Headphones/Studio Monitor mixing questions

WinterWinter

New member
I've been seriously mixing with AKG K240s for the past 10 months or so, without any sort of studio monitors in my set up (I've always planned on getting them to wrap up some mixes after everything has been recorded, but, I haven't bought any yet). I recently discovered that apparently K240s aren't the most honest mixing headphones to mix with, which made me a bit anxious about them and eager to purchase studio monitors. Now, my budget for gear is pretty low, so I was wondering if I could just get some nice replacement headphones to mix with, but knowing that mixing with headphones is a bit controversial, I wanted to know if it would be worth buying them, or would it be worth it just to get some good monitors? (my budget is around $500-600 for a pair, preferably ~$350, would definitely buy used if trustworthy) or am I just being misguided by possible snobs on the internet into thinking the K240s would be improper to mix with? If I were to buy studio monitors, what would you recommend for mixing? same with (if) headphones?

Sorry that was a lot of questions, but help would be really appreciated.

Thanks
 
imo.
the monitors are #1 "IF" you get a good room with them.
the 3ft EE Triangle help take the room out for nearfield, usually 6" cones were best Nearfiled Monitors in between 8" and 4"....less than 10" and more than 3". General rule of thumb. Then if you are thinking sub woofer, your room really is in need of work. (thats what Ive soaked up from the years)

if you cant make that happen...

I'd go headphones and maybe some pc speakers for playback and use the car and other friends players to tweek the mix. some hi-end system to hear the mix (is that really going to happen?)
Headphone mixes have been done already, so its not a question of "can it be done"...hits and billboards have been done already.. per articles on the internet so it must be true. :)

(off topic ranting)
Tracking is where its at, if things are Tracked really well Mixing shouldnt be so painful.
thats my HR hard slow learning result. no wonder I always hated mixing? the Tracking shitfunsounds was fun creating noise but then its like leaving a bunch of crap-tracks to be mixed and cleaned up and its just HR at its worst.

this is a missed Elephant in the recording room, imo. Tracking in HR vs a Pro-HiEnd approach.
Tracking a perfect great tune in a real studio, with people behind the glass sipping wine and listening through HiEnd spekaers and LoFi NS10 or Auratones...and moving mics or changing mics....get a beautiful track or two.

while a HR dude often has his closed back bass magnified $99 headphones on and is playing in drywall box room with mics picking up the source and all the crapBoxshitreflections so he starts ignorantly Eqing the crap-Track with his closed-back bass heavy headphones on and the end result is a Track that sounds like ass later....

like a pile of dog poo the track is then repeated over and over and then the poop-bag of tracks is left for the Mixing Engineer (probably the same person) to Mix and make it sound good somehow (which often doesnt happen).

Really good tracking, great takes...Mixing should be , or at least could be easier = fun.

It all makes sense in hindsight.
 
What CoolCat has to say is good advice. Some questions.........do you have any other headphones? Do you track / record vocals with your open AKG's? What do you listen to your mixes....or other music.....on currently? I have some AKG K240's and they're just ok to work with. They lack high end clarity.....have poor bass range and have a very narrow sound stage. All of those factors add to your difficulty getting good mixes.

To be sure.......good monitors are important.........and sooner or later you'll need them......but only if your working / listening space is acceptable. Some are not....and cannot be or are not allowed to be corrected for a number of reasons.

I use the Sennheiser HD-600's for mixing and they deliver excellent results. They're no longer over priced. A cheaper open can option is the Philips SHP-9500's. They're actually very accurate. In your budget range........you should perhaps consider one of those headphones and maybe a set of JBL LSR-305 monitors. The JBL's do translate very well.....as nearfields........unless you have a very bad listening space.
 
What CoolCat has to say is good advice. Some questions.........do you have any other headphones? Do you track / record vocals with your open AKG's? What do you listen to your mixes....or other music.....on currently? I have some AKG K240's and they're just ok to work with. They lack high end clarity.....have poor bass range and have a very narrow sound stage. All of those factors add to your difficulty getting good mixes.

To be sure.......good monitors are important.........and sooner or later you'll need them......but only if your working / listening space is acceptable. Some are not....and cannot be or are not allowed to be corrected for a number of reasons.

I use the Sennheiser HD-600's for mixing and they deliver excellent results. They're no longer over priced. A cheaper open can option is the Philips SHP-9500's. They're actually very accurate. In your budget range........you should perhaps consider one of those headphones and maybe a set of JBL LSR-305 monitors. The JBL's do translate very well.....as nearfields........unless you have a very bad listening space.

To listen/track/mix my songs I typically use the AKGs into a Focusrite 2i2 into my laptop. I frequently listen to my mixes in cars, on a hi fi, and on my phone as well. My room is around 20'x15', and about 70-75% of the walls have acoustic panels on them. I think what I may end up doing is buying some good studio monitors (I've been looking into HS50s, NS10Ms, and JBL LSR305) and then when the time comes I'll maybe pick up some Sennheiser HD-600s.
 
Sounds like a good plan to me except that I wouldn't use the AKG's for tracking vocals due to a possible leaking problem. I know the AKG's are only "partially" open....but some leakage can ruin a vocal take. If you're going to get some monitors (your choices are fine) then consider some closed headphones for vocal tracking. You don't have to spend a lot of money on them (just don't buy cheapies) because you're not going to do most of your mixing on them and your eventual plan to pick up some Senn HD600's is a good idea. Once you get your monitors........you'll find out MUCH MORE about your listening space........and we can help you with that as well. That's a nice size room for mixing and tracking by the way.
 
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