Do you mix/master with headphones or studio monitors?

I got monitors recently after using headphones for a while, and it has really helped me when mixing...! But yes, as some have pointed out earlier, sometimes I use headphons just to zero in on specific issues or features that might have been overdone a bit. I also mix a bit with my friend, making monitors even more useful.
 
I am Currently using both. Though my monitors do say they are "studio monitors" , I consider them for of a large media speakers. They are VERY inexpensive Behringer MS40s and I am always fiddling trying to get a more consistent end result when mixing with them. As a result I am constantly switching between them and my Audio Technica ATHM50s headphones. These are cans that I know very well as I use them for listening as well as tracking, and obviously some mixing. I use them when I feel its appropriate. I can not often have loud volume here in my Apt either when when I have the time to mix, so often the cans go on then. I ALWAYS reference my mix through other audio sources as well, and while I am very new to engineering and mixing, I feel I am progressing fairly rapidly. Im sure that progress will come to a plateau soon enough, but until then I am loving "mixing" in my spare time and learning more about the art every day.
 
I have a pair of crap monitors (Edifier R-1000), a couple cheapo headphones (AKG K44, Sennheiser HD-202, Superlux HD-681) and a pair of full-size hi-fi vintage loudspeakers. I never had experience with quality monitors. Using my crap ones I got average-to-poor results: if the mix sound OK on them, they wil sound nice on my headphones but will sound horriblly in the loudspeakers. This is unnaceptable.

Then I changed things. Currently I totally forgot about my monitors and started to mix with my favorite can (Superlux HD-681) and when I am happy with the result I switch to the full-size loudspeakers and make some slight adjustments. With this approach I am getting too much better results and in less time. Also now my mixes sound good everywhere (for my standards, of course).

:D
 
Using the best technology you can afford for your productions is always a good start. That said, I use both cans and external monitors for recordings and mixes alternating. A lot! I have to make compromises in every mix I do. My DT 880 Pros with my head phone amp boosts all the lower frequencies and magnifies the mid ranges for concise articulations. For a broader perspective and flat response, I'm in the default monitoring mode with a pair of Yamaha HS80M's. At the end of the mix I'll average the differences. So, I usually find all my mixes acceptable on every playback system. Everywhere I go. They sound great at loud levels and at low levels.

This track is not mastered!

The Cost Of Freedom by Peter Brown
 
Both. Just like having more than one set of speakers to refer to when mixing, headphones offer yet another perspective. They can also be better than monitors for some specific tasks. such as listening for clicks and pops and other extraneous noises. This may be a hyperbole in the event that you work in a professional studio that was purpose built and has very expensive monitors, but for the rest of us who have just built and installed acoustic panels and have monitors wortbelow $5k, headphones can be great because they completely remove the effect of the room you work in from what you hear. Particularly with sub bass.
 
But you can't trust the low end in headphones. The difference in drinking a half glass or a quarter glass of water can make enough difference in the size of your face to throw that all away. You can use obscene amounts of low end in cans and it can sound perfectly fine (in cans...).

I'm all over them for zeroing in on anomalies...
 
The vast majority of headphones do tend to exaggerate bass. I definitely don't disagree. If you can find cans that reproduce bass with minimal bass exaggeration, you can become familiar with how they present their view on bass and ultimately learn and understand how it will translate to other loudspeakers. The room is removed from the equation, so it can provide insights from a different angle. I wouldn't like to rely on headphones alone. Air needs to be moved and the bass needs to be felt in order for the music to understood well enough to tweak to completion. Myself, I am forced to work out of a relatively small room, although it's dimensions and ratios are not ideal they are not terrible either (2600x3600m) and allow me to use midfields. If I had the financial freedom to build a studio, I would make the control room significantly larger and build in high output main speakers with very transient subwoofers and combine it with 3 way nearfields, like the ATCs. Back in reality though, I use relatively high SPL 8" 2 way monitors. Usable bass extension goes to around 40Hz, but the rolloff still allows you to feel down to 30Hz or so. I have a sub that I ended up putting in storage. I learnt the hard way that if you don't have two matched or a dual ono sub with a very fast transient response, you simply make monitoring more difficult. Sure it's great for showing off the mix to a client, but it's no use in mixing.

What was the question again?
 
never mix or master with headphones.

if you know of ONE pro that does it this way,
i'd like to hear about it.
 
Monitors in the nearfield ALWAYS! And for about the last decade my favs have been Yorkville YSM1i (AKA ART SLM-1). No sub needed. Mixes done on my Yorkies sound good on everything, including headphones.
 
GONZO-X said:
never mix or master with headphones.

if you know of ONE pro that does it this way,
i'd like to hear about it.
Click to expand...
Thing I'd, we're on a homerecording board. I bought monitors a while back because everybody was saying you've got to have them.
Now I've got shit monitors in an even shittier room. Biggest regret purchase in audio for me.

What you should be saying is: "if you have treated your room and have the budget for good monitors, get them. Otherwise, stick to headphones."
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
Thing I'd, we're on a homerecording board. I bought monitors a while back because everybody was saying you've got to have them.
Now I've got shit monitors in an even shittier room. Biggest regret purchase in audio for me.

What you should be saying is: "if you have treated your room and have the budget for good monitors, get them. Otherwise, stick to headphones."
Click to expand...

i understand all of that..

but if you are serious about audio,
this is NOT the way to go.
 
GONZO-X said:
never mix or master with headphones.
Click to expand...

Never say never . wait, I just did.

For mixing, a combination of decent monitors and phones can be good.
Double checking or fine tuning panning, levels/balances, blends, efx's, etc.

For mastering, they're rarely used here unless for a quality control run through or as a microscope to dial in on sibilance, plosives or digital clicks/distortion. but I wouldn't put much faith in them for eq decisions, .. especially the low end, which can tend to be quite vague.
 
I "build" the songs in my headphones, and do the actual mixing on the monitors. I have a set of Sennheiser headphones that sound great..then switch to monitors and I can easily hear all the garbage that the phones didn't pick up..mainly vocal performances and pitch.
 
Bruthish said:
I "build" the songs in my headphones, and do the actual mixing on the monitors. I have a set of Sennheiser headphones that sound great..then switch to monitors and I can easily hear all the garbage that the phones didn't pick up..mainly vocal performances and pitch.
Click to expand...

This happens to completely true for me too. :)
 
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