Pro Tools mix analysis — find what's wrong and how to fix it

Drop a bounce from Pro Tools and Unveil tells you why it isn't sounding pro yet — loudness, dynamics, tonal balance, phase, and frequency conflicts — then gives you fixes written for Pro Tools's own stock plugins. No third-party plugins to buy — just a free account to try it.

Pro Tools metering and the mix engine

Pro Tools' native mix engine works in 32-bit floating point, so signals above 0 dBFS do not clip inside the mixer. On HDX systems, the DSP mixer uses a fixed-point architecture with a very large internal range, but the principle is the same: levels can drift high inside the mix without damage, then fall apart at the output or on bounce. Treat 0 dBFS on the master fader as a boundary you do not cross for a final.

The default Pan Depth in Pro Tools is -2.5 dB, and it can be changed in the Session Setup. This means a mono signal panned to center is 2.5 dB quieter than at the extremes, which matters when you compare a mono source with a stereo source. If your session was imported from another pan law, a mix can feel slightly different, so know what you are summing under.

Pro Tools can display meters pre-fader or post-fader, a preference you can set. Post-fader is what you want when judging how much is going to the master. If you leave meters pre-fader, a track with its fader pulled well down looks hot but contributes little.

Gain staging in an Avid-style session

Pro Tools sessions often come from a recording workflow, so tracks may have been captured at conservative levels, and sessions often have many auxiliary busses, subgroups and VCAs. Gain staging means being aware of which element changes signal and which one only controls it.

• Faders on Aux Inputs and Master Faders change the signal entering the next stage. A VCA master does not carry audio, it controls the faders of the tracks assigned to it, so it will never show a meter reading of its own.
• A Master Fader track with a meter at the end of the chain is the place to check the final level; put it last in the signal path and watch it during the loudest section.
• For a pre-master, keep the Master Fader peaks around -6 dBFS and avoid dynamics processors across the master.
• If a subgroup is hotter than expected, trim it with an inserted gain plug-in (Trim) rather than pulling the fader, so that faders retain useful resolution.

Stock processing: EQ III, Dyn III, and the Pro series

EQ III is the standard, and comes in 1-band, 4-band and 7-band versions; the 7-band gives you a high-pass, a low shelf, three parametric bands, a high shelf and a low-pass. It is clean, dependable and light on CPU. It is a good choice for corrective moves because it does not add color.

Dyn III provides compressor/limiter, expander/gate, and de-esser variants. The compressor/limiter is a flexible workhorse for individual tracks. Pro Limiter and the older Maxim are the final-stage tools; set the ceiling to -1.0 dB and take only a few dB of reduction. The AIR plug-ins provide additional effects and instruments, including reverbs and delays that are useful for depth, but they are not necessary for balance correction.

For metering, Pro Tools includes level meters on every track and master fader, but a measurement that follows the BS.1770 standard (integrated LUFS, true peak, loudness range) may need a dedicated metering plug-in depending on your version and plug-in bundle. Use whatever your version supplies for that, or a third-party option, and read the figure over the whole program.

Bounce Mix: the settings that affect your numbers

Use File, then Bounce To, then Disk, or the Bounce Mix command depending on the version. Choose WAV or AIFF, a bit depth of 24 for a mix going to mastering, and keep the session's sample rate unless the destination requires a change. Choose an offline bounce for speed; use a real-time bounce only when outboard gear or plug-ins that depend on real-time behavior are in play.

Dither belongs on the last bit-depth reduction only. Pro Tools includes a dither plug-in, which you can insert on the last position of the Master Fader chain when reducing to 16 bits. At 24-bit there is little reason to dither, and at 32-bit float there is none.

• Check the bounce source: it must be the output path that actually carries your master, not an unused bus.
• Verify the selection range covers the tail of reverbs and delays.
• Do not bounce with a limiter clamping hard if the file is for mastering; do bounce a clean version and a limited reference if you need both.
• Import the bounced file back into a new session track and check peaks and the waveform for flat tops.

Worked fix: harsh hi-mid around 3.5 kHz

If analysis shows the hi-mid band (2500 to 6000 Hz) 4 dB hot and the mix feels fatiguing, usually a vocal, snare or electric guitar is the source. A static cut across the whole master would dull everything, so find the source first.

1. Mute and unmute the likely sources in groups while looping the loudest chorus, until you identify which one dominates the 3 to 4 kHz zone.
2. Insert EQ III (7-band) on that track and use one of the parametric bands at 3.5 kHz with a Q of around 1.2.
3. Cut 2.5 dB. For a vocal, also check for sibilance around 6 to 8 kHz separately; that is a different problem and belongs to a de-esser in Dyn III, not the EQ cut.
4. If harshness only occurs when the vocal and guitar play together, make a smaller cut on the guitar (about 2 dB at 3 kHz) and a smaller one on the vocal rather than a large cut on only one, so each still sounds natural alone.
5. Bounce a new mix and compare the hi-mid band again; two cuts of 2 to 2.5 dB should remove most of a 4 dB excess.

Pro Tools workflow pitfalls

• Assuming the Master Fader reading is the same as what the bounce contains. If the bounce source differs from the master output, the file can differ from what you hear.
• Relying on clip gain and fader automation together without remembering both are active; the levels multiply in the signal path.
• Applying AudioSuite processing (which is destructive to the region) when a real-time insert would have been reversible.
• Mixing hot into an inserted limiter on the Master Fader and then sending that to the mastering engineer.
• Leaving metering pre-fader, then judging a quiet-looking track as quiet when it is actually pushing the sum.

Short checklist

Run the bounced file through your loudness and tonal measurements again to confirm the changes did what you intended.

• Metering set to post-fader; Master Fader meter last in the chain.
• Pan depth known and consistent with the project origin.
• Ceiling at -1.0 dB on any final-stage limiter.
• 24-bit WAV for mastering; dither only on the last reduction to 16-bit.
• Bounced file imported back and checked for flat-topped peaks.

What you get

• A 0–100 mix score with a per-metric breakdown (LUFS, true peak, dynamic range, stereo, tonal balance).
• Time-localized frequency conflicts — the exact moment and band where elements collide.
• Step-by-step fixes using EQ III, Dyn III Compressor, and Maxim — e.g. a corrective EQ III band at the flagged frequency.
• Genre-aware targets so a trap bounce isn't judged against an acoustic record.

Questions

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