Aside from your ears, the most important tool you use every day might just be the music you listen to in the studio, and compare your work against. According to Justin Colletti, there's a "right" and "wrong" way to use references however. Here's his tips on how to get the most out of them, avoid some of the common pitfalls, stay creative, and keep from chasing your tail while comparing your tracks to other work. Whether you're songwriting, arranging, producing, mixing or mastering, you're simply not making music in a vacuum. For more on this topic, see https://sonicscoop.com/2017/04/24/reference-tracks-next-generation/ Thanks to Focusrite, Gear Club and Soundtoys for sponsoring this podcast.