some questions about all (mix and mastering and headphones)

P

Psygnosis

New member
Hi to all...
I'm a newbie about homerecording but I like it and I want to learn more and more, of course I can't work in this field but I just like to have fan with my friend who are "professional" singers and I'd like to help them with mixing and mastering...
So I have some question...
I generally mixdown just vocal and base (not all instruments in different track, sometimes I mix in a single track percussions, because I play that).

  1. It's better to mixdown with headphones or speakers? I always mix with headphone but I have so many problem with speaker.
  2. When it's better to use headphones?
  3. What do you think of Philips SHL3000W or of Sennheiser HD 433 (pretty old)?
  4. Do you apply EQ on mixdown either on vocal track and in on the base track? or do you apply EQ on mastering?
  5. When I master a track I have to work on the mixdown merged track?!


thanks a lot in advance
 
That would depend on what headphones or speakers you are talking about. Generally, speakers would be better, as long as they are not crap, and you know them well. Anyone with some bit of experience, will tell you that a great (expensive) set of monitors, in a room that is acoustically treated, is the only way to go. You will not find any real professional producers, that mix with headphones alone. Well, you shouldn't.

Eq is used wherever eq is needed. Quality monitors, in a room that is balanced, will help you to know where it is needed. Headphones will generally lie to you. Especially cheap ones like you mentioned.

It is not to say that you can't get decent results with cheap monitoring equipment, but it is way more likely that you wont.
 
thanks for the advice...

so it's better if I mix with normal speaker than with the headphones....

and what about my question about mastering?
 
Well, it is better if you have air between yourself, and the source of the sound. In other words, headphones give a false sense of what is going on in a mix, because your ears are isolated from the two sides of the mix. There can be a number of issues that cant be heard with headphones.

What was the mastering question? If you are singing to a pre-made backing track, it is likely already mastered to some degree. That is typically the toughest challenge, getting your vocal to sit nice, with a backing track that you have no control over. You will likely need to notch out some frequencies in the backing track, to make room for the vocals in the mix. Every situation, and song will be different though, so there is no 'end all' way to get it to work. Listening through good monitors in a good environment, will make it much easier. :)
 
I would not recommend solely mixing with headphones. Most cheap headphones process sound on their own (bass boost for example) and thus what you hear isn't actually the true signal of what you think you are hearing. A good set of monitors will help with that. But then you also have to look into the room you are mixing in and its own acoustics. I'm poor, so I do my mixing between stereo speakers and headphones. Is it the best way to go? Not at all.

Because of my limited resources I've had to adapt. This means I've learned how my speakers sound. I listen to music on them all the time so I know how a general track should sound coming out of those speakers. What I've learned to rely on is getting a good mix, then I'll bounce it out in a .wav and mp3. From there I will listen to it on many different systems. In my car, in my crappy cd player, in my laptop, etc and get an idea of where the weak and strong points are in the mix. For example I'm recording a rock band and I gave them a rough mix of what we had done. We still have sessions set up to lay down more tracks so right now its basically bass and drum kit with vocals on a few tracks. I took a listen to the mix that I had in my car, and the mix I listened to while mixing sounded decent, but in my car the highs were out of control. This means when I go back to mix them, I'll compensate for that. It's time consuming, and a bit of a pain, but I can't afford acoustic treatment, monitors, etc... That would be my advice is to work how its comfortable for you, but then a/b it on a lot of sources especially systems like a car that you may listen to quite often and be used to music coming out of it.

When it comes to EQ its personal preference. I would do all EQ and processing in general during mixing. Get the best mix possible then go into mastering just to finalize it. In mixing you should process each track to get the best mix. Then upon mastering you can just add a little here or there to the whole track rather than just the bass, or just the vocal. I see it as in mixing you are putting the puzzle together and getting the best out of each individual track and then mastering is adding a little bit of glue to the puzzle so you can hang in on the wall without it falling apart.
 
The best way to monitor in a small studio is to switch your monitoring sources often so your ears can hear different perspectives. Even pros will monitor on near field speakers, switch to "grot" speakers, switch to a boombox. Their is nothing wrong with doing some mixing on headphones however you need to get the best you can afford. I just picked up a pair of shure 1840's and they work great. However I dont mix solely on headphones. I have been mixing national acts for years now and I know they will be impressed if I turn up my near field monitors and blast their mix. Whats more impressive is if you can get that reaction by playing it out of a boombox. To sum up do this. In addition to your studio monitors buy a pair of "grot" speakers and buy the best pair of headphones you can afford and use a reference song when mixing. By doing this you will start training your ears and being to get the best mix out of all three monitoring sources in a shorter amount of time. rinse and repeat and you will be on your way.
 
I forgot to mention two things

One of the most important things when monitoring on any source is understanding how you mix will translate to other systems.
How do you do this? Pay attention to differences when listening to the material on other sources.Does it sound to muddy or to bright?
Over time it will be second nature and your mixes will sound good on any source



if you are going to invest in headphones. you should get open back headphones. They produce a much more natural and open sound
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top