Monitors or Headphones?

[mjdx88]

Well I have searched around a bit and I am still stuck on what I should do. I think getting monitors, but I think they are out of the question since I will not have a room that will be dead or even close to that.

So what would be a good pair of headphones in the $100 range for mixing/recording? I was looking at the Sony MDR-7506. These are all I use at school and I have had no complains.

Also if I were to go with monitors any suggestions in that price range as well? I was looking at the JBL control 1 or the edirol/roland MA-7A

Thanks,
Mike

[Massive Master]

Do some searching (you'll find it's covered often) and you'll come up with loads of information on why headphones are worthless.

That said - Don't cheap out on your monitoring. If you're actually interested in some day making decent quality mixes, they'll be, BY FAR, the most important investment you'll make.

[JonPaulP]

To me, the monitors sound way better than the headphones.

[Cosmic]

You can't mix with headphones with anything resembling accuracy. A million threads on this already.
Psychoacoustics, isolation within the ears, et. cetera...
I tried it too, early on. Nothing was balanced when played back on a system or in a car.

Just get a pair of reasonable speakers and get going. Virtually any kind of speaker is better than trying to mix with headphones.


C.

[doulos24]

you can't mix in a bad room either, unless you spend oh months with trial and error. Listening to well mixed cds in one listening position on one set of speakers for hrs at a time and several sets of speakers after the mixdown. Burn to cd listen in car find out why it sucks bring it back redo it again etc. So acoustic treatment and monitors go hand in hand. This hobby is exspensive and the low cost solutions are still fairly costly to do this right just a heads up

[mjdx88]

I know that this is not a cheap hobby, I am currently in school and about to graduate in a little less than a year. Im not allowed to bring any outside work in to school for obvious reasons.

I have seen the Sony headphones recommend a few times, and I also know that mixing on headphones does not work. Again I can spend about $100 maybe a little more. I dont need anything amazing but I do need something thats better than your standard desktop speakers.

For the most part I am working with a bit of music as a hobby. The rest will be projects for TV which will mostly be soundtracks and some voiceover work. What would you guys recommend. I have searched on here and the review forums for the monitors that I have liked and havent found much.

[music-man]

all I ever really do is set my pan on my vocal tracks with headphones. everything else is on loud speakers.

[gecko zzed]

Originally Posted by mjdx88

I know that this is not a cheap hobby, I am currently in school and about to graduate in a little less than a year. Im not allowed to bring any outside work in to school for obvious reasons.

I have seen the Sony headphones recommend a few times, and I also know that mixing on headphones does not work. Again I can spend about $100 maybe a little more. I dont need anything amazing but I do need something thats better than your standard desktop speakers.

For the most part I am working with a bit of music as a hobby. The rest will be projects for TV which will mostly be soundtracks and some voiceover work. What would you guys recommend. I have searched on here and the review forums for the monitors that I have liked and havent found much.

Ultimately, if you want to venture into recording more seriously, you will need to the equipment to support a serious result, which means setting up a room acoustically and getting quality monitors.

In the meantime, though, you have a limited budget and a less than ideal workspace. So do the best you can with headphones. You can get pretty good results if you work at it.

What you need to do is get yourself down to a place that sells headphones and try a few sets out. Listen carefully and pick out the one that gives what you think is the best sound. The general rule is that the more expensive the better, but it is not a universal rule, and you might find some cheaper brands that will surprise you.