Im far from a pro, but I started only with headphones for about 3 years or more, and the mix always translated different to speakers, usually for the worst.

In headphones the mix is too intimate, things sound better than they are, panning is all off and the bass behaviour is totally camouflaged.

Do yourself a favour and don't mix on headphones! By all means get a pair for you night sessions to help you record and track and maybe iron out some fine detail, I have a pair of budget akg 240's which sound flat to me and are comfortable to wear.

The pair of KRK5's I got are great, but Ive no doubt that higher spec monitors with some room treatment would add a hell lot more.

Cian
Cian

I have not seen them lately, but what I had was a record (vinyl) that was frequency response set to the RIAA standard. With a decibel meter, I use to set my speakers with a 27-band equalizer making the reponse flat (or as flat as could be). Speakers do not handle down to 20Hz or so because of limited cone response of small speakers even if it compensates for that. An 18" speaker may get down to 30 Hz or so, and then usually speakers are brighter in the high-end with the tweeters. I actually see no other way to do it, unless you get the JBL's speakers with the built-in room analizer whatever it is called. Anyway JBL's use to be the standard because one can listen to them for hours, but some people think the bass response usually is weak. It may just depend on speaker size, and at least a 15" speaker will get to 50 Hz with a little distortion and with a proper cabinet down to 30-35Hz.

But as it is now, I use ear-buds and cheap speakers because if it is nothing else with the song, not all that many people use an expensive speaker system, and the few who do will just have to put up with it in the end unless an expensive recording studio is used.

Anyway, a person could check his ears also, but speakers drop off at the low end and the high end may be too high.

That's my take on it, so although I have different speakers not all of them are always hooked up anymore. Such is life!

And just for me, I hate horn speakers unless they have changed lately over the years.

Anyone?

there is a reason professional mixers do not use headphones while tracking and mixing.

We check our mix so that it will translate on to many different systems , Even it you have 
good speakers and a correctly treated room , you still will want to check your mix on other 
systems, headphones being one of them. (especially to check bass respnce)
   To mix on only headphones is really tough,can it be done , sure but you will probably burn 100 cd's in checking and correcting your mix. 
  Also like speakers not all headphones are created equal!  
  ( this is the short version :)
 

But such a reason doesn't prevent them from merely "checking" the mix, I gather.  I wonder what the difference is. 

well, i just don't know how to phrase the answer to this any differently....


many people before you, have figured this very basic fact out.
yet, you do not want to use the collective understanding of many many professionals and enlightened enthusiasts to short-track your learning curve.




i suggest you mix your next..... say........ 10 project, on nothing but headphones.






then, and only then........ mix your next 10 projects on a good set of monitors.


then, go back.


and take your time, for god sakes......


and listen to the two different mix techniques.




and come up with your own interpretation of what works best.




the way sound waves travel off of speakers, and use room acoustics to make things happen, and the way headphones sound and work, are just so different, i can't imagine someone not understanding this, but like i said, experience is key.

batsbrew

But such a reason doesn't prevent them from merely "checking" the mix, I gather.  I wonder what the difference is. 

well, i just don't know how to phrase the answer to this any differently.... many people before you, have figured this very basic fact out. yet, you do not want to use the collective understanding of many many professionals and enlightened enthusiasts to short-track your learning curve...

the way sound waves travel off of speakers, and use room acoustics to make things happen, and the way headphones sound and work, are just so different, i can't imagine someone not understanding this, but like i said, experience is key.

This is hilarious.  Did you not read my post (#40) just above yours, batsbrew?  You couldn't have.  Because in it, I make clear that I understand - and agree with - the idea of only using headphones as a comparison tool in order to (as Rain put it well) validate whether the mix - initially done on good reference monitors - is translating well to different systems.

So I don't know why you're laboring to convince me, in your follow-up post, of something I obviously get and agree with.  I even credited you, by name, for using the word "check" or "checking" with the connotation of "comparing against", and admitted that that should've tipped me off as to what everyone was referring to when using the phrase "checking the mix", as opposed to what "checking" tends to mean in everyday life (e.g., checking the football score, checking on the kids...), namely, "a quick, cursory look", not really involving comparison, against anything.  After David's response, I made the connection between that phrase - that lingo, if you will- and its intended referent in the current context.   That's all I was after.  And I thought that'd be the uneventful, pleasant end of it.  In fact, I'll bet nearly everyone did.  I'd say that's what the real "collective understanding" was, among the "many many professionals and enlightened enthusiasts", until your most recent post.

You're obviously an intelligent, experienced audiophile, bat; and I've benefited from your insights, many in this thread alone.  That's why I hope - and am assuming - that you simply missed or misread my last post, since that's the only way I can fathom someone posting the way you did.

Anxious for your thoughts.

So I don't know why you're laboring to convince me

Don't worry.