Top 10 things to avoid as a beginner

[The Institute]

We like to listen to music loud and thats great, but its not great for making music. If you are a beginner, try turning your computer volume real high and turning down what feels too loud instead. If you can, though, making music is much easier at lower volumes because you get a better sense of volume balance that way. I mix everything at a low volume, much lower than what I would listen at

if you are mixing professionally, you normally want to mix fairly loud, but not oppressively loud. this is because of equal frequency contours (what were once called fletcher-munson curves); at low volume, midrange frequencies sound loud, and low and high frequencies sound quiet. the loudness of mid, low and high frequencies balances out the louder music gets, but if you mix at low volume, because you can't hear bass and highs very well, you're liable to make those frequencies (or the instruments producing them) too loud. there are industry standard volume levels for professional mixing and mastering (established by dolby and katz) but someone who wanted to match them would need to have a decibel meter handy.

we experience audio fatigue quickly listening at fairly loud volume, and fatigue makes high frequencies seem quieter, which is why mixing very loud is not a good idea, and taking frequent breaks when mixing is a good idea.