Reset your ears

As you progress as a producer/engineer, eventually you'll have an instinctive idea of what a well-balanced recording sounds like.

But until then, it's gold to keep re-centering your ears on professionally-made work.

First, scan through a few songs by other artists on Spotify to get a sense of generally how things are sounding (listening through your work speakers, of course).

Then hit play on the current thing you’re working on — and everything that's out of whack about it will leap out at you!

"The vocal is too honky" / “there isn't enough bass" / "the kick drum is too quiet" / "the low end is muddy" / "the high end is dull" / "the vocal sounds too quiet when it comes in" — listen once all the way through without stopping, and take notes as you notice things, either typing into a text document or by hand.

Then go back and use your notes as a punch list, comparing to Spotify stuff again when you're done!

This is a GREAT thing to do before the first time on any given day that you hit play on something you've been working on. Reset your ears first, and then listen to your thing and take notes. It works every time.

Comparing and contrasting — jamie