Kiln · Mix analyzer
Kiln
Firing
From rough mix to finished.
Unbiased ears and a path to the end. Firing listens to each group and the whole song, tells you in plain words what to fix and which Kiln tool to reach for, then walks you through a checklist that ticks itself as the mix comes together.
Not sure which you need? Take the quiz →
The nameFiring is baking the clay, stage by stage, until the piece is done. Potters watch the cones through a spyhole to know when it's ready.
One plugin, two pages: Mix shows what's wrong; Firing walks you to done. Switch between them at the top of the Master.
What it does
Groups and a Master
One on Vocals, Drums, Bass and Guitars, one on the stereo out. They find each other in your session.
Balance
Each group against the whole mix: "Vocals need about 4 dB more gain."
Tone and translation
Mud, harshness, ringing frequencies, loudness, true peak, and whether the mix holds up in mono.
Your reference
Put one on a song you love and Firing judges your mix against it, and lets you flip to it, level-matched.
The Firing
A five-stage checklist from prep to finish. Items tick themselves as Firing hears them sorted; you can tick or untick any of them.
Hear it as others will
Play the mix as a phone, earbuds, a car, a laptop or big speakers would, or at the level Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube would play it.
The Mix page
Firing on the Master gathers what every group's Firing heard and turns it into plain-English advice, worst first.
Tone of the mix
Nine ranges from Sub to Air, each against the usual target for your style, or against your reference song.
Balance
Each group's level against the whole mix, with the range it usually sits in shaded.
What to look at
Findings worst first, each naming the Kiln tool to reach for.
The Firing
Switch the Master to its Firing page and the mix becomes a checklist. Five stages, done in order. Each item ticks itself when Firing hears it sorted out, and says what to do (and with which Kiln tool) when it isn't. Click any item to tick or untick it yourself: your call sticks, and is saved with the session. As each stage is done the cone bar warms, from Not fired yet through Cone 022, 06, 6 and 10 to Cone 12: fired, ready to bounce.
1 Prep
Every track's level is set, no hum left, no clipped recordings. Reported by Kiln Slake on your tracks, with the time of the first clip.
2 Balance
Each group sits in its usual range for the style, the vocal holds steady from line to line, and kick and bass are heard.
3 Shape
No mud, nothing harsh or spitty, no ringing frequencies, the low end centred, and the mix holds up in mono.
4 Check
Heard on every device, loud enough without being crushed, peaks under -1 dB, and compared with your reference (optional).
5 Finish
Nothing left marked "fix this" in What to look at. Bounce it.
Check: hear it as others will
Most mixes fall apart somewhere you didn't listen. The Check buttons play your mix the way other people will hear it, without leaving the chair. Each device counts as checked after five seconds of listening.
- Phone
- No low end, all mids: is the bass line still there?
- Earbuds
- Hyped lows, sharp upper mids: harsh cymbals and esses jump out
- Car
- Cabin boom and road noise: does the vocal stay on top?
- Laptop
- Thin and narrow: do guitars and vocal still read?
- Big speakers
- Extra weight, played loud: flab and boom
- Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
- The level each service would play it at
- Mono
- Left and right folded together
- Reference song
- Your reference, matched in level to your mix
Previews only change what you hear. Firing measures the mix before them, they always start Off, and they switch off for offline bounces.
Watch
Controls
- Role
- Master, Vocals, Drums, Bass, Guitars, Keys, Other, Reference
- Style
- Shoegaze, Rock or Pop
- Mix · Firing
- Analysis page, or the checklist
- Tone of the mix
- Nine ranges from Sub to Air
- Balance
- Each group vs the mix
- What to look at
- Findings, worst first, with the tool to use
- The Firing
- Five stages, 16 items, tick or untick any
- Check
- Device, streaming, mono and reference previews
- Start over
- Clear every Kiln Firing