balnce diff between speaker & headphones

[Mainak Nagchowdhury]

I work with Philips SBD-3376 headphones when i'm working with Cakewalk.
The monitors of the computer are regular and thus there is always a great diff between what seems great on the cans and what comes out through the speakers.In this case what should be the eq etc to make it sound closer to what i get on the cans.Another thing, how do i tackle the same thing with respect to Soundforge?
Any help would be aprreciated,
Mainak

[nubius]

I'm afraid you'll never get anything out of those computer speakers that even comes close to what you hear in the cans.
I could go into detail (challenge for someone else??) about headphone/monitor stereo imagery/EQ etc. but it would take a while.
The basic point is: if it sounds crap on the PC speakers - it's because they're crap speakers. Try just using the headphones from now on and concentrate getting a good sound in those. I have a plugin called NoPhones (can't remember where from) that helps when it comes to mixing in headphones. You hear the sound as you would do from a pair of speakers.

[John Sayers]

where did you get the nophones plugin?? never heard of it - does it work??

[pglewis]

No one ever wants to hear this, but a better monitoring set-up is the only practical solution. Until then, you're going to be doing a LOT of guessing on the EQ.

[nommad]

What I've found so far is that mixing in headphones is a really bad idea. Whenever I do a mix just using headphones, it usually sounds like crap in the real world -- car stereo, jam box, home stereo, etc. You are not actually hearing what your mix is through the phones! The 2 areas that seem the most afected are bass levels and effects levels/settings. ESPECIALLY reverb. I would agree with the guys above that a good monitor set up is essential. On that note - anyone have suggestions on the cheapest way to get quality monitoring? ~ Michael

[nubius]

nommad -
of course, you're absolutely right but I have to give the NoPhones plugin another plug (teehee)

There are 3 presets - Bedroom Studio, Lounge and Car Stereo. Each sounds different but all have much less stereo seperation, decreased bass, different midrange and FX are less apparent.

It's nowhere near a substitute for good monitors but it does give you an "idea"

You'll find it at http://vellocet.ii.net/software/VNoPhones.html - I think it's free