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1. How to A/B against commercial reference tracks using any DAW

1 Let’s get things moving by looking at how to A/B your mix against a commercial reference in any DAW. Start by importing Mix.wav and Reference.wav from the Tutorial Files folder, making sure any automatic warping in your DAW is disabled. We recommend using WAV references, as you don’t want to make your mix sound like an MP3! 2 You’ll see that the reference track (red) has been professionally mastered and limited upto 0dBFS, so to avoid blowing your eardrums apart, mute the reference channel and turn the audio region’s volume down – we do this by -15dB here. Gain adjustments on the region itself (rather than the actual channel) means you can leave the mixer’s volume fader at unity gain (0dB). 3 Next, visually line up the drop of the reference track against your mix as best as you can. After pressing play, hit the reference channel’s Solo button to switch to the reference with one mouse click. Hitting Solo again switches back to the mix. This ‘one-click’ method is ideal for concentrating on the actual sound, rather than what buttons you’re operating. 4 It’s unlikely that the mix and reference are at the same volume level, so adjust the reference region’s gain as you flick between that and your own mix until the two both sound the same volume. Feel free to use an RMS meter if that helps, or check 236’s Mastering With Freeware feature for a primer on Bob Katz’ K-System. 5 Now, when you flick back and forth between your mix and the reference, you should be able to compare the overall tonal, dynamic and stereo balance. As mentioned earlier, avoid over-listening to the reference – quickly flicking back and forth will help you to capture the big picture in terms of the relative tone, dynamics and stereo balance.