Definition
A reference track is a professional song, similar in genre and arrangement, that you compare against your own mix to calibrate your ears, your room and your choices. The reference compensates for the limits of the room and speakers: if your mix sounds like the reference in your environment, it will probably sound good elsewhere too.
How to choose them
- Same genre and same density: a trap track for a trap track; a piano-and-vocal ballad for a ballad.
- Similar arrangement: if your track has only 808, vocal and a pad, a reference with a full band will mislead you.
- High technical quality: polished productions, ideally in uncompressed format (WAV or at least lossless files or high-quality AAC/MP3). Avoid rips from video.
- 2–3 references, not ten: one for the overall balance, one for the lows, one for the vocal.
- Songs you know very well on many systems.
How to compare correctly
- Match the loudness: references are mastered (often −9/−6 LUFS short-term in the chorus), your mix is not. Turn the reference down to equal loudness (short-term or integrated LUFS of the compared passage), otherwise the louder one will always seem better.
- Compare equivalent sections: chorus with chorus.
- Switch quickly (a few seconds per side): auditory memory of timbre is short.
- Listen to one thing at a time: vocal level, amount of lows, brightness, width, amount of reverb, punch of the drums.
- Use the analyzer as support, not as a goal: the average spectrum tells you whether you have too much 200 Hz; it doesn't tell you whether the mix is good.
What to compare
| Aspect | Question |
|---|---|
| Tonal balance | do I have more or fewer lows/mids/highs? |
| Vocal | is it louder or quieter? more present or more distant? |
| Lows | kick and bass: which dominates? how much sub? |
| Drums | snare punch, hi-hat level |
| Stereo | width of pads and guitars, solid center |
| Space | how much reverb, how long |
| Dynamics | verse/chorus difference |
In FL Studio
- Import the reference into a Playlist track and route it to a dedicated insert that does not go through the master's effects: you can do this by sending it directly to the audio interface output (in the insert's output selector) or by keeping the master empty during the mix.
- Use a comparison plugin: ADPTR Metric AB, Mastering The Mix REFERENCE, iZotope Tonal Balance Control, Melda MCompare; they let you switch with one key and automatically match loudness.
- Mute the reference on export (or remove it before rendering).
Example
Pop mix in A minor at 100 BPM. Reference: a recent pop track at the same tempo. At equal loudness (the reference's chorus turned down by 8 dB), your mix has the vocal 2 dB lower, more mud at 250 Hz and less air above 10 kHz; the lows are similar. Fixes: +1.5 dB on the vocal, −2 dB at 250 Hz on the instrument bus, +1 dB shelf at 12 kHz on the music bus. Check again.
Common mistakes
- Comparing at different loudness levels.
- Chasing the reference with a match EQ on the master: you copy the spectrum, not the arrangement.
- Choosing references from a different genre “because they sound good”.
- Listening to the reference for too long and losing your own direction.
Exercise
Create a folder of 10 references for the genres you produce, measure for each the integrated LUFS, the maximum short-term of the chorus and the true peak, and note the main mix characteristics. It will be your “library of ears”.
Related topics
“Review and A/B comparison at equal loudness”, “Loudness, LUFS and normalization”, “Static balance”, “Mixing on headphones vs monitors”.