My Top Reference Mixes (...And how to choose your own)

What are the best reference mixes? Justin Colletti shares his favorite reference mixes, WHY they work, and how you can choose your own.

There are a few categories for references. This first is TUNING references.

Whether that's tuning a room, or tuning yourself to a new listening environment, in an ideal world you'll have at least a few types of "tuning" references:

1. A mix you know well that sounds insanely pretty and impressive. (For me it's "Paper Tiger" by Beck)

2. A reference for checking deep subs. (I use "Elephant Woman" by Blonde Redhead")

3. A reference for mid bass or upper bass. (I use "La Femme D' Argent" by Air.)

But it doesn't stop there. You can have references for: 4. high end, 5. midrange, 6. stereo image, and 7. transient response.

Some mixes can serve dual purposes. For instance, "Elephant Woman" tells me a lot about subs AND midrange, AND stereo spread.

"Random Access Memories" and "Uptown Funk" and  both tell me a ton about transient response as well as frequency distribution. I sometimes use "Happy Valentine's Day" from Outkast for upper bass and midrange.

Just as important are GENRE references, especially when clients don’t provide them for you.

For example, Superunknown for rock, Radiohead for Indie and Alternative, Nicola Benedetti Silver Violin for classical strings. Modern references like Tame Impala and Billie Eilish have been very useful. Pop references like "Sorry". I don't use Steely Dan. But there are some 70s and 80s records I find useful.

And then, there are also LEARNING references. Some mixes taught me to hear compression, limiting, and distinct types of reverb and delay. For example, Flaming Lips "Race for The Prize" and "She Said" by The Beatles helped me learn to hear compression and limiting. So did "Careless Love" by Madeline Piroux, and Johnny Cash's American recordings also helped me hear compression and limiting.

Hear them with me in real time, and get insights into finding your own.

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[SonicScoop]

What are your favorite references? Do you have some in each of the three categories we discussed in this episode?

[MustafaShaheen]

Sea Change is truly incredible! Loud with a ton of dynamics, and Godrich's fingerprints all over it. Just gorgeous.

[TangleWireTube]

Best video I’ve seen in reference tracks. Great stuff.

[ItsTheFuzzMan]

Moon Safari is my favorite all time album and several tracks I use as reference. Other two albums I always Reference with similar vibe is Emacipator: Soon It Will Be Cold Enough and Safe In The Steep Cliffs. Great panning, delay and reverb info.

[teddybullard]

Tom Waits-Time
Jim O'Rourke - bad timing
Jim O Rourke- good times
Damien Jurado- maraqopa
Morphine-buena
Wilco- jesus, etc
True widow- flat black
Crosby stills nash - helplessly hoping
Foxwarren- sunset canyon
Andy shauf - the magician

[thomas_lambert]

Great choice w/ Blonde Redhead! I recently added their new 'Sit Down for Dinner' to my reference tracks - great production. Other faves are Moses Sumney - Doomed, Bjork - All Is Full of Love, lotsa Radiohead - and for more orchestral stuff: Thomas Newman - The Night Window... just to name a few! Great topic : )

[blashuvec]

Tame Impala's Innerspeaker is a reference of mine. Idk how Dave Fridmann mixed an album that was recorded with a BR-1600. Just goes to show how amazing Kevin Parker is in production and how good DF is as well. Mastered by good ol' Greg Calbi!!

[huberttorzewski]

That Madeleine Peyroux record sounds really great. I'm fan of RAM record by Daft Punk also altough it sounds almost too huge in the bottom and lacks some punch from the drums in some songs. But it is very dynamic and sounds great.

My usual references are: "Santa Monica" and "All or Nothing" from Theory of a Deadman mixed by CLA and mastered by Ted Jensen. Tonal balance is incredibly.. balanced haha. It sounds present and bright but also warm at the same time. It's saturated but not oversaturated. The vocal is more hifi, has some nice bottom and presence but doesn't lack mids. Really great sound.

"Painting" by Blindside (the same duo as the song before) - I love the tonal balance also on this one. The bass guitar is sounding huge and is very loud in the mix, the electric guitars sound incredible, the whole midrange is so present and done so well (very present mids on the guitars and bass) I always listen to it before mixing anything rock/metal. The snare sound is amazing on this one, really love it. Also it sounds really dynamic and "natural" for a rock/metal record. Listening to it loudly for a longer time doesn't fatigue your ear - it has that perfect balance of great eq, compression etc.


"Cry Pretty" also by Carrie Underwood mixed by CLA - it's the reference for the maximum amount of bass in the pop/rock/country song and also the maximum amount of lows and low mids in a vocal. Really love that vocal tone - it has some beef in the low mids, makes you feel that vocal performance more than many other songs from her.

"Southbound" and "Love Wins" by Carrie Underwood (the same album) but this time mixed by Serban Ghenea - they have the perfect tonal balance - sound warm, dynamic, open at the top. The background vocals are a tiny bit too bright at times especially on the sibilance. But they fit so well! I love how the instruments are panned on those ones also. Compared to CLA mixes from the same album those Serban mixes have a tiny bit digital tone on the top end so it almost sounds too bright in the air frequencies but overall they are really amazing mixes. Love the smooth vocal tone, love the punch of the drums, how much space and energy there is and fader balance. I go back to those ones a lot to refresh my ears. The compression is a bit less on vocals than on the CLA mixes which is Serban's signature usually + used reverbs and delays sound more modern.

"Sunny" from Bryan Adams (album is called Tracks of My Years if I remember correctly) mixed by Bob Rock and mastered by Bob Ludwig - really great reference for more natural and dynamic sounding genres. Love the dynamics on vocals and the piano in the end section of the song is sounding incredible. The compression on vocals is lower so you can really feel the dynamics and emotion in Bryan's performance. The vocal tone and drum tone is the best I've heard on any Bryan Adams album. Whole record is more on the darker, moodier side. It's more jazzy. I really enjoy the sound of that album and it also refreshes my ears.

"Rock With You" and "Get On The Floor" by Michael Jackson from Off The Wall (2001 Bernie Grundman remasters for special editions - I don't like the new ones...) are probably the oldest references I use. I love the dynamics, tone, vibe, performances.. I just don't enjoy how thin and somewhat unnatural the vocal sounds in the high mids but it seems they used sm7. For today's standard the vocal is also buried in a mix on a quieter notes and too dynamic. But Michael's performance is fu**** incredible so I don't care as much haha. The instruments are sounding insanely good - very natural, dynamic, the whole mix has a ton of space.. Those songs makes you wanna jump and dance, absolutely great stuff. I like Off The Wall album more than Thriller when it comes to audio quality and mixes. It sounds more alive and natural to my ear. I enjoy it more.

[kadiummusic]

Wow, I've been using that Beck album as a reference for over 20 years! 😎

[MariJuce]

since you wanted us to comment, :-) my refs are:
Born and Raised - John Mayer. Just perfectly balanced overall and soo good tones, especially good reference for how bright a vocal is, and acoustic guitar.

Spit of You - Sam Fender. This is kinda my check for brightness and if its brighter than this song I know I'm lost. Beautiful midrange on this mix, can judge how exiting things are, and super good sub and kick reference to check how tight and deep a system is. good depth of field check too. Good for comparing sibilance.

Chicken Grease - D'Angelo. Just a percent mix, don't know what else to say.

[NickIverson]

My top: Will You Be Tomorrow by RX bandits. Spectacular mix by Jason Cupp…

Wide sound, great top and bottom end. On unbalanced system can get muddy fast with some of the ambient components buried or too loud depending on the frequencies. And of course, killer song…

Also, Red room by hiatus kaiyote, Tick Tock by Tom Misch, Good Days by SZA, and WHATS GOOD by Tyler the Creator to check the sub bass.

[theAxehound]

Good stuff! I figured this out on my own, but didn't ever really think about it, or what to call it. It was just something I always did.
My top three are;
1: Can't Hadley Wait (and usually Alex Chiltion too) by the Replacements
2: Run To the Hills - Maiden
3: Ernie K Doe (or anything Cosimo Matassa recorded).

I also reference almost all the punk stuff against the Descendents immediately, just to see if it punches enough.

[noelcrowder]

Almost anything on Ingenue by K D Lang, particularly Constant Craving and Miss Chatelaine

[billyhughes]

Mostly record rock/punk genre but also some Folk/Americana. Sea Change is one of my favs, writing/songs first then production. Anything off of SuperUnknown. I'm a big fan of Ken Andrews style -- Fantastic Planet by Failure and August Everywhere by Blinker The Star. Love the sound of With Teeth by NIN. The new Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood sounds great. Anyway -- I use a bunch of things/genres.

[AutoclaveBeats]

Thank you for another amazing video... Please what references do you use for hip hop, Rnb and pop...

[nothingnothings]

Night of the dancing flame by Rósín Murphey is my test song for new gear.

[catsandsound]

Thanks, the Blonde Red head song is great. Don't know how but first I heard it.

[TheChaserTV]

The strings on Paper Tiger remind me so much of Paul Buckmaster, amazing song and mix

[KimonoEtrange]

All of this beautiful knowledge on Spotify 320 compressed mp3 file...

[erikverkoyen]

Sea Change, Elephant Women and la femme d'argent are all influenced by sounds of Serge Gainsbourg. Have you heard Melody Nelson?