first musical. When you arrive at a theatre, there’s a hum of audience anticipation, people shuffle along rows to get into their seats, then about a minute before everyone is seated the lights begin to dim. Then BAM! The show is on and you are drawn into this magical world of creativity. But imagine what things look like back stage. Lighting are running around because there’s a fuse out, set designers are touching up a panel that has a mark on it from a previous show, there’s a hundred little things taking place to make the magic happen that are unseen. Like a swan that glides across a lake, but under the water the feet are going at a pace to create the illusion of tranquility.
Musicals may not be your thing, the same happens at gigs too. The band are bathed under lights but off stage there’s techs tuning for the next song, fixing radio mics, dealing with an issue in the singers IEM, which you are unaware of.
Mixing is no different. We create musical illusions, but illusions never look the same when you know how they are done.
It’s hard to mix objectivity, that’s why some people get paid to do it. They have so much experience and are able to listen with the ears of the audience that they can get past much of what I’m talking about here. I’ll talk about this in my final point. In the short term the best cure for this is to have some trusted people who can listen to your mixes with fresh ears and give you their take on it. They may say it needs some work, conversely they may say it sounds great.
If I may take a moment to highlight the Mix Consultancy run by Grammy winning mixer Dom Morley. Dom does exactly this, listens to your mix and gives you extensive notes on how to fix any issues. He’s helped hundreds of people improve their mixes, check him out.
This is the challenge of mixing alone. Over time one learns to overcome some of the issues, unless of course you are listening to the wrong voice…
The Wrong Voice
Have you ever tried mixing where someone is in the room talking away? Annoying isn’t it?
Why do so many of us allow the voice of the imposter to sit through our mix sessions with us?
I’m talking about Imposter Syndrome, a well documented neurosis experienced by many of us. In my experience most creative types are far from the narcissists that many stereotype us to be. Most are full of self doubt and constantly questioning their skills and abilities.
Julian was telling me that he recently heard a track from some years ago being played. He said it sounded really good, then someone reminded him that he had mixed it… then he changed his mind.
If you think that everyone’s tracks sound great compared to yours, then you are not alone. It’s likely you suffer from imposter syndrome. Very Well Mind says this about Imposter Syndrome;
Some of the common signs of imposter syndrome include:
An inability to realistically assess your competence and skills
Attributing your success to external factors
Berating your performance
Fear that you won't live up to expectations
Overachieving
Sabotaging your own success
Self-doubt
Setting very challenging goals and feeling disappointed when you fall short
How many can you tick? I can tick most of them at some point or other. I recall last year being asked by a brand I respect greatly to write a number of blog posts for their website. I was delighted. Then a voice told me I couldn't do it. Hang on, I’ve been blogging for over 14 years and have written somewhere in the region of 10,000 articles, read by around 50 million people. Now the imposter is telling me I can’t do it.
Often live performers will tell you the same thing, that even after decades of performing they still get nervous and think they can’t deliver to their audience.
If you have imposter syndrome you are not alone. I spoke with a group of producer friends and asked them how it makes them feel, some may feel familiar to you.
Nashville session guitarist and producer Dan Wheeler; “Waiting to be found out.”
Grammy winning producer William Wittman; “It’s that nagging feeling that’s a combination of ‘someone else could do this better than I can’ and ‘after this (because of this) no one will hire me ever again’.”
Producer and educator Robbie Dwyer; “Imposter syndrome at its worst feels like I’m constantly paralysed by crippling self doubt and whether I am good enough to do the job. I end up second guessing what others will think and it’s always the worst case scenario”
These are just three of many responses I got to the question.
You are not alone when it comes to the Imposter Syndrome, but remember the next time the voice starts, treat it like anyone talking in your mix session and tell it to shut the f*** up!
The Wrong Skills
The third reason may be the most obvious one, your mixes aren’t up to scratch. The reason other mixes sound better is because they are!
At this point you might be thinking that this article was so encouraging and now I’ve put the knife in.
Not at all. It depends on your attitude to failure, when thought of as a learning opportunity failure can help bring about change. I got this great quote from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits in my email today, he puts it much better than me.
"Powerful combination = Hate being bad at stuff + Willing to look like a beginner.
People who hate being bad at stuff are driven to improve. However, if they are unwilling to look like a beginner from time to time, they will avoid new challenges and struggle to reinvent themselves.
Meanwhile, people who are willing to try new things, but lack a thirst to improve will settle for mediocre results.
It's the willingness to look foolish for a short time—but not for a long time—that leads to jumps in performance."
There are so many great resources available to help us all improve our skills. Three I want to mention right out of the gate are;
PureMix - pureMix.net is a community of producers and engineers dedicated to sharing mixing, mastering, recording and production knowledge. The pureMix Library is filled with hundreds of tutorial videos that will teach you how to use all of the tools in the studio including compressors, equalizers, microphones, preamps, DAWs, and more.
Groove 3 - Groove3 has the most diverse library for learning your music software, plug-ins, instruments, music theory, mixing, mastering and more, plus full length digital books by industry legends that you can stream instantly. No other site combines these two ways to learn the way Groove3 does. They have over 1190 video courses and 2100+ hours of runtime, and 100+ digital books, that’s growing every week.
Mix With The Masters - Popular for their small retreats in France, Mix With The Masters helps you learn from the world's top music producers. If a trip to France is beyond your means then there is access to hundreds of hours of recording, mixing, production & mastering tutorials with Grammy award-winning producers.
Production Expert Premium - We also have a premium channel of training videos that cover most subjects including Pro Tools, Studio One, Logic and more. You can start a free 2 week trial here.
Add to the above, there’s an almost limitless supply of free training on YouTube. You’ll need some discernment to sort the good from the bad, but generally there’s plenty of great stuff out there. Our own YouTube channel has existed for over a decade, go check it out.
There really is no excuse for not improving your mixing skills, it won’t be for lack of resources. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help from people you know are further down the road from you. One small word of advice, take care when posting in large forums or social media, the response can often discourage you further. Keep your circle small when opening yourself up to critics, don’t consider the general population a safe space.
Summary
There are several reasons you think your mixes don’t sound as good as everyone else’s and it might not be because they are not up to scratch.
Recognise there are several factors affecting us when we try and asses the quality of our work. Surround yourself with those you can trust to give you fair and objective feedback on your efforts. Give the voice of the imposter no space in your life and commit to being a lifetime learner.
In reality, what I’ve written about here isn’t a one time fix, it’s something you have to keep fighting.
However, it’s worth the fight because you might have the next great song right at your fingertips - don’t let it go!
Main image: Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels