One of the biggest weak spots in every recording chain is usually right in front of you, and it's a very obvious one – once you think about it. How are you monitoring the audio that you're working on? Speakers? Headphones? What sends the signals to these devices? What amplifies those signals to power their drivers? How are these playback devices affected by the room they're in? If you are not constantly questioning every aspect of your listening system in this way, you are likely making your life much more difficult. If you can't properly hear the work you're trying to do, how can you make decisions? How can you make an effective mix? How can you pick a microphone?
As the pandemic began, one of my upcoming (and eventually cancelled) Recording Workshop attendees, Frank San Filippo, suggested, "Amateurs and semi-pros are going to be using their home studios a lot more in the next few months – maybe you can offer mix evaluations remotely?" At Jackpot! Recording Studio we had been looking for ways to ensure some sort of income and activity to make up for the lack of attended sessions, so I began to offer song-by-song "Mix Reviewing" – a service I've since put on hold. Doing these reviews was interesting, and identifying trouble spots in a mix quickly was a great exercise for keeping my ears trained and ready. But, outside of suggesting the many small changes that could lead one towards improving a mix, I realized that a lot of people were not taking their monitoring situations as seriously as they should.