How to Make Your Mix Sound Good on All Streaming Platforms

I’m sure you know the struggle well…

You finish your new track, spend ages mixing it… but it sounds so different on different speakers and different streaming platforms.

In this guide, I’ll show you the secrets and strategies you must know to make sure your mix translates well.

First, make sure your samples are high quality

This can wreck your mix before it even begins…

If you’re using weak samples, samples with harsh distortion, samples that are out of phase, or TOO MANY samples and layers…

Everything will clash together and it will be horrible to mix. Here are our main pieces of advice:

• Use only samples from high-quality producers, just like the ones on wavgrind.com
• If there are harsh frequencies in a melody or sample, use an EQ to cut them out
• If you’re using live recordings, make sure they are “in phase”. If you used multiple mics at different distances, it’s possible the timing may be slightly off, causing phase issues.
• If you have multiple melody layers, consider having them in different octave ranges

With that out of the way, let’s move to the next step.

EQ and level your layers properly

This step is so important. Once you’ve made your track, send each layer to a mixer track.

This is where you set your levels, and add any effects and EQ to each layer. I recommend setting the stereo separation on the master mono (just while mixing). This means you’re listening to the mix in mono while your changing the levels, which makes it easier to hear what’s going on.

I recommend starting with the melody, bring just one melody layer in, set it to around -10db, and then bring in each layer one by one, setting the volume, and adding any effects.

For leveling and mixing, here are my top tips:

• Mix QUIET. This means any layer you want to stand out can be louder, without distorting the mix.
• Use a high pass filter on melody layers if you feel they are clashing with other melodies, or with the bass
• If you get stuck, use a reference track. Go and listen to that and pay attention to the levels of each layer.
• Even if you need to go through and do this multiple times, it’s worth it. The levels will make or break your mix.
• Make sure your kick and 808 aren’t too loud or it will sound distorted on certain speakers and platforms

With that out of the way, turn your stereo separation back to default, and get ready to master your track.

Mastering your track for streaming platforms

This is where things really get interesting, and where each platform is different. LUFS is a measure of loudness. Each streaming platform has a different recommended LUFS. For example:

• Apple music uses a reference of -16 LUFS
• Spotify uses a reference of -14 LUFS with the ability to change it
• Youtube uses a reference of -14 LUFS
• Amazon and Tidal use -14 LUFS
• Soundcloud does not use normalization

When mastering a track, certain plugins will allow you to set a “LUFS learn threshold”, for example iZotope Ozone maximizer.

You can also use other plugins to increase the volume of your master, like a soft clipper, or compressor.

As you’re increasing the volume of your final mix, have a look at the LUFS on a plugin like “Insight” or YOULEAN Loudness Meter 2.

The next step is to text your mix! Go and listen to it on earphones, phone speakers, car speakers, and anything else you can test.

You want to pick the mix version that sounds the best on all of them, optimising for the most common listening device. I always try and pick the mix that sounds best on phone speakers and popular earphones like Airpods.

More “advanced listeners” with expensive headphones or speakers will usually add an EQ or bass booster to get a more punchy sound.

I hope you learned a lot from this guide, and use it to produce high quality tracks!

If you want some high quality samples to produce with, check out wavgrind.com and their royalty free samples!