Free ear training for mixing

Hear it. Find it. Fix it.

Train your ears to hear what most people miss: the frequency muddying a mix, the compressor flattening the drums, the vocal sitting a touch too loud. A few minutes a day trains you to hear it before you reach for a plugin.

Take the ear test Start training

Three sounds, a minute or twoNo account neededHeadphones help

Made by Dan Murtagh, a Melbourne mix engineer: 20 years making records, teaching audio production at Collarts since 2016.

A tour of Mix Chops: an EQ question, a compressor, a mix's faders, a part placed in the stereo field, Ask Dan's reply and your ears improving. Press Play this one to answer a question yourself, with sound.
EQ InComp InMix InPan InAsk DanYour earsLiveFull songDrumsFull songGuitarAI mixing mentorExampleFunk mix

Which band got +12 dB?Which one is compressed?Which part moved?Put the guitar where it was.Stuck? Ask why.Watch your ears improve.Loading…

Flipping by itself. Tap one to take over.

How it works

From hearing it to fixing it.

Every exercise trains part of the same flow you use on every mix: notice a change, track down what caused it, then put it right without hurting everything else.

01

Hear it

A band gets boosted, a compressor clamps down, one part creeps up a few dB. Flip it in and out until you hear what changed, then name it. In EQ, sometimes nothing changed at all.

02

Find it

Something is ringing, poking out or sitting too loud. Sweep a boost across the spectrum until it jumps at you, or pick out the part that moved.

03

Fix it

Cut it on the right instrument, or set the faders back where they were, in a full mix. Your score is how close the result gets to right.

Use headphones or decent speakers. Laptop and phone speakers can’t play the low bands, so 63 and 125 Hz turn into guesswork.

Four modules

Tone. Dynamics. Balance. Space. The whole mix.

Start with EQ: name bands on pink noise, then find the one instrument muddying a full mix. Then hear what a compressor is really doing, and set a song’s faders by ear. Every exercise has levels that get harder as you go.

Module 01

EQ

Hear it, find it, fix it.

7 exercises · 41 levels2 free to start
  1. 01Identify, 12 levels
  2. 02Sweep, 5 levels
  3. 03Hunt, 5 levels
  4. 04Restore, 6 levels
  5. 05Solo to Context, 4 levels
  6. 06Cuts Only, 5 levels
  7. 07Fix the Mix, 4 levels
Start with Identify
Module 02

Compression

Stop guessing. Start hearing.

7 exercises · 39 levels2 free to start
  1. 01Compressed or Dry, 6 levels
  2. 02How Much, 6 levels
  3. 03Attack, 6 levels
  4. 04Ratio, 6 levels
  5. 05Match the Compressor, Pro, 5 levels
  6. 06Shape the Hit, Pro, 5 levels
  7. 07Parallel Blend, Pro, 5 levels
Start with Compressed or Dry
Module 03

Balance

Set the faders by ear.

6 exercises · 28 levels2 free to start
  1. 01Louder or Softer, 3 levels
  2. 02Restore the Balance, 5 levels
  3. 03Which Part, Pro, 5 levels
  4. 04From Memory, Pro, 5 levels
  5. 05Build the Mix, Pro, 5 levels
  6. 06Ride the Lead, Pro, 5 levels
Start with Louder or Softer
Module 04

Space

Pan, width and reverb by ear.

6 exercises · 30 levels
  1. 01Place the Sound, Pro, 5 levels
  2. 02Place the Band, Pro, 5 levels
  3. 03Match the Width, Pro, 5 levels
  4. 04Front to Back, Pro, 5 levels
  5. 05Echo, Pro, 5 levels
  6. 06Match the Space, Pro, 5 levels
Start with Place the Sound
Five minutes a day

Train daily. Watch your ears improve.

Ear training works the way practice does: a little, often. Mix Chops keeps score so you can see it working.

Daily session

A new set every day

Twelve questions from pink noise to a full mix, weighted toward the bands you miss. Keep the streak alive and post your score.

Take today’s session
Your ears

Hear yourself get better

Mix Chops keeps your first answers at every band. Keep training and your latest show beside them, so you can see what’s changed.

An illustration, not real results. Yours fill in as you train.

Ranks

Runner to Golden Ears

Every right answer is XP. Climb eight ranks, from the studio runner up, and collect badges along the way. Golden Ears is a Pro rank: it also takes the last level of Identify, Compressed or Dry and Restore the Balance, and those are Pro levels.

  1. Runner0 XP
  2. Intern100
  3. Assistant300
  4. Engineer1,000
  5. Mixer2,500
  6. Producer5,000
  7. Mastering Engineer10,000
  8. Golden EarsPro20,000
“We all hear changes that aren’t there. I’ve tweaked a bypassed EQ and sworn it sounded better.”
Dan Murtagh, in the feedback for a No change question
Free and Pro

Free to start. Pro to go all the way.

The daily session and the first levels of two exercises in each of EQ, compression and balance are free for good. Pro opens every exercise and every level, Space, your own songs and the whole track library.

Dan Murtagh
Who’s behind it

Made by a working mix engineer

Dan Murtagh has been making records in Melbourne for 20 years and has taught audio production at Collarts since 2016. Every exercise, hint and explanation in Mix Chops is written the way he teaches: in plain words, around what you actually hear on each instrument.

20 years mixingCollarts since 2016Melbourne

More about Dan

Learn

Hear the idea. Then train it.

Short explainers and practice guides with a demo you can play: flip each move off and on, then practise it in the exercise that goes with it.

All of Learn

Questions

Before you press play

Do I need headphones?

Headphones or decent speakers. Laptop and phone speakers can’t reproduce the low bands, so 63 and 125 Hz turn into guesswork. Set a comfortable level on the first sound and leave it there: every exercise plays at the same loudness.

Is it really free?

Yes. The daily session and the first two levels of two exercises in each of EQ, compression and balance are free, with no account and no card. Until Pro launches, every exercise but the Pro-only ones is open to everyone, every level, and accounts made before launch keep them.

Do I need an account?

No. Your progress saves in this browser. Sign in with Google or an email link (no password) and it follows you to your phone or any other computer.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, in any modern browser. Plug in headphones first.

What do I get with Pro?

Every level of all seven EQ exercises, seven compression exercises, six balance exercises and six space exercises, your own songs to train on, Ask Dan all session (about 100 replies a day, against 10 on a free account), a plan for each day on the Daily page with one short task each in EQ, compression, balance and space picked from your answers, focus drills on any EQ band and the full track library. Pro opens soon, at US$12 a month (the first 7 days free) or US$99 a year. Make a free account before it opens and it’s US$8 a month. See Pro

Who is it for?

Anyone who mixes: students, producers, bands recording themselves, and engineers keeping their ears sharp between sessions.

How does it compare with SoundGym?

Mix Chops trains EQ, compression, balance and space in your browser, and it goes past naming bands to fixing the problem in a full mix: cutting the instrument that’s muddying it, or setting the faders back by ear. See how it compares with SoundGym and seven other ear trainers.

Start here

Golden ears aren’t born. They’re trained.

Three sounds, a minute or two: hear what your ears already catch, then train the rest.

Take the ear test

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