mix-coach

name	mix-coach
description	Mix and master moves for an advanced producer: gain staging, EQ + comp strategy, bus routing, sidechain, low-end glue, vocal pocket, reference matching, LUFS targets. Use when the user says "mix this", "how should I master this", "fix my low end", "vocals sit weird", "compare to reference", "/mix". House/EDM mix conventions by default.

Mix Coach

User is advanced. Give moves, not lectures.

Inputs

Bounce / stems / screenshot / description / reference track. If audio, get loudness first:

ffmpeg -i "$FILE" -af "ebur128=peak=true" -f null -    # integrated LUFS, true peak
sox "$FILE" -n stat                                     # RMS, peak, DC
sox "$FILE" -n spectrogram -o spec.png                  # visual

Report integrated LUFS, true peak, and any clipping or DC offset before opining.

Mix targets (house/EDM defaults)

Target	Streaming master	Club / DJ master
Integrated LUFS	−14 to −12	−9 to −7
Short-term LUFS (drop)	−10 to −8	−7 to −5
True peak ceiling	−1.0 dBTP	−0.8 dBTP
Dynamic range (PLR)	8-10 dB	6-8 dB

Diagnostic order (run top-down)

1. Gain staging: peaks before master at −6 dBFS, no clipping on any track
2. Mono compatibility: sum to mono, listen. Is anything disappearing (wide stereo bass, decorrelated FX)?
3. Low end: kick + sub. Mono below 120 Hz (Utility → Width 0 below 120 via EQ Eight HP on the side band, or use Bass Mono). Sidechain depth: bass −5 to −8 dB at the kick hit.
4. Mud sweep: narrow bell cut on synths/pads at 200-400 Hz, −2 to −4 dB
5. Mid-range crowding: high-pass anything not needed below 200 Hz (pads at 250, plucks at 300)
6. Harshness check: 2-5 kHz with multiband or dynamic EQ on the master bus
7. Air: high shelf +1 to +2 dB at 12 kHz on the master, only if the mix can take it
8. Stereo image: kick + sub mono, mids slightly wide (80-100%), hats/cymbals wide (110-130%), FX/reverb full-width

Bus structure (house/EDM template)

DRUMS (group)
  ├── Kick           (Glue, slow, 2 dB GR)
  ├── Sub            (mono, sidechain from kick)
  ├── Clap/snare     (parallel reverb)
  └── Hats/perc      (high-pass 300)
       → Glue Compressor on group, 2:1, 30 ms attack, auto release, ~1 dB GR

BASS (group, mono)        → sidechain from kick
SYNTHS (group)            → sidechain from kick (light)
VOCALS (group)            → parallel compression bus, de-ess at 6 kHz
FX                        → reverb/delay sends

MASTER BUS:
  EQ Eight (corrective) → Glue Comp (2:1, slow attack 30 ms, release auto, ~1 dB GR)
  → Multiband Dynamics (lite tame at 3-5 kHz) → Limiter (Pro, ceiling −1.0, lookahead 1.5 ms)

Common fixes

Problem	Move
Muddy low end	HP everything not bass/kick at 80-120 Hz, narrow cut at 250 on pads
Kick gets buried in drop	Sidechain bass harder (−8), bell boost +1.5 dB at 60 Hz on kick
Vocals sound thin	+2 dB shelf at 5 kHz, parallel compression bus 4:1
Drop feels small	Add a low shelf +0.5 dB at 80 Hz on master, automate +0.5 dB master gain into the drop
Mix translates fine in headphones, dies in car	Mono-check; widen reverb returns; ensure kick is fully mono
Master limiter is pumping	Slow the Glue Comp attack to 30 ms, lower limiter input by 2 dB, raise it 0.5 dB at a time
Phasey when mono-summed	Check stereo bass; M/S the sub to mono < 120; flip phase on stereo synth layers and listen

Reference workflow

1. Pull reference via Spotify search / fetch_tracks (or get_currently_playing if they're listening to it)
2. Drop both into Ableton, level-match by integrated LUFS (Utility → Gain to match)
3. A/B with Ear (don't trust eyes). Match: low-end weight, vocal pocket, drop "lift", stereo width, brightness
4. Note 3 specific differences. Fix the 1 biggest.

If a curated reference set would help, hand off to reference-curator to build a proper playlist.

Connectors

• search_live_manual for any Live device parameter you cite (esp. Pro Limiter, Hybrid Reverb, Multiband Dynamics)
• Spotify for reference matching (search, fetch_tracks, get_currently_playing)
• Splice search / download_asset if a layer is missing (a clap top, a missing high-end perc)
• Ableton MCP: session-bridge to actually drop / re-order devices on the master bus

After

"Want me to (a) sketch a full master chain, (b) draft the mix moves bar-by-bar for the drop, (c) build a reference playlist for this track (reference-curator), or (d) prep stems for an external master (stem-prep)?"