Nearfields vs. Headphones

[mark4man]

So...I'm auditioning reverbed tracks in the mix for one of my best vocal performances...on my KRK Rockit 8's. My ears perk up when I roll a track that was verbed with GlaceVerb...one of it's nicest presets. Everything sounds great...the vocal is right up front in the mix & has a real nice tone...but I'm not hearing the subtle reflections I heard when I processed the track.

I pull out my Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's; & plug 'em in.

It was unbelievable !!! The difference was like night & day...they made the mix sound like it was recorded in a million dollar studio; & the verbed vocals were crisp & beautiful, with just the nicest spacey echo you could imagine.

So now I'm thinking...I'm down to the wire with the final mixing on my CD...& I obviously want my tracks to sound as good as they possibly can on a wide range of systems...from boomboxes to 3-way bookshelf stereos to audiophile systems...

...& now I'm not sure which source I can trust.

If I mix to what sounds best in the nearfields, will that be sufficient?

Or will the songs sound like they do in my phones on a quality audiophile system? (& should that be my goal?)

I swear...I don't know if it's a quality issue with the KRK's...or a condition typical to nearfields in general, but they sound lackluster after hearing my tracks with the phones on (& it's not just ear fatigue.)

Or...

...is it the other way around...are the Sennheisers adding sparkle that's not actually there?

Need to know how best to proceed; & could use some advice from the experienced.

Thanks,

mark4man

[crunkthanamug]

I know EXACTLY what you mean...i like the sound of my mixes better in the headphones too. But I go back and tweak the mix until it sounds good out the monitors. Then i switch back to the headphones for some more fine tuning, until they both sound good. In my experience, the sound from the monitors is the "real" sound though. I think the phones just offer more detail because theyre closer to your ears.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Whad'ya Mean I Can't Mix With Headphones????

[DeeExpus]

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD540 Reference II Headphones and I love them to pieces. I would like to charge £150 (ish) for my finished album and give a pair of these free with every CD Bought so that the purchaser can hear just how good these things make me sound!!

The times I have used them to mix, (thinking that Im an engineering genius and feeling very please with what Im hearing) only to "wake up" when i take the result into the car, front room etc.

I now love My Alesis m1 Active Mk2's I do!

Cheers

Dee

[punkin]

The thing you're hearing is just the nature of the headphone...the bass and highs are hyped and the imaging is exadurated. About all I use them for is picking apart tracks, cutting out noise and stuff like that.

[modson]

Originally Posted by punkin

The thing you're hearing is just the nature of the headphone...the bass and highs are hyped and the imaging is exadurated. About all I use them for is picking apart tracks, cutting out noise and stuff like that.

yeh, you need to trust monitors! HP's generally have great frequency reponse (especially to bass) which unless you have top class nearfields you wont get!

i have similar probems. I cant afford monitors at the mo and all my mix's are sounding good in the cans but not on the stereo. I'd avoid mixing w/ phones if you can. monitors tend to be more represented.

mastering might also help you get that 'crispness' of sound if thats what you want


Hope this helps,

Chris

[mark4man]

Thanks everybody...

Monitors it is, then.

How good is the actual quality of KRK's (while I'm on the subject)?

Sometimes...on vocals that are right there on the edge of harmonic distortion, they buzz on the KRK's. But in the cans...they just sound like...well; harmonic distortion (with it's scratchy, high fr. grating characteristic.)

Are KRK's buzzy, or is it me?

Thanks,

mark4man

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Mark-4-5- & 6:

Try your CD on another set of monitors/speakers and see if you still get the "buzz."

Cans are a super environment but as the other comments pointed out, you really need good monitors to do your stereo track before the CD.

I have the KRK passives with an 8" woofer. If your KRKs have a smaller woofer, that might be a problem.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Green Hornet

[Robert D]

Originally Posted by mark4man

So now I'm thinking...I'm down to the wire with the final mixing on my CD...& I obviously want my tracks to sound as good as they possibly can on a wide range of systems...from boomboxes to 3-way bookshelf stereos to audiophile systems...

...& now I'm not sure which source I can trust.

If I mix to what sounds best in the nearfields, will that be sufficient?

Or will the songs sound like they do in my phones on a quality audiophile system? (& should that be my goal?)

The whole design goal of studio monitors is to give a flat, un-hyped, accurate picture of your mix in a natural soundfield. A good set of monitors should make you work to get your mix sounding great, and will facillitate that mix to translate well to other playback systems. Good headphones give you instant gratification, but don't serve the above goals very well. Mix to the phones and it'll sound great in the phones, but who knows how it will sound elsewhere. Mix to the monitors and it should end up sounding great in the phones still, and will sound good everywhere it's played.

-RD