Played the mix through the worst speaker in the room.
The kick disappeared immediately, which was expected. The bass became a rumor. What surprised me was the guitar: suddenly too polite, sitting in the exact place where it could be ignored.
That is useful information.
Changes made:
- less low end in the guitar, more bone around 1.6k
- vocal delay down until it felt remembered instead of applied
- one ugly transient left untouched because the speaker needed it
The big monitors lie beautifully. The small one lies less.