Two tracks, one plugin, no fader moves
BEATref sits on your master. Load a record you love next to your own mix and switch between them — matched in level and locked to the same place in the bar, so the only thing that changes is the thing you are judging.
Your references, already read
Every track you add gets its tempo and key worked out once and kept. Filter by BPM, by key, by style, and load the one that fits what is on the timeline right now.
Line the grids up first
A comparison is only worth something when both tracks sit on the same beat. Trim the reference against the host grid, apply, and every switch after that lands where you expect it.
Then mix between them
A crossfader and three bands of EQ per deck. It is the quickest way to find out whether your low end survives the company: pull your own bass out, bring theirs in, listen to what moves.
Both tracks, band by band
Split mode cuts your mix and the reference into frequency bands and stacks the waveforms, each with its own RMS and the difference beside it. Low against low, mid against mid — you see which band is carrying the gap instead of guessing at the sum.
Then isolate what you are chasing
Stem separation runs on the reference: drums, bass, other, vocals. Pull out the one element you are actually working against and compare your track to that, instead of to the whole record playing at once.
Where your mix actually sits
Tonal balance against the reference across the whole range. The shape is the point — not that one has more 60 Hz, but that yours falls away where theirs holds on.
Above the line you have more
The same picture with the reference subtracted, so what is left is the list of things you might change. Green is more than the reference, red is less.
Is the bass steady, or only loud?
Low-end energy over time, yours against theirs. A kick that ducks every other bar shows up here long before it shows up on a club system.
What survives a mono sum
A narrow cloud is mono-safe. The points out at the edges are what a club's mono sum will quietly eat, along with the evening you spent putting them there.