Headphones

Cheap 30 quid sennheisers. Although mine was 20 pounds. Say 40 dollars. And don't think about it too much as you are going to be listening to your mixes anyway on other systems right? Like your car stereo.

What happens when you compare commercial music to your mixes on your headphones?

The commercial music sounds as it should in my truck or headphones. Honestly i dont go back and forth from my mixes to commercial but i will cause im definitely doing something wrong! I'm beginning to get a little frustrated. I'd like to think im getting better at mixing but sometimes i feel like im going backwards.

I would not recommend Sennheiser, i got Sennheiser HD 380 PRO , and to me they are
to bass heavy and Lack some mid range.

You could go to your local music store and test:

Audio Technica ATH M50 /  AKG K271 MKII  /  Beyerdynamic DT 770.

I have not tested any of those, but read Reviews.
And i vill try to get one of those myself.
 
Also consider this: http://global.focusrite.c...dio-interfaces/vrm-box

lawajava


I know this sounds like a poor suggestion, but I've been having good luck mixing on headphones with Apple iPhone earbuds. I have a variety of other high quality headphones. I've been led astray when mixing with good headphones because I might put too much bass in, or might have too much high range or whatever that makes it sound great on good headphones but out of whack on other systems like a car stereo.  But I experimented with the Apple earbuds and found they sort of already cut out the highs and lows. So if I can get the mix right for them I've found I've had surprisingly satisfactory playback through speakers on other systems.  I don't think it's the preferred way to mix, but for headphones mixing those are my current preferred headphones - because of the results I'm getting.  Definitely not as fun as listening to the good headphones, but gets better multi-use playback.

I don't think there's anything wrong with using low-grade headphones for mixing, as long as they're not your only reference. In fact I've heard a lot of pros saying that they keep, for instance, a pair of cheap laptop speakers on the studio and check the mix on them regularly, because of the feedback they give about the mid range. Same thing as pros mixing on Auratone speakers in the past I suppose (Auratones were used extensively by Quincy Jones to mix the Thriller album as an example). 

sharke


It's perfectly possible to mix great sounding music on headphones. But you need a pair of good quality headphones that have as little color as possible - I have a pair of ATH-M50's and they're fantastic for mixing. 

But what makes all the difference is if you mix through a speaker simulator like the Focusrite VRM Box. They recreate the tonal characteristics of various studio monitors and home speakers (e.g. laptop, desktop, TV, home hi-fi etc) so that you can hear how your mix is going to sound on a variety of systems. What they don't do is fully recreate the experience of listening on speakers, but they do offer a diversity of sonic perspectives to check your mix against. If it sounds good on every simulation on the VRM Box, there's a very good chance it's going to translate well to a variety of real world speakers as well. Probably one of the most useful purchases I ever made. But you have to pair them with a good quality pair of cans. 

The AT's are great. I love them very much!!

I just checked out the VRM box and that seems really cool. I believe i gotta have one! Thanks for everyone's help. Im still getting some new headphones too! That's why i love this forum!

I think the difficulty of mixing is also very dependent on the genre of music you're making as well. If your tracks are all comprised of live instrument recordings, some or all of which have not been recorded in the most perfect of conditions or with the best equipment, you're going to have a much harder time and this is where a properly treated room with good monitors become essential in order to correct problems and create a good sounding mix. 

However, if your genre consists mainly of synthesized parts (or professionally recorded commercial samples) then a lot of the work has already been done for you. It's far easier to create a good mix of synthesized parts than live instruments, because the sounds you start with are pretty much perfect to begin with. The task of mixing becomes one of arrangement, i.e. selecting sounds which compliment each other, and removing unnecessary frequencies from those sounds (synth presets usually cover a larger range of the frequency spectrum than required for your mix, because they're designed to sound good when soloed). 

For instance, my preferred genre at present is EDM and electronica. I recently purchased the Driven Machine Drums Strikes Back package of analog/digital drum samples. They're recorded and processed so well, that they sit in virtually any EDM mix and sound great right off the bat. I can quite happily drop them in a mix and feel confident that they're going to sound great without me having to sit in an acoustically treated room messing around with EQ and compression for hours. In fact all I have to worry about is their relative levels, and I can do that on headphones with the VRM box. Same with many synth sounds from a good quality synth like Z3TA or Absynth. I might cut or boost frequencies here and there in order to make synth sounds sit well with each other, but it's almost a mechanical, logical task that I can sometimes do with a freeware frequency spectrum analyzer like Vonexgo Span. For instance, if I have a synth part that I've decided is the most important element part of the mix, I will look at Span and see that, for example, most of its energy is happening between 400 and 600kHz. So I will cut those frequencies a little in the other synth parts, to stop them from clashing. Of course the final judge must always be your ears, but I can obtain good results working this way, on headphones, that I wouldn't even begin to hope for if I was mixing a live band.  

In my opinion you really need to get a good book on mixing. Something like Mike Senior's "Mixing Secrets." Or take the Brian Lee White courses in mixing, EQ and compression on Lynda.com. Even though they're done in Pro Tools, what you learn in those courses will translate to any DAW. 

I've said this before but I'll say it again (and get one more post in today 


I mix mostly on headphones (since My Lovely Lady's office is right next door to my studio). I have 4 sets of phone I verify on (before I take it to the car and the phone/mp3 player and there I technically add a 5th pair of phones).


1. AT M_50s
2. Sennheiser HD-600
3. Sennhesider IE6 buds
4. Ultimate Ears In Ear Reference Monitors
5. phone/mp3 -> cheap phones provided with the phone (est value $10)


Of course I use my Mackie HR 824 monitors with ARC when I think the mix more or less passes all the above tests and it will not disturb The Lovely Lady.

+ Several for VRM Box.

I've got just about all the headphones that have been mentioned on here. I'm with Craig and agree they all have their strengths and weaknesses. However, one pair stands at the front for me that hasn't been mentioned yet. I can mix, master and do whatever I need with them and they sound nearly identical to my monitors as far as the over-all eq curve. Of course I get a little more sub low out of my monitors due to using a sub, but these cans are my choice above all others.

If you can find them, AKG K-240 DF's are by far the best I have ever used and translate perfectly everywhere to me. They are discontinued, but supposedly the ones that took their place are even better. I don't know if this is true or not, but it would definitely be worth checking into. If by chance you can actually get a set of these used or someone has new ones still in stock, even if by chance they may not be for you, they will always be one of the best sets of headphones you own.

One of the things I like about them is, when you feel bass in them, you're using too much. Just like a real monitor mix....when you feel too much bass, you most times are using too much low in your mix. The object is to feel a little and hear a little to where the balance gives you the proper amount of bass. These headphones deliver that in my opinion and everything is crystal clean, clear and nothing is over-accentuated.

Quite a few have recommended the Sennhesisers. In my experience, both sets I own are overly bassy and I would never trust them for anything. Sony MDR's are bassy as well and lack mids...though they are super popular. They are good, loud headphones but I'd not trust them for anything other than to monitor something.

As far as bang for the buck goes, the ATH-M50's would rule the roost but for the extra $70 or so bucks, I'd get the AKG's. They just really have a nice, flat response in my opinion that doesn't cloud my decision making. You may have to get used to judging low end in them at first, but I assure you, highs and mids will be absolutely perfect in all your mixes because they translate so well. Low end will always be tough to jugde in any set of cans you buy....but these are the ones I use and I've had great results for about 30 years. Good luck!

-Danny

Isone Pro is a vst plugin that simulates monitors. I have used it with some success.

I would not mix on earbuds BUT I would never let anything go out the door without checking on earbuds.

When mixing, I go back and forth between the nearfields and a pair of Audio-Technicas.  Nearfields are primary but I can hear different things in the headphones--particularly stereo balance which can sound different than indicated on the meters.

My AKG 270 closed back cans suffer from no left side output. I mailed them to the AKG repair center yesterday. I also own two pair of AKG 240s which I bought in 1986(ish). They both still work bu the output is roughly half of my ATH-M50s.

I went here Dude....a long time ago....and got these. FWIW.

Very comfortable too. Not one session have they ever been uncomfortable
and they just don't tire my ears like other sets.
Sound....well that's for one to decide - If/when they go bad I'll replace in-kind.
 
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