How I Fixed a Mix That Scored 42/100 — Before and After Analysis
A real before/after mix analysis. Same track scored 42/100 (Grade F) then 87/100 (Grade A) after 4 fixes. Here's exactly what changed.
The Before: 42/100, Grade F
I ran the same track through MixDiagnose and got a brutal but honest report:
| Metric | Before |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42/100 (Grade F) |
| LUFS | -7.2 |
| Crest Factor | 3.8 dB |
| 300 Hz Buildup | +8 dB |
| 4 kHz Harshness | +5 dB |
| Stereo Width | Narrow |
What the numbers told me
- LUFS -7.2 — way too loud. The mix bus limiter was crushing the life out of everything.
- Crest factor 3.8 dB — almost no dynamic range. The track had been squeezed flat.
- 300 Hz buildup +8 dB — mud city. Rhythm guitars were piling up in the low-mids.
- 4 kHz +5 dB — harshness that fatigued my ears within minutes (but I didn't notice while mixing).
- Narrow stereo — everything was clustered near center. No width, no space.
I'd been mixing for 6 hours straight. My ears were toast. The analysis caught problems I literally could not hear anymore.
The 4 Fixes
Fix #1: Removed the Mix Bus Limiter → +25 points
This was the single biggest win. I had a limiter on the mix bus pushing everything to -7.2 LUFS. It was crushing transients, flattening dynamics, and making the whole track feel claustrophobic.
What I did: Removed the limiter entirely. Let the mix breathe.
Result: Crest factor jumped from 3.8 dB → 8.2 dB. The mix went from sounding squashed to alive. Score jumped from 42 to 67.
💡 Lesson: Loudness is mastering's job, not mixing's. A limiter on the mix bus is a crutch that hides problems instead of fixing them.
Fix #2: Cut 300 Hz by 4 dB on Rhythm Guitars → +12 points
The +8 dB buildup at 300 Hz was the main culprit for the muddy, wooly low-mid mess. Rhythm guitars were the worst offender — three layers stacking up in the same frequency range.
What I did: Applied a -4 dB cut at 300 Hz (Q ~1.2) on the rhythm guitar bus.
Result: 300 Hz buildup went from +8 dB → +2 dB. The mix instantly sounded clearer. Kick and bass had room to breathe. Score went from 67 to 79.
Fix #3: De-essed Vocals + Cut 2 dB at 4 kHz → +5 points
The 4 kHz harshness was partly from the vocals (sibilance) and partly from cymbals/hi-hats piling up in the same region.
What I did:
- Ran a de-esser on the vocal track (threshold -18 dB, frequency 5 kHz, range 4 dB)
- Applied a -2 dB cut at 4 kHz on the drum overhead bus
Result: 4 kHz peak went from +5 dB → +1 dB. No more ear fatigue. Score went from 79 to 84.
Fix #4: Widened Stereo Field → +3 points
Everything was clustered near center. Guitars, keys, backing vocals — all sitting in the same narrow space.
What I did:
- Panned rhythm guitars ±35 (hard left/right)
- Panned keys ±20
- Used a stereo widener on the drum room mic (100 Hz HPF, width 120%)
Result: Stereo field went from narrow to wide. The mix had space, depth, and dimension. Score went from 84 to 87.
The After: 87/100, Grade A
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 42/100 (F) | 87/100 (A) |
| LUFS | -7.2 | -14.0 |
| Crest Factor | 3.8 dB | 8.2 dB |
| 300 Hz Buildup | +8 dB | +2 dB |
| 4 kHz Harshness | +5 dB | +1 dB |
| Stereo Width | Narrow | Wide |
Same track. Same session. Same ears. The only difference was that I let objective analysis guide my decisions instead of trusting fatigued ears.
The Lesson: Objective Analysis Catches What Fatigued Ears Miss
After 6 hours of mixing, I couldn't hear the 300 Hz mud. I couldn't hear the 4 kHz harshness. I couldn't hear that my dynamics were crushed. My brain had adapted — a phenomenon called ear fatigue or temporary threshold shift.
This is why objective analysis matters. Numbers don't get tired. A frequency analysis doesn't have a bad day. A LUFS meter doesn't lose perspective after 6 hours.
The fixes themselves weren't complicated — remove a limiter, cut some mud, tame some harshness, add some width. But knowing where to cut, what to fix, and how much to change — that's what the analysis gave me. Without it, I would have kept tweaking the wrong things.
Try It Yourself
Want to catch what your ears are missing? Run your mix through MixDiagnose — it's free.
You can also use the CLI:
pip install mixdiagnose
Then analyze any track:
mixdiagnose analyze your_mix.wav
You'll get a detailed report with:
- Overall score and grade
- LUFS and crest factor measurements
- Frequency analysis with problem areas highlighted
- Stereo width analysis
- Specific, actionable recommendations
Don't mix blind. Let the numbers tell you what your ears can't.
Have you ever caught a major mix problem through analysis rather than listening? Share your story in the comments — I'd love to hear what objective measurements revealed for you.
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