your room acoustics have a lot to do with how your mix will sound. the low end is usually a problem for most untreated rooms, and i experience that myself. after a lot of time spent mixing under these conditions, you eventually learn how to room sounds and how to compensate for it in the mix. this can be a pretty dangerous habit because eventually you'll just have reflexes built in to compensate for these issues for your particular setup, even if you're in a different room, so that's important to remember.

you've got the right idea listening on a lot of different systems, and a lot of professional mix engineers do that as well. my personal "system chain" is KRK Rokit 6 -> Sennheiser HD380 -> Macbook speakers -> Apple Earbuds (plugged into audio interface) -> Apple Earbuds (From Macbook) -> Car Stereo and I go back and adjust immediately after I hear an issue at any stage then restart the whole chain. sometimes I just go right to the car stereo if I'm trying to mix my low end. as the mix comes together I stop adjusting after each new listening system and just take notes at each stage then go back and work on the mix in the project session.

i think you have to find what works for you. you can always send the mix to another producer friend with a different mixing room, to get some feedback. sometimes a second set of ears can make all the difference.

hey everyone,

i'm a long time lurker but i want to get more involved, and i've been thinking about the title of this post a lot lately.

today Cymatics released the Ableton projects pack, which are 30 or so Ableton projects showcasing the "in" genres of the moment (future bass, trap, dubstep)  and I couldn't help but feel like I had heard all of the sounds before, throughout my exploration of soundcloud. i've felt the same way since opening some of their previous Serum packs and listening to the sounds. i'm not for or against the use of samplepacks or presets or anything like that, and believe that these projects can be invaluable in teaching production techniques and showing how a professional sounding track would look on a DAW, and this is where the concept of "tutorialized creativity" comes in.

if a lot of producers are reverse engineering the same patches, the same projects, the same arrangements that are based on already popular music, what effect does that have on the scene as a whole?

does it increase creativity, because producers now have the learned skillsets to create the sounds in their heads, or does it reduce creativity and innovation because producers can now freely emulate the sounds of their favorite artists without putting in the hours doing it on their own?

personally, i've reverse engineered a lot of presets to learn sound design, and it made me better at it. i can now more adequately create sounds on the screen when i hear them in my head. i just don't know what the outcome of this type of producer-centric marketing will be. Cymatics created their own niche in this marketplace because like them or not, the sounds are high quality and it sounds like they spend a lot of time on their products. what incentive does an aspiring producer have to create something new when they can just plug and play? i want to believe this kind of learning opportunity will enable people to make the music they've always wanted to but the cynic in me feels like it'll just contribute to more of the same.

what are your guys thoughts?

I think it's hard for most electronic musicians to convey a political message without any lyrics. Typically, I would say most listeners want to feel some type of emotion from electronic music, or have it make them dance uncontrollably. Even with lyrics, it'd be a tough task to make a song with a strong political message that a listener wouldn't immediately write off as corny. Or, that's how I'd analyze something like that myself.

I think protest music had it's heydey with rock & roll during the 50's-80's. A lot of hip-hip nowadays and during it's rise is politically charged. I haven't really heard much electronic music that's sounded like that. If it were to be done well, I'd for sure give it a listen.

In short, I think politics has a place in music, just less so electronic music.