Ear training for mixing
Know what to listen for.
Actually hear the difference.
When you are learning to mix, the hard part is often knowing what to listen for. Explore the difference with labelled examples, then tell it apart without hints. Difficulty follows your answers.
No account needed · 4 questions
On a computer or a phone · with headphones
Drag across the spectrum or use the slider to move the band. · Visual only · plays no sound
- 01ExploreMeet the difference with labelled examples.
- 02IdentifyTry it yourself in exercises without hints.
- 03Follow upSee what to practise next.
Is anything different?
Switch between the reference, the boosted and the cut example. All three sit at the same Low frequency.
Compare body, boxiness and brightness. Where is the change?
Preview of the Frequency room · plays no sound
01Listening rooms
Before the right answer,
listen for the right thing.
Before every stage a listening room opens, with no score. Play the reference and the labelled examples side by side, switch the material and see where the difference sits.
When you are ready, move on to the exercise — assessment starts there.
- Guided discovery or free comparison
- Hands-free A/B that cycles through the examples
- Your listening note stays on this device
02Guided curriculum
Not random games.
A path you can follow.
Every skill has its own stages. First you hear that something changed, then where it changed, then how precisely you can place it.
A stage opens when you answer correctly often enough at the target difficulty — not after a fixed amount of time.
- Is there a change in the Low band? done
- Is there a change in the High band? done
- Which band is the EQ change in? done
- 04 Is there a change in the Mid band? Evidence 8 / 12 now
- 05 Which band was changed? next
- 06 Which part of the Low band was changed? later
+3 more stages
At the target difficulty a correct answer adds 1 and a miss takes 2 away. At 12 the next stage opens.
03Adaptive difficulty
As your ear improves,
the differences get finer.
Exercises adjust to your answers: get it right and the difference shrinks, miss it and it becomes clearer again. The aim is not to keep you winning or struggling, but to keep you where you get roughly four out of five right.
That is why your accuracy percentage does not show progress. A shrinking difference does.
Pick an answer and watch how the next difference is set.
Illustrative steps · plays no sound
04Progress tracking
Not just a score.
The direction you are moving in.
When you play with an account, every skill gets its own progress screen: the difficulty you have practised over time, the material you hear more easily, your practice pattern and a suggestion for what to do next.
This chart shows exercise difficulty, not a measured hearing threshold. The shaded band is the middle half of that day — narrow means you worked consistently, wide means it was scattered. · 16 days · 312 rounds
Only 4 correct rounds stand between you and the next stage.
You're at stage 4 of 9 and the engine is holding you above the level it takes to pass.
A few more rounds and the stage unlocks on its own.
The numbers in this preview are sample data and do not belong to a real user. On your own screen each block opens once enough data has built up.
05Works on your phone
Start at your desk.
Carry on from your phone.
Same account, same progress. Put on your headphones and open it in the browser — there is no app to install.
- Large touch targets in a single column
- Step between rooms with ‹ ›
- Progress is saved to your account
Seventeen skills · one way of learning
Hear the different layers of a mix.
Each skill starts with one simple question.
- Panning Is the sound on the left, in the centre or on the right? Try
- Compression What happened to the hit and to the tail after it? Try
- Stereo Width Does the sound feel narrow or wide? Try
- Frequency Which part of the sound changed — its body or its brightness? Try
- Gain Is one sound louder than the other — and by how much? Try
- Masking Which sound is covering up the other? Try
- Sidechain Ducking Is the bass making room for the kick? Try
- Phase & Polarity Are two copies cancelling each other? Try
- Reverb How far back does the tail put it? Try
- Delay How many repeats, and how far apart? Try
- Balance Memory Which fader moved in the mix you just heard? Try
- Reference Match Where do these two mixes differ? Try
- Mix Critique No reference — can you name the flaw? Try
- Chain Order Same two plugins: which one came first? Try
- Saturation Is it saturated — or just brighter or louder? Try
- Tone Vocabulary Muddy, boxy or harsh — can you name what you hear? Try
- Spectral Balance Is the mix dark, bright or balanced? Try
- Filters Was it cut from below, from above — and where? Try
- Resonance Hunt Where does this sound ring on its own? Try
- Multiband Compression Which band of this mix is squeezed? Try
- Transient Shaping Did the hit get sharper or longer? Try
- Gate & Expander What did the gate remove — and what did it break? Try
- Loudness & Limiting How hard is this master pushed — and what did it cost? Try
Hear better. Mix with intent.
In your next mix,
know what you are hearing.
The first step is a short trial: 4 questions, no account.
Start a short trialGet your headphones ready.
Closed beta: creating an account needs an invitation. The short trial is open to everyone.
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