DAW 101: Mixing with Reference Tracks

I've seen a large number of posts across all types of social media sites, asking how to use and how to properly compare to commercially available mixes.
That's easy to handle, but what are some of the other uses of reference tracks?
If you do some mix bus processing, how should you route your references to avoid this processing?
Have a question about Presonus Studio One? Ask in the comments and I'll make your question into a video for everyone else to learn from!
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[@jondarling]

Such a great channel man. I usually go straight to Joe Gilder for my Studio One questions but I continue to get what I need clicking on your videos. Keep up the great work!

[@TimTalksAudio]

Thank you so much! Joe is a great dude and super knowledgeable! I'm happy to be an equal resource to you!

[@RSObligar]

This video is super helpful. I was just working on a track the other day and was wondering about how to achieve this. Thank you so much for this video

[@TimTalksAudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cedricblack608]

I learn a lot from your channel! One of your other videos (can't remember) I noticed a mixer CH titled "Print Track". Do you have a video explaining what that is? I am still learning S1

[@mariaflanz]

Hi. I am a fan of the video

[@joeseabreeze]

I'd like to see how you zoom in/out and move the timeline around while doing intense editing. If there's one thing that frustrates me with all the daws I've used, it's the workflow for editing clips, audio, midi, moving the playhead, zooming in/out, and just getting around the timeline quickly. Even in Studio One, it's frustrating as hell! I try using the mouse on the timeline with that silly up/down/right/left gesture and it's just so imprecise! Everything is just so floaty and I can never line it up the way I want. I always lose the playhead, and the start of the track always slides out of view! Arrrggg! :) It's the kind of thing that sucks all the creativity out of me while I'm using the daw, so I end up walking away haha! I know what I want to do in my head, but the daw's tools just don't seem to work the way I think they should work. Why do they make everything challenging like a video game? Do I really need to be pixel perfect with the mouse just to move the timeline over a little? I usually end up zooming when I don't want to zoom, or moving when I just want to zoom lol! I think it would be a great video! Rather than just the basic zoom feature, I'd really like to see one that's more like a real-world editing session and how to speed up the workflow when working on a busy song :)

[@kevinklein2562]

As most stuff is on streaming these days, how do you navigate having to have a catalogue of high quality WAVS for a bunch of songs you don't own, if a client has certain reference track?

[@TimTalksAudio]

You buy the song from the artist that the client references! You don't have to buy the whole album (unless you want to), plus, it's a tax write off. It's material you need to buy to help you preform your job better.

[@highpeakrecordings]

The question I have is where do you get commercially released tracks as .wav files from? As you say, I don't want to be referencing with mp3s.

[@TimTalksAudio]

From any digital distributor or from the website of the artist themselves! So things like iTunes, a label's website, etc. etc. Think of it as an investment in yourself and your craft. If it costs you $1 to have a song that you can use over and over again, and it helps you get better at what you do, I think you're getting tremendous value for the invenstment!

[@highpeakrecordings]

@@TimTalksAudio Thanks Tim. To my shame I didn't realise you could get wavs that easily.

[@JoeyFTL]

You know what's less cool than Milli Vanilli? Bumping up the level during adreads.

[@MOETtelevision]

How do I go about finding the right reference track

[@TimTalksAudio]

The right reference track is some songs you know very very well. Something you listen to all the time, something you think has a great mix, and maybe something that is close to the song/ep/album your working on. It's a really good practice to have many different reference tracks that have great individual values to them. You can ask friend what some of their reference tracks are, but it is very personal.

[@kikkydavid-]

What is the point of the video if you are not showing how you got your relative volumes🤔

[@TimTalksAudio]

Because the relative volumes are relative to the work at hand. Every song, every arrangement is different, but that's why having references is important. Being able to switch back and forth between your mix and the reference(s) helps get a relative balance. Also, for your reference, I did balance a mix again a demo reference so you can also watch that! kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2W4iJ-JjJmrmdk

[@bulletnoiseentertainment1726]

U talk too much.. go straight to wat u are teaching...