During our first week of class we looked into using a track as a reference for a mix. A reference track is a song that has been professionally produced which represents how you want your own track to sound. Choosing the right reference tracks, or even album can be crucial to improving the overall consistency and quality of your mix.
Another technique that is commonly utilised with referencing is using your rough mix to flip back to as you progress. In an interview, mix engineer Ike Schultz adamantly claimed this theory, stating “Nothing is more disheartening than A/Bing your mix with the rough mix after hours of work only to find out you’ve killed the vibe – missing the forest of emotionality for the technical trees.” (iZotope, n.d.)

Since our main focus for the track we are recording is folk music I thought it would be the right idea to choose something with a similar sound, style and overall vibe we were going for. 2 main examples that come to mind are ‘Places To Be’ by Nick Drake which goes along with the early folk, open-tuned singer songwriter style we are going for. And ‘Bulletproof …I Wish I Was’ which while not being a proper folk song, has elements of acousticness accompanied with some alternative rock textures and ambience that I would love to replicate in the recording process.

In the end, reference mixing is about finding inspiration in other people’s work while being able to carve out my unique sound.
iZotope. (n.d.). 13 Tips for Using References While Mixing. [online] Available at: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/13-tips-for-using-references-while-mixing.html.