Songs Sound Worse Through Different Headphones

P

Pocketlint

New member
Hello Everyone!

My band is recording our first album on Logic Pro 8. We're done all the tracks except for the vocals so I figured I would mix the songs a bit before we started. I'm using Sennheiser eH 250 headphones when mixing and they sound pretty good. After I got a few songs to sound the way I like, I listened to them on a pair of cheaper in-ear headphones (Skullcandy) and the songs sound horrible now. There's way too much treble and it doesn't help that we're playing Ska/reggae so the guitar is ear piercing. The skullcandys aren't bad headphones, I use them when I listen to my iPod and they sound good. But I don't want to release an album that can only be enjoyed on expensive headphones. So, I have two questions before I continue mixing:
1. What should I be using to mix? (Speakers? In-ear headphones? Or should I stick with the Sennheisers)
2. Are there any tips you have that could help with getting a good sound through any pair of headphones or am I just stuck with trail and error?

Thanks
 
You're recording an ALBUM and you're using headphones to mix? No offense, but good luck. I think you just learned why that might be a problem.

Ideally, you want to mix in a well-treated room using good speakers and good ears.

trial and error is well and fine for learning about mixing and doing demos. But there's a reason people spend hundreds (or more) of dollars on room treatment and studio monitors. Along with the fact that it takes years of experience to learn how to mix properly. Most of us here have been doing it for years and are still learning.

I'm not trying to sound negative. But the reality is, if it was so easy to simply throw on a pair of headphones and mix, good recording/mixing/mastering engineers wouldn't be so valuable.

Like any profession. Anyone can do it. But it takes lots of practice to do it well. And you need the right tools.
 
RAMI said:
You're recording an ALBUM and you're using headphones to mix? No offense, but good luck. I think you just learned why that might be a problem.

Ideally, you want to mix in a well-treated room using good speakers and good ears.
Click to expand...

+1. mixing on cans is possible, but its impractical because it doesn't take into consideration the effects of the room on the sound of your recording. I use headphones for "zooming in" on some detail, like a problem frequency. when I mix, its always on some good quality near-field monitors.

T
 
Yeah, I agree you will need some kind of speakers as well as headphones. Getting your mix to translate to other playback devices in different environments is an important part of mixing, some people actually have built into their set up ways of switching quickly between monitors/hi-fi speakers/headphones/boom box speakers to see how the mix is translating, other people through trial and error, burning cd's and taking them to the car/different rooms e.t.c learn after a while how their mixes should sound on their monitors so don't have to do this every time.

You've already realised there's probably too much treble in your mixes, and while hi end headphones with good bottom end reproduction can tolerate it, small speakers aren't so forgiving, but you should be able to find an amount of hi end that sounds good on both.

Other things to bear in mind for translation to small speakers are making sure low end instruments i.e kick drum/bass guitar have a reasonable amount of mid-range content so don't get lost, also pay attention to upper bass and low mid frequencys say from 120hz-300hz as these will be as low as small headphones realistically go and need to be present.
 
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I used to use headphones to mix and the song never translated well to other mediums. I went ahead and bought M-Audio AV40's and noticed a huge difference in sound. I can hear things I've never heard before and it definitely assists in my mixing. The AV40's are about 150 I believe, so if you're looking for something that doesn't break the bank I'd recommend these!
 
I'll just dogpile on here. Even cheap speakers are probably going to get you closer than headphones, especially if you're relatively new to recording. A few years ago, I bought 4 pair of cheap tracking headphones (Behringer), and after a few years, I can get in the ballpark with them, but the bass is almost always a wildcard on headphones. Frankly, I think the only reason I can get close with these is because I'm typically mixing my own bass, and I don't tend to change it much, so I already have a pretty good idea of about where it needs to be tripping the meters and how to EQ it and the things around it.
 
Pocketlint said:
Hello Everyone!

My band is recording our first album on Logic Pro 8. We're done all the tracks except for the vocals so I figured I would mix the songs a bit before we started. I'm using Sennheiser eH 250 headphones when mixing and they sound pretty good. After I got a few songs to sound the way I like, I listened to them on a pair of cheaper in-ear headphones (Skullcandy) and the songs sound horrible now. There's way too much treble and it doesn't help that we're playing Ska/reggae so the guitar is ear piercing. The skullcandys aren't bad headphones, I use them when I listen to my iPod and they sound good. But I don't want to release an album that can only be enjoyed on expensive headphones. So, I have two questions before I continue mixing:
1. What should I be using to mix? (Speakers? In-ear headphones? Or should I stick with the Sennheisers)
2. Are there any tips you have that could help with getting a good sound through any pair of headphones or am I just stuck with trail and error?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The main problem is that headphones are not substitute for near field monitors. Use only near field studio monitors when mixing, these are highly accurate monitors with flat frequency response that will tell you "honestly" about your mix. So if it sounds good, it sounds really good anywhere and should translate to other monitors as well (e.g. in your car stereo, your friend iPod, hi-fi CD player, radio station, TV, etc)

Even using near field studio monitors are not enough, you need to treat your rooms with acoustic treatments as well so that it won't unnecessarily bounce standing waves, etc, that again can cause some audio mixing problem.
 
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