Ear fatigue causes progressively worse mixing decisions and requires active management

Extended listening tires the auditory system, particularly reducing sensitivity to high frequencies. This is exacerbated by excessive monitoring volumes, which also risk permanent hearing damage. Best practices: (1) mix primarily at low to moderate levels; (2) take frequent breaks; (3) avoid finalizing critical mix decisions after long sessions; (4) return to the mix fresh the next day — most experienced engineers report that returning fresh reveals obvious problems. Regularly varying monitoring levels, switching between monitoring systems, and seeking fresh opinions from others all counteract the adaptation process. Many top mix engineers spend most of their mixing time at surprisingly low volumes.

Examples

Joe Zook on ‘Stop and Stare’: mixed it late at night with massive drums/bass, returned next morning to find where did the song go? and started over.

Assessment

You’ve been mixing for six hours and are about to decide on the final compression settings. What should you do instead, and why? Name two specific strategies for keeping ears fresh during a long session.