2016/10/21 10:37:08
polarbear
Hey Everyone,
 
So I have a question... I obviously jump back and forth between my headphones (Sennheiser HD380Pro) and my monitors (Event TR8, which are in need of a replacement after over 10 years but that's another post) for mixing and mastering... Then I go take the music and test it in my car and stereo and favorite headphones and blahblahblah...
 
LATELY though I've been doing the majority of my mixing/mastering in my headphones...
 
For the MOST part I get good results and things sound how they're supposed to and of course I end up having to go back and make tweaks like all of us do to make sure it sounds as good as possible everywhere, but for the most part I'm getting a good representation of what things sound like.
 
But sometimes the results are SO off. The biggest version of SO off appears when a song has that headache inducing sound in the car. It's hard to describe but all the sudden you start feeling like crap while listening to it haha. I've had that happen a few times and it just doesn't happen in my home studio. But it's not just that... It could be like the drums are way too loud in the car or you can barely hear this one instrument in my stereo. You guys all know how that is.
 
So I guess my question is... a) What headphones are you guys using for the most accurate mix? and b) any particular hints for the headache thing for those that have ever run into that one :-)
 
David
2016/10/21 12:37:27
patm300e
Believe it or not I am using Superlux HD681s (<$30.00)!
 
https://www.amazon.com/Superlux-681-Dynamic-Semi-Open-Headphones/dp/B002GHIPYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473851331&sr=8-1&keywords=superlux+hd681
 
Oh and I use the Sonarworks with the curve for the HD681s.  It just works.
 
http://sonarworks.com/headphones/overview/
2016/10/21 14:56:10
Vastman
Hey, David... a number of us use KRK KNS 8400's.  I selected them because they are considered among the flatest on the market.  Additionally, you should run Sonarworks in the master bus to insure optimal mix eq... Sonarworks has profiled the 8400s and it has made a huge improvement in my final mixes.  Others here agree... Many of us rely on it to better translate headphone mixing.  If you wanna go all whole hog they will even profile your specific pair of headphones...
 
Btw, U got Tundra yet? Working on a makeshift studio at the moment as I'm relocating but oh my, Spitfire again opens new territory!
2016/10/21 16:14:18
bluzdog
BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro 80 ohm and/or AT ATHM50 with SonarWorks or Focusrite VRM box.
 
Rocky
2016/10/21 17:08:00
jadonx
bluzdog
BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro 80 ohm and/or AT ATHM50 with SonarWorks or Focusrite VRM box.
 
Rocky


+ 1 Audio-technica ATH-M50
2016/10/21 17:32:30
Zargg
Hi. I am very pleased with my BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro 80 ohm. They are comfortable to wear for hours. I also have a set of AKG K240, which are ok, but give me headache after a short while.
All the best.
2016/10/21 18:25:17
TheMaartian
a) What headphones are you guys using for the most accurate mix?
 
I love my DT880s. Very comfortable. And I like the "air" of a semi-open back set of cans for mixing.
 
b) any particular hints for the headache thing for those that have ever run into that one :-)
 
Not on anything I've done, but one album in particular is pain inducing when played in my Subie Forester over a 440 watt HK system, Que Pasa by Babe Ruth. [If you're unfamiliar with them, check out their first album "First Base", six awesome songs, including a great cover of Zappa's "King Kong".] It's like they drove the entire mix at full speed into a brick wall (limiter), then backed up and did it again. And again. And again. Loud as hell. Almost no dynamics, but it sure does pump the sub, which pumps the entire enclosed volume of the car. I just can't listen to it at a desirable volume without pain.
 
The loudness and drug wars are both complete failures. Sigh. Geez, but I want to love that album. 
 
2016/10/21 18:42:13
djwayne
I had a similar situation last week, I explored many different headphones and ended up with the Sennheiser HD650's...I got a great deal on an open box set, that are just like new. I just received them yesterday, and spent the day trying them out. On commercial recordings they sounded great. On my mixes with known problems, the problems stood out like a sore thumb. This is exactly what I wanted. I feel these will be excellent headphones for mixing and mastering. They are very comfortable. I'm very happy with them.
2016/10/21 22:54:45
bitflipper
I have a theory about your headache-inducing car sound: it's your car's fault.
 
Seriously. Car stereos universally have horrible bass response. It has to do with the intentional manipulation of frequency response by the stereo itself, but mostly it's an acoustical problem. No matter how much money you've spent on aftermarket speakers, it's physically impossible to have flat bass in a car. The volume of air is too small, there are too many resonant cavities, too many reflective surfaces, and too little low-frequency absorption.
 
But, you say, I have commercial CDs that sound OK in my car. That's because they've been mixed and mastered in a very flat listening environment. Headphones are not flat. Even good ones lie. Even the ones that sound "good". Especially the ones that sound "good".
 
Your only hope is to train your ears to mitigate the headphones' defects, and you don't achieve that by listening to your own stuff on them, but by devoting many hours listening to quality commercial references through them. It's not a theory, it's a real psychological phenomenon; over time your subconscious will just know when your mix is right.
 
If you're using headphones just for mixing in a quiet room (not using them for tracking, not monitoring while a band is playing in the next room, not mixing in bed next to a sleeping spouse) then open-back or semi-open headphones will deliver a much flatter response than closed-back cans. 
2016/10/22 11:07:09
polarbear
I'm gonna take a look into all the headphones recommended here... But I'm curious this Sonarworks software. So this is something I put on my master bus (I'm assuming after Ozone since that's what I master with) and then do my work... Do I then remove/bypass it before exporting? I'm curious how it works. I'd assume that there's not settings within it that I'm trying to affect the actual audio with, and it's more for how I get to hear it in my headphones right? Sounds really interesting.
 
Thanks guys.
 
And yea as for that headache thing... It's so bizarre. It definitely does seem to be mainly my car, but I've found some of my just listening headphones have the effect too... Just not my studio monitors or headphones. And it's never detectable in the studio. Everything sounds great and looks great, but then I take it to the car and it's like "Oh man I gotta pull over..." Haha. It's not even loud! It's like I'm coming across some hidden frequency like the brown noise on South Park that makes you crap your pants haha. And it's only ever happened in the 100s of songs I've made, on 3 songs... So it's definitely not a common thing... It just happens to be happening on one song on my new album and I'm thinking what I'm gonna do today is just remove all the effects and Ozone and start over on mixing it cause it's bugging me haha.
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