# Mix Chops: Hear it. Find it. Fix it. > Free ear training for mixing in your browser. Short EQ, compression and balance exercises: hear the change, find the problem, fix it by ear. No account. Page: https://mixchops.com/ EQ, compression & balance · Free in your browser 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. Three sounds, a minute or two · No account needed · Headphones help ## 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. ### 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. ### 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. ### 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. ## Tone. Dynamics. Balance. *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](https://mixchops.com/eq) Hear it, find it, fix it. 7 exercises · 40 levels · 2 free in each 1. [Identify · *, 11 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/identify): 01 2. [Sweep · *, 5 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/sweep): 02 3. [Hunt · *, 5 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/hunt): 03 4. [Restore · *, 6 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/restore): 04 5. [Solo to Context · *, 4 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/context): 05 6. [Cuts Only · *, 5 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/cuts): 06 7. [Fix the Mix · *, 4 levels*](https://mixchops.com/eq/fixmix): 07 [Start with Identify](https://mixchops.com/eq/identify) Module 02 · New ### [Compression](https://mixchops.com/compression) Stop guessing. Start hearing. 4 drills · 24 levels · 2 free in each 1. [Compressed or Dry · *, 6 levels*](https://mixchops.com/compression/dry): 01 2. [How Much · *, 6 levels*](https://mixchops.com/compression/amount): 02 3. [Attack · *, 6 levels*](https://mixchops.com/compression/attack): 03 4. [Ratio · *, 6 levels*](https://mixchops.com/compression/ratio): 04 [Start with Compressed or Dry](https://mixchops.com/compression/dry) Module 03 · New ### [Balance](https://mixchops.com/balance) Set the faders by ear. 2 exercises · 8 levels · 2 free in each 1. [Louder or Softer · *, 3 levels*](https://mixchops.com/balance/louder-or-softer): 01 2. [Restore the Balance · *, 5 levels*](https://mixchops.com/balance/restore): 02 [Start with Louder or Softer](https://mixchops.com/balance/louder-or-softer) ## 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. ### A new ear test 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. An example of a shared daily score: 10 out of 12, a 12-day streak [Take today’s session](https://mixchops.com/eq/daily) ### 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. ### Rookie Ears to Golden Ears Every right answer is XP. Climb five ranks and collect badges along the way. 1. **Rookie Ears** · 0 XP 2. **Apprentice** · 250 3. **Operator** · 700 4. **Engineer** · 1,500 5. **Golden Ears** · 3,000 > “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 to start. *Pro to go all the way.* The daily session and the first levels of every exercise are free for good. Pro opens every level and the whole track library. ## 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 mixing · Collarts since 2016 · Melbourne [More about Dan](https://danmurtagh.com/about) ## 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. - [What is EQ?](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-is-eq): Trains: Identify · What an equaliser does to a sound, on a full mix: a range of frequencies turned up or down. - [What each frequency sounds like](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-frequencies-sound-like): Trains: Identify, Sweep · Play each of the nine bands boosted or cut, on noise and a mix, and learn a name for every one. - [Parametric EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/parametric-eq): Trains: Sweep, Restore · Frequency, gain and Q, the three controls on every bell band. Hear what each one does. - [High-pass and low-pass filters](https://mixchops.com/learn/high-pass-low-pass-filters): Trains: Cuts Only · Take out everything below or above a point. Where a high-pass goes on a vocal, and when it goes too far. - [Shelving EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/shelving-eq): Trains: Cuts Only · Lift or lower everything above or below a frequency, and how a shelf differs from a bell and a filter. - [Mix problems you can hear](https://mixchops.com/learn/mix-problems): Trains: Fix the Mix, Hunt · Muddy, boxy, honky, harsh, sibilant and dull: what each sounds like and where to look for it. - [What does a compressor do?](https://mixchops.com/learn/what-does-a-compressor-do): Trains: Compressed or Dry, How Much, Attack · It turns the loud moments down. Hear it on drums with the levels matched, so louder is never the clue. - [Mixing on headphones](https://mixchops.com/learn/mixing-on-headphones): Trains: Daily Session · It works if you know what your headphones hide. Check the low end, then train on what you mix on. ### Practice guides - [How to train your ears for EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/train-your-ears-for-eq): A routine, and the bands people mix up - [Critical listening](https://mixchops.com/learn/critical-listening): What it is, and how to train it - [How to find resonant frequencies](https://mixchops.com/learn/find-resonant-frequencies): Boost, sweep, cut - [Subtractive EQ](https://mixchops.com/learn/subtractive-eq): Cut first, and how to practise it - [How to fix a muddy mix](https://mixchops.com/learn/fix-a-muddy-mix): Find the part, then cut - [How to build a static mix](https://mixchops.com/learn/build-a-static-mix): Drums first, vocal last [All of Learn](https://mixchops.com/learn) ## 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 every exercise are free, with no account and no card. While Mix Chops is in early access, every level is open to everyone. ### 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, the four compression drills and both balance exercises, Ask Dan all session (about 100 replies a day, against 10 on a free account), focus drills on any EQ band and the full track library. Pro isn’t on sale yet: join the founding list and you’ll hear first. [See Pro](https://mixchops.com/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 and balance 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](https://mixchops.com/soundgym-alternatives). ## 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](https://mixchops.com/ear-test) Free · No account · Runs in your browser