Mixing Music in a Car

Today I plugged my laptop into my car's stereo and made music in my car. The car's engine is not on, but I guess it uses the battery a bit. It was a pretty cool surround sound kind of feeling. I thought that a person could live in their car, own a laptop, use available wi-fi, and be an electronic musician. Anyone have thoughts/experience of making music in a car?

I gotta say that sounds awesome.

I used to do this quite a bit with BeatMaker2 on an iphone/ipad when my gf was working weekends and I had no friends/nothing better to do. It's kind of awesome.

Edited February 4, 2013 by cloudbreaker

I have done this a few times - it's much less pleasant than making music at home or out in a park due to being cramped. Maybe if you had a truck or a minivan or something?

A couple years ago I hooked up my Nintendo DS to my truck's tape deck via an adapter and cranked a track I made on Korg DS-10. Should do that shit again some time.

When I was mixing a lot of music years back I always checked the mixes in my car, since that's the system I listen to the most.

 

I won't lie - the thought crossed my mind to bring the laptop in there to mix. I might try that next time.

  On 2/4/2013 at 8:15 AM, scones to die for said:

When I was mixing a lot of music years back I always checked the mixes in my car, since that's the system I listen to the most.

 

I won't lie - the thought crossed my mind to bring the laptop in there to mix. I might try that next time.

 

checking translation in the car is a good protocol to follow, but why would one you want to make critical mix decisions in such a poor reproduction space?

one of my favorite things to do on a road trip, as long as the driver is tolerant of the activity. get an AC inverter and you're good to go. Only problem is most cars when you plug into an AC inverter with, the normal headphone jack of a laptop puts out a lot of noise. Good idea to bring a small portable usb soundcard, but maybe a simple ground-lift adapter on the power cable would work too, anyone tried that?

Would it be extra IDM if I bought a car specifically for this purpose, despite not knowing how to drive?

yeah, a non-environment car would be cool concept.

Sounds great. I don't get the point of mixing and mastering with proper speakers if thats the only time you're going to listen to music like that. I only listen to music on headphones or in my car so it makes sense to mix there.

  On 2/9/2013 at 6:17 PM, westhead said:

Sounds great. I don't get the point of mixing and mastering with proper speakers if thats the only time you're going to listen to music like that. I only listen to music on headphones or in my car so it makes sense to mix there.

 

i think the rule to follow is try as many environments as possible, to diversify your experience with the sounds and how they react in different spaces and such (at least as a burgeoning musician/producer, i'm sure there are mixing/mastering pros that could tell you exactly how everything will sound through the most likely places)...unless of course one never wants anyone else to ever hear their music. lol.

  On 2/9/2013 at 6:17 PM, westhead said:

Sounds great. I don't get the point of mixing and mastering with proper speakers if thats the only time you're going to listen to music like that. I only listen to music on headphones or in my car so it makes sense to mix there.

if it is you that is only ever going to be listening to your tunes and if this only takes place with youar headphones andor only in your car then by all means perfecctly acceptable to mix to sound best in those spaces.

 

but not everyone has your headphones and not everyone drives your car ..