Audified MixChecker! How to playback a mix in your car…

Radio is consumed on a wide range of speakers – from iPads, Laptops, mobile Phones, Headphones and of course radio.. But most of the time we produce just on our own systems, without really checking for other ones. For this case, I used to listen to my stuff on different devices like my mobile phone or laptop. But this is a step which costs time we don’t always have, as I’m sure that you won’t go to your car everytime you produce a new piece. For this application we recently found a plugin called Mixchecker by Audified, which does this job in a pretty realistic way.

Overview

• Simulation

The interface of MixChecker is simple and explained quickly. The tool is arranged and built up by several buttons. The lower section contains 12 simulation references: Yamaha NS10, car, desktop speakers, radio, headphones, just to name a few. By simple clicking, you switch the way your audio is monitored.

• Compensation

By using the upper “Compensation” section, you can tell MixChecker which system you are using at the moment, in case you are not using full range speakers. This is important, as every different pair of speakers will playback each simulation differently. To compensate this fact, that section was added.
But I can’t tell you which setting you should use if you have 4″ or 6″ speakers, as this options aren’t available… Audified is not taking position to this. It seems that you have to try out which works best for you… Or completely switch it off.

Check these demos – I used the headphone compensation for this, so I recommend using a good pair aswell, while listening to the stuff.

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Verdict

How realistic is this simulation of playback? When I first heard about this tool I thought that they’re just using eqs to offer the playback options. Well, after having several listenings to this I have to say that it sounds pretty realistic and really impressed me. It seems to be a complex mixture between stereo width, reverb and several eqs.
Some people might interfere in the fact that there is a loudness difference while switching between the original signal and the processed one. This fact makes it hard to compare, but it’s also realistic that your mix sounds quieter on your mobile phone e.g.

MixChecker needs an iLok activation, also for the demo. Demo? yeah, there is a 30day free trial. The price for the full product is $149, which is much in my eyes. At the other hand I’m sure that it’s been a hard task to simulate all 12 playback engines and you can really hear that they took much effort into this. So decide yourself if it’s worth paying these bucks for this tool. However, it will improve your mixes and save a lot of time if you want to guarantee good sound on various devices.