MIXPrep Help Guide

Getting Started

Drop a session folder

Launch MIXPrep and drag your session folder directly onto the app window, or click the drop zone to browse. MIXPrep scans for audio files (WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3), MIDI files, session documents, and rough mixes automatically.

First-run setup

On first launch, MIXPrep walks you through a quick setup wizard:

1. Activate your license (see Activation below).
2. Pick your default gain target and mode. SMART Gain is the recommended default.

Activation Rewritten for v1.4.4

v1.4.4 gives you three ways to activate MIXPrep. They all end at the same place: a license stored locally on this device, validated against your purchase. Pick whichever matches the situation.

Path A: Sign-in link, then paste the key (recommended)

1. Open Settings > Activate in MIXPrep.
2. In the Send sign-in link field, type the email address you used at checkout. Click Send link to my email.
3. Open your email. Click the one-time sign-in link.
4. Your browser opens a page showing your activation key (looks like mp-ai-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX). Copy it.
5. Paste the key into the Paste license key field in MIXPrep. Click Activate this device.
6. You'll see "Activated as Core" (or AI, depending on your tier). Restart MIXPrep when prompted.

Path B: Paste a key you already have

If you've already gotten your activation key from a prior sign-in link, you can skip straight to step 5 above. Paste it into Paste license key, click Activate this device, restart.

Path C: Paste an offline activation token (new in v1.4.4)

If your studio's network is blocking mixprep-proxy.vercel.app (some corporate firewalls and restrictive ISPs do), or if Path A is just spinning, email support@themixacademy.com and ask for an offline activation token. You'll get back a longer string that starts with something like eyJ2IjoxLCJhbGc….

1. Open Settings > Activate.
2. Paste the full token string into the Paste activation token field (the second card, below the license-key card).
3. Click Activate offline. MIXPrep verifies the signature locally without making any network call.
4. You're in. The next time MIXPrep can reach the internet, it quietly upgrades your offline token to a normal device-bound one in the background. You don't have to do anything.

Tiers

• Free – full app, 16-track limit per session, SMART Gain, MixPrint included.
• Core ($97) – unlimited tracks, all core features, free updates.
• AI / Founding – everything in Core plus MIXRef, SonicLens, and MixBrief. The AI order bump is $49/year on top of Core.

Devices and the 3-device limit

One license can activate up to three devices. If you try to activate a fourth, MIXPrep shows you the three currently-active devices with a Remove from this device button on each. Free up a seat, then come back and activate the new machine.

Migration grace (v1.4.2 → v1.4.3/v1.4.4 upgraders)

If you upgrade to v1.4.3 or v1.4.4 from an older v1.4.2 install, you get a seven-day grace window where the app trusts your old activation while you finish setting up the new key flow. After that, you'll need to complete one of the activation paths above. There's a hard deadline of 2026-08-19, after which all migration grace expires regardless of when it started. Activate before then and you're set.

Platforms & Architectures New

MIXPrep ships in three flavors. Same activation, same processing pipeline, but a few differences in what's bundled and how local audio analysis works.

Why two Mac builds?

Some of the audio-analysis libraries MIXPrep uses don't have native Intel wheels anymore. Rather than ship one slow, fragile universal binary, we split the build. Apple Silicon gets the full local audio brain. Intel gets the lighter build with the same UI and the same activation, and falls back to librosa for tempo and key. AI features (MIXRef, SonicLens, MixBrief) are cloud-routed and identical on every build.

What "Not detected" means on Intel

If MIXPrep can't lock onto a tempo or key on Intel, you'll see "Not detected" more often than on Apple Silicon, particularly on pad-heavy or free-time material. This isn't a bug. The folder-hint and manual override paths in Tempo & Key Override still work normally.

The Review Card

After MIXPrep scans your session, the top of the Review page shows a hero card that reads the session for you and tells you what to do next. Status icon on the left, plain-English headline, four stat tiles for the session essentials, and the gain mode pills right where your eye lands.

What the card tells you

• Status icon and headline. Adapts as you work. "Review your session" when there's nothing to flag. A warning state when categories are missing or stems look off. "Processing" while exporting. "Done" when the run completes.
• Tracks. Total file count.
• Stereo / Mono. Split count. Tells you instantly whether anything got bounced to the wrong type.
• Tempo. Session BPM. Click the tile to override (see Tempo & Key Override).
• Key. Detected session key.
• Gain mode pills. SMART, Peak, RMS, or a MixPrint preset. Switch modes right from the card.

Coach-tone subhead

Below the headline, the card gives you a short subhead in plain English. If two tracks aren't categorized, it'll tell you. If SMART Gain isn't going to behave the way you expect on a particular session, it'll say so. The subhead is the one place where the app speaks like a person walking you through it, not a piece of software.

The Table

Track list overview

After scanning, MIXPrep displays all your tracks in the main table. Each row shows the track name, auto-detected category (Kick, Snare, Vocal, and so on), stereo type analysis, and audio statistics.

Categories

TrackSense auto-categorizes every track using smart keyword matching and AI classification across 37 categories. Works on sessions with 100–200+ tracks in seconds. Categories include Kick, Snare, HiHat, Toms, Overheads, Room, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Synth, Vocal, BGV, FX, and more. Right-click any track to change its category manually.

Play and preview

Click any track to select it. Press Space to play or pause. Use the left and right arrow keys to seek five seconds. Enable auto-preview to automatically play each track as you navigate with the arrow keys.

Rename tracks

Press the ' (apostrophe) key or right-click and select Rename to edit a track name inline. Press Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel.

Reorder tracks

Each audio row shows its order number on the left edge. Hover the row to swap the number for a six-dot drag handle, then drag the row up or down. You can also use the right-click menu to move tracks. MIXPrep respects your custom order when exporting.

Restore original filename (NameRecall)

Press ⌘+LCtrl+L on any track to restore the full original filename. Useful if Clean Names stripped a suffix you actually wanted to keep, or if you renamed a track and want to revert.

The ACTION Column

The right side of each row in the table has an ACTION column that paints two pills: one for the stereo handling and one for the gain MIXPrep is about to apply. Reading the ACTION column tells you, at a glance, what's going to happen when you hit Process.

Stereo pill

• Keep stereo. The track is real stereo and will export as-is.
• Already mono. The track is mono and stays mono.
• Dual mono → mono. The track is dual mono (L and R identical or near-identical) and will be folded down to a single mono file.
• PROTECTED · gain staged. The track is in a stereo group that MIXPrep won't touch independently (overheads, room pairs, drum subgroups). Gain is staged at the group level to preserve imaging.

Gain pill (right side)

What this pill shows depends on the gain mode you've selected on the Review Card:

• SMART. The pill says only "Smart". The per-row gain delta is intentionally hidden because SMART Gain is the category-aware engine that took years to tune, and exposing every per-row number gives away how it works. The pill is your confirmation that SMART is making a category-aware call on that row. The result lands when you Process.
• Peak. Shows the target, like "Peak -18". Every track lands at the target you picked.
• RMS. Shows "RMS -18" (or your chosen target).
• MixPrint. Shows the actual gain delta computed from the MixPrint preset, so you can sanity-check what the saved balance is asking for.

TrackSense

Auto-categorization

TrackSense auto-categorizes every track using smart keyword matching across 37 categories. Works on sessions with 100–200+ tracks in seconds. Categories include Kick, Snare, HiHat, Toms, Overheads, Room, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Synth, Vocal, BGV, FX, and more.

BGV detection

TrackSense matches bare vocal part names for BGV categorization: Alto, Soprano (and Sop), Tenor, and Baritone are all recognized as BGVs without needing a "BGV" prefix. This handles choir and ensemble sessions where tracks are labeled by vocal part only.

Teachable dictionary

When you manually change a track's category, MIXPrep learns the keyword association. For example, if you assign a track named "Rhodes_01" to Keys, MIXPrep will automatically categorize any future track containing "Rhodes" as Keys. Manage learned keywords in Settings.

Multi-language support

TrackSense recognizes 170+ audio terms in 15+ languages, so sessions from international studios are categorized correctly out of the box.

Confidence dots

Each row in the table shows three small dots next to the category, encoding how confident TrackSense is in its read:

• Three green dots. 85% confidence or higher. Strong match across keyword, AI, and context signals.
• Amber dots. 60 to 85% confidence. Reasonable match, but the track name was ambiguous or short.
• Red dots. Under 60% confidence. The row is worth a glance.

Hover the dots to see the source (keyword, AI, or teachable dictionary), the runner-up category, and any disagreement between signals. A question-mark icon next to the category means two signals disagreed. Click it to see both.

Clean Names

Automatic filename cleanup

MIXPrep cleans up messy track names during export using unified rules. The table display shows cleaned names without the .wav extension so you can review before processing.

What gets cleaned

• Session-wide numbered suffixes. If every track in the session ends with _01 or similar _\d+ suffixes, MIXPrep strips them automatically. Single occurrences are left alone.
• Channel suffixes. .L and .R suffixes are removed.
• Version tags. v1, v2, and similar version suffixes are stripped.
• Processing tags. _comp and similar processing markers are removed.
• D.I. normalization. "D.I." is cleaned to "DI" for consistent naming.

Gain Staging

SMART Gain (default)

SMART Gain (Session-Matched Adaptive Ratio Targeting) is the default gain mode. It adjusts each track's level based on its category: kicks and bass get more headroom for transient preservation, vocals are brought forward, BGVs are balanced relative to lead vocal count, and FX tracks are pulled back. The result is a balanced starting point that saves time at the fader stage.

Gain mode selector

The Review page includes a gain mode dropdown with four options:

• SMART. Category-aware gain staging (recommended).
• Peak. Normalize to a peak target level.
• RMS. Normalize to an RMS target level.
• MixPrint. Apply gain from a saved MixPrint balance preset.

Changing the gain mode updates the table with live previews of the new gain values. The gain mode selector on the Review page and the one in the Settings panel stay in sync. Changing either one updates both.

Tempo & Key Override

Auto-detection is good but it isn't perfect. Some sessions have a tempo that audio analysis can't lock onto: half-time grooves, ballads, free-time intros, or any track where the producer printed everything to a click that's off. MIXPrep makes the override one tap.

Overriding the tempo

The BPM tile on the Review Card is always clickable (your cursor changes to a pointing hand). Tap it and a small menu appears with four options:

• Keep detected. Trust the audio analysis. Default.
• Reset to detected. If you've already overridden once, this reverts to the original detection.
• Use folder hint. If your session folder name contains a BPM (like Worship Set 132bpm or Battle Belongs - 78 BPM), MIXPrep parses it and offers that as a one-click choice.
• Type manually. Enter any BPM. Useful when you know what the song is supposed to be.

Tempo conflict warning

When the detected tempo and a folder hint disagree by more than a few BPM, the tile flips to an amber warning state with a "Tap to verify" CTA. This is MIXPrep telling you: "I'm not confident in this one, eyeball it before you trust it."

How the override propagates

Once you set a tempo, every downstream feature reads it at call time: the MIDI export, the MixBrief report, the MIXRef BPM filter, and the session card display. You don't have to re-trigger anything. The session card updates instantly.

MixPrint

What is MixPrint?

MixPrint is balance fingerprinting for finished mixes. Scan a completed mix you love, and MIXPrep captures its balance profile (the relative levels of every stem category using LUFS, spectral analysis, and crest factor). Save the profile as a preset and apply it to new sessions to start from a proven balance.

Creating a MixPrint

1. Drop a folder containing a finished mix (consolidated stems) onto MIXPrep.
2. MIXPrep detects it as a Pro Tools session and asks: Prepare for Mixing or Create a MixPrint.
3. Choose Create a MixPrint. MIXPrep consolidates, analyzes, and scans every track.
4. A progress overlay shows per-track updates as the scan runs.
5. Name and save the preset. It appears in your MixPrint library.

Applying a MixPrint

On the Review page, select a MixPrint preset from the gain mode dropdown. The dropdown lists all saved presets alongside the standard gain modes (SMART, Peak, RMS). MIXPrep maps each track's category to the corresponding level from the fingerprint and shows the result in the table.

Where presets are stored

On macOS: ~/.mixprep/mix_balances/.On Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.mixprep\mix_balances\. Each preset is a JSON file containing the per-category balance profile.

MIXRef

What is MIXRef?

MIXRef is your reference track intelligence system. It analyzes your session context (genre, instrumentation, key, tempo) and suggests professional reference tracks that match your mix.

Intake questionnaire

When you first open MIXRef, it walks you through a quick intake: genre feel, target vibe, and any specific references you already have in mind. A "What to avoid" multi-select lets you flag things like overly compressed, too much reverb, harsh highs, or muddy midrange, so MIXRef knows what to steer away from.

SonicLens, A/B reference listening

After the genre and vibe questions, SonicLens presents two reference cards side by side with 30-second Apple Music previews. Listen to both and pick the mix that's closer to your vision. 80 hand-curated tracks across 10 genres, and your choice feeds the AI as the highest-signal data point for recommendation quality.

Smart skip

Don't know the answer to a question? Skip it. MIXRef submits whatever you've answered so far. Partial answers are submitted intelligently with a "Got it" confirmation, so nothing is lost.

Prep screen

After the intake, a brief prep screen (5–10 seconds depending on session size) appears with a gentle fade-out transition while MIXRef processes your answers and builds recommendations.

Reference search

Search for reference tracks by song title, artist, or genre. MIXRef pulls results from Apple Music and shows album art, BPM, key, and engineer credits when available via MusicBrainz.

Keep, replace, and compare

For each suggested reference, you can Keep it in your reference list, Replace it with another suggestion, or compare it side by side with your session tracks.

MixBrief: Musical Intelligence Report

The intelligence report

MixBrief analyzes your entire session and generates a musical intelligence report: emotional read, mix priorities, watch items, and suggested approach. Covers tempo, key, time signature, audio quality alerts, and actionable mix direction.

Session priorities

Based on the analysis, MIXPrep surfaces the most important things to address before mixing: tracks with clipping, files with unusual sample rates, stereo issues, suspected sub bleed, and more.

Key and tempo detection

MIXPrep detects session tempo and key using audio analysis. It also scans for key changes throughout the session. Click the key display in the session card to see the full breakdown. If the detected tempo looks wrong, the BPM tile on the Review Card is clickable. See Tempo & Key Override.

Sample Rate Confirmation Gate New in v1.4.4

Before MIXPrep processes a session, it now confirms with you whenever the target sample rate in Settings would actually resample your files. This was added in v1.4.4 after a dogfood catch where a target of 48 kHz was silently converting 44.1 kHz files because the customer thought "Match Source" was on.

When the gate fires

• If your target sample rate in Settings is anything other than "Match Source" AND
• at least one file in the session has a rate that doesn't match the target,

MIXPrep shows a confirmation dialog before processing. It lists the target rate and a per-source-rate breakdown (for example, "44.1 kHz: 5 files, 16 kHz: 2 files"). Cancel is the default button because, in our experience, the silent resample is almost always not what the customer wanted.

What to do

• If you do want to resample, click Confirm. MIXPrep proceeds with the conversion.
• If you don't, click Cancel. Open Settings > General and change Target sample rate to Match Source. Then Process again.

Where to set the target

Settings > General > Target sample rate. Options: Match Source (default), 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz, 192 kHz.

Processing

Export modes

MIXPrep offers two export modes:

• Ordered Copy. Creates a new folder with tracks numbered in your custom order. Original files are untouched.
• In-Place. Modifies files in the original session folder. A backup is created automatically before any changes.

Output folder structure

When using Ordered Copy, MIXPrep organizes your export into subfolders:

• Audio/. Processed audio files, numbered in your custom track order.
• MIDI/. Exported MIDI files with session tempo, key, and time signature.
• Reports/. Session intelligence reports and any generated documents.

MIDI export

MIXPrep exports Type 0 MIDI files containing tempo, key, and time signature metadata detected from your session. Files use ASCII text encoding and default to 4/4 when no time signature is detected. Fully compatible with Pro Tools and other major DAWs.

Backup

When using in-place processing, MIXPrep creates a timestamped backup folder before modifying any files. You can find backups in a _MIXPrep_Backup subfolder inside your session directory.

Settings

Settings panel layout

The Settings panel is organized into four tabs:

• General. Gain target and mode, target sample rate, trim silence, audio output device, Sentry opt-in.
• Track Order. DG Default or custom category ordering. Drag to reorder.
• MixPrint & D.I. MixPrint preset management and Direct Inject (Pro Tools / Reaper) template settings.
• Activate. License activation. Two cards: Paste license key (online) and Paste activation token (offline). A third card sends the magic-link sign-in email if you've lost your key.

Settings sync

Settings stay in sync across the app. Changing the gain mode in the Settings panel updates the Review page dropdown, and vice versa. All settings persist across sessions and app restarts.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Award Badges

What are award badges?

When MIXRef suggests a reference track that won or was nominated for a major award, a gold badge appears on the reference card. Badges are shown for Grammy, Dove, BET, Billboard, and Stellar awards.

How badges appear

• Badges display as gold icons directly on the reference card.
• Hover or tap a badge to see the specific award and category.
• Multiple badges can appear on the same track if it won several awards.

Engineer Credits

Expandable credits panel

Every reference card includes a View Credits button. Click it to expand a panel showing the full mixer, producer, and mastering engineer for that track.

Search by engineer

Inside the expanded credits panel, click "Search more by this mixer" to find additional reference tracks mixed by the same engineer. This is a fast way to build a reference library around a specific mixing style.

Credits coverage

MIXPrep sources credits from two independent databases (MusicBrainz and Discogs) for approximately 90% coverage across all genres. If credits are unavailable for a particular track, the credits panel indicates that no data was found.

Local Analysis

MIXPrep does some audio analysis on your machine, with no API call. What's bundled depends on your build.

What's analyzed locally

• EBU R128 Loudness. Broadcast-standard integrated loudness per track.
• Danceability. Rhythmic energy score indicating groove intensity.
• Dynamic Complexity. Dynamic range and signal variability.
• Onset Rate. Transient density per second, useful for percussion and rhythmic elements.
• Tempo and Key. The session-level BPM and key shown on the Review Card.

What's analyzed in the cloud

MIXRef recommendations, SonicLens scoring, and the MixBrief musical intelligence report all run through the MIXPrep proxy, not on your machine. That means they're identical on every build. They also don't leak your audio: the proxy receives metadata and session features only.

Auto-Update New section

MIXPrep checks for updates on launch and once every few hours while it's running. When a new version is available, you'll see a small banner at the top of the app with a download button.

What the updater sends

Each check sends your platform and architecture (for example, mac; arm64 or mac; x86_64 or windows; x64) so the proxy can route you to the correct build. It does not send anything about your sessions or audio.

Why "no update available" can be correct

MIXPrep is architecture-strict. If a new version is published but the build for your architecture isn't out yet, you'll see "no update available" even though the website may show a newer version number. This is intentional. We will never offer you a DMG or EXE that can't run on your hardware.

• Intel Mac users: you'll see updates as soon as the Intel build for that version publishes. The Intel build sometimes lags the Apple Silicon build by a day or two.
• Apple Silicon Mac users: you'll see updates as soon as the arm64 DMG publishes.
• Windows users: the updater prefers the installer variant. Portable users can grab the portable ZIP from the website.

Verifying your current version

• macOS: Help menu > About.Windows: Help menu > About.
• The About panel shows the exact version string. v1.4.4 reads as v1.4.4. Intel-specific builds also read v1.4.4 in About. The build's architecture is recorded in your crash reports as a separate tag if you ever need to confirm.

Troubleshooting

Activation: "this key isn't valid" or "device limit reached"

• "Not valid" or "not found": Double-check the email you used at checkout. Use the Send sign-in link card in Settings > Activate to re-issue the key.
• "Device limit reached" (3/3): MIXPrep shows you the three currently-active devices with a Remove from this device button on each. Free a seat from a machine you no longer use, then come back and try again.
• Network errors (timeout, DNS, TLS): Your network is blocking mixprep-proxy.vercel.app. Try a different network or ask support for an offline activation token (see Activation Path C).

Activation: "this activation token isn't valid"

• Make sure you copied the full token string. JWS tokens are long. If your email client wrapped the line, paste the whole thing including the parts after the line break.
• Offline tokens expire 90 days after they're issued. If yours is older, email support for a fresh one.
• Tokens are one-time-bind. Once a device successfully connects online with an offline token, that token's first-activation flag is redeemed and a different device can't claim the same token.

Tempo or key shows "Not detected"

Pad-heavy worship sessions and free-time intros can leave audio analysis without enough rhythmic information to lock onto a tempo. Use the override menu on the BPM tile (see Tempo & Key Override) to type the tempo manually, or drop a folder named with the BPM and use the folder hint.

"Confirm Sample Rate Conversion" dialog keeps appearing

That's the sample-rate gate added in v1.4.4. It fires whenever your target sample rate in Settings would actually resample one or more files. If you don't want resampling, open Settings > General and change Target sample rate to Match Source. See Sample Rate Confirmation Gate.

Auto-update says "no update available" but the website shows a newer version

This is architecture routing doing its job. The newer version exists, but the build for your architecture isn't out yet. You'll see the update as soon as the matching build publishes. See Auto-Update.

I downloaded the new version, but it's still showing the old version number

• Quit MIXPrep fully (⌘+Qclose all windows including any in the system tray).
• Trash the old MIXPrep.app in Applications, then drag the new one in from the DMG.Re-run the installer, or replace the portable folder with the new one.
• Launch the new copy and check Help > About.

Still stuck?

Email support@themixacademy.com with your MIXPrep version (Help > About), your platform and chip (Apple menu > About This Mac on Mac, or Windows version on Windows), and a short description of what's happening. David reads every bug report. Same-day fix on most issues.

FAQ