Headphones or Monitors

mcmac74

Active member
After years of using a standard home stereo to monitor / mix / master (and getting decent if not amazing results), I'm finally gonna step out and get some monitors or decent headphones. Headphones will work better in the home so the family aren't exposed to various noodlings, mumblins and expletives but I wonder what the downsides to that are? I'm doing some reading on T'web about my options but always keen to hear folks preferences on here. My initial budget will not be big c£200...but I figure anything will be a step up from a home stereo playback...and I'm happy to invest further if the results warrant it.

If you'd like to hear the songs mixed on my home stereo to see my starting point they're at:


Lone Star Laundry on Spotify

Cheers
Mark
 
If you're going the headphone route, may be a little more than the budget perhaps but Sennheiser HD-600 would be my first choice. But, if budget is tight, a pair of Sony MDR-7506 with Sonarworks isn't a bad choice. In any case recommend you look at adding sonarworks (can download free demo) - will make a huge difference.
 
There are pros and cons with mixing with headphones or monitors. The biggest pro for headphones is the noise isolation as you already mentioned. The biggest con for mixing with headphones is getting the mix to translate to other sound systems. What sounds good on the headphones will not sound good on anything else. You have to pay a lot of attention to how your songs sound elsewhere.

The biggest pro for monitors is getting speakers that can really convey what your mix will sound like. Good monitors are very accurate and do not hype the audio like hifi speakers will. The biggest con with monitors is even though you spent a chunk of money on good monitors, they will only sound as good as the room they are in. When you invest in monitors, you should also invest in room treatment. (Treatment doesn't have to be expensive)
 
[h=2]Headphones or Monitors[/h]
Both !


To be honest with you, I think you can go either route. Once you learn what you need to do in order to produce translatable mixes, you become adept at whatever it is you're working on ~ even the home stereo.
It's worth bearing in mind that it is unlikely that any two people on the planet will have exactly the same set up; I even have several set-ups and they're different to each other, the speakers, the furniture configurations, the amps, the players, the shape of the rooms, the placements etc.....so translation is a very general concept.
Personally, I would always start with monitors {or speakers} but headphones are indispensable partners in crime.
 
I really don't like mixing on headphones, but if your acoustic environment is less than ideal it might actually be the better option. At least it will be consistent. Open back headphones are generally better for mixing, but they isolate less. People will hear what you're listening to. And they're not good for tracking. You really need closed back headphones for vocal tracking to keep playback and input monitoring from bleeding into the mic.
 
Driver Type: Dynamic Driver.
Frequency Response: 12Hz – 40,500Hz.
Headphone Type: Open-back, Over-ear.
Sensitivity: 102 dB SPL/V.
Impedance: 300 Ω

Don't know what your interface is Simman but from that specification the hedphones might be a wee bit quiet? This is sometimes a problem when you are tracking (as you should!) at -20dBfs because many AIs don't have enough gian in the headphone circuit.

The Behringer HA400 is pretty good for £20 and you get 4 feeds.

Dave.
 
As was previously mentioned.........the Sennheiser HD600 is an excellent pair of headphones......just a bit above your budget. They used to go for much more. If you can get them.....you'll be happy. Like all headphones.......they're not 100% flat / neutral...........but they're as close to flat as you can get. A cheaper substitution is the Phillips SHP9500. They work well too. I have both the HD600's and the SHP9500's.

Keep using your stereo system. You're very familiar with them so that's extremely important when mixing. Whatever headphones you get.......use them enough to be VERY familiar with them as well.
 
As was previously mentioned.........the Sennheiser HD600 is an excellent pair of headphones......just a bit above your budget. They used to go for much more. If you can get them.....you'll be happy. Like all headphones.......they're not 100% flat / neutral...........but they're as close to flat as you can get. A cheaper substitution is the Phillips SHP9500. They work well too. I have both the HD600's and the SHP9500's.

Keep using your stereo system. You're very familiar with them so that's extremely important when mixing. Whatever headphones you get.......use them enough to be VERY familiar with them as well.

For the price, the Phillip's sound worth a go although they're not readily available in UK...is there a current model you'd recommend?
 
Well......not as good as the Philips or the Sennheisers......but you could give the Audio Technica ATH-M40x a try. I have a pair of those too and they're not too bad as far as a neutral sound goes. Trust me......as best you can......getting a near neutral sound and getting used to your headphones is key.
 
I have been mixing on headphones all my musical life (about 40 years of it, thank you) and there are 2 main things to consider:
1- how good sounding is the room you mix in and 2- how good sounding is the room you're mixing in!
Take point 1: most (if not all) bedroom studios suffer of bad acoustics. in this scenario no matter how much you spend on speakers/monitors you'll always end up with a bad sounding replay of your music.
In addition, with 200€ you can buy very good to excellent headphones while the same 200€ will only get you very budget monitors which, most likely, you will place in a bad sounding room (see points 1 and 2).
Worth thinking about it.

It is also most important, regardless of all the above, to get to know the gear you're using, the strong and weak points.
At the moment I use AKG K-701 and Sennheiser 600, while I track (record) with other close-back headphones.
You can check the result of my mixes here, if you wish:

moosestudio | Free Listening on SoundCloud
 
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I live in an apartment so I have to be careful of volume when mixing late at night. I mix using HD600's and then cross-check my mixes on my Yami HS8's.

The HD600's are great, but obviously it's hard to get a good idea about what's happening below ~120hz. Mixes that sound clean and full on the HD600's can sound muddy and gross on other systems. It all depends on what you train your ears to. I suggest that whatever option you chose, spend some time training your ears to them by listening to tracks you've either produced yourself or tracks that you know well.

Hope that helps!
 
Looks like because of your family you areaiming towards headphones. I have the AKG K175 which I would highly recommend (40mm transducers deliver superior, nuanced low-frequency ...).
 
Yup....the HD600s are excellent and are one of the flattest out of the box. You can use a low shelf at about +6db around 80 or 90db to adjust for bass. Another band around 2300hz at around +2 or 3db (I forget the q to be honest with you....but will look it up later). Experiment as you see fit. That covers about 90% of the adjustments you need to make for the HD600s.

I’m currently just beginning to use Sonarworks4 for headphones. I have several well known brands and models of headphones. So far I’m very impressed......but will report more when I know more.

UPDATE: If you're using the HD600 headphones follow the EQ instructions above. The Q for the EQ at 2300hz should be at or around 2. The HD600's take EQ fairly well.......unlike some other brands / models I've been using. Try not to adjust the HD600 EQ just to suit your taste or what you might be used to. The adjustments will probably make sense to an HD600 user as they lack some bottom and a bit of upper mid and high end performance. Not much really.....just a bit. The adjustment to the 2.3 - 2.4 khz range is the most important one IMO.

Mick
 
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I am also using my headphones to mix. At the moment I am using some

1.) old Sennheiser.
2.) Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 OHM closed studio headphones.

Many other forums/companies and sound product creators recommend one of those:

AKG 702
Audio Technica ATH-M50x
Audio Technica ATH-AD900X
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro Studio Headphones
Focal Spirit Professional Headphones
Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones

And therefore I'd basically love to know if I should replace my Beyerdynamic 770 PRO with one of those above.

Anyone got some experience with those and can recommend them? They are also listed on izotope's site for example.
 
when I rarely record, I used Senn 280 for tracking and then put all the gear away and switch over to the BeyerDyn 880Pro headphones plugged in to a grace design Head amp for listening, mixing. ..(cross feed plugin- DeeSpeaker on the DAW buss)

I got to a point of realizing my 10x12 bedroom wasnt going to be EMI studio 1 no matter how many 703 panels i put up.... with the Headphones and a good amp, I believe its more of a "true" playback, as it removes the room.
 
I am also using my headphones to mix. At the moment I am using some

1.) old Sennheiser.
2.) Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 OHM closed studio headphones.

Many other forums/companies and sound product creators recommend one of those:

AKG 702
Audio Technica ATH-M50x
Audio Technica ATH-AD900X
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro Studio Headphones
Focal Spirit Professional Headphones
Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones

And therefore I'd basically love to know if I should replace my Beyerdynamic 770 PRO with one of those above.

Anyone got some experience with those and can recommend them? They are also listed on izotope's site for example.

Except for the Audio Technica ATH-M50X's.......which are total crap to mix with.......any of the others are at least passable. But...to be honest......none of them is likely much better or better at all.....than the DT770's you're already using. Save your $$$ for some decent monitors.....if you don't already have some.
 
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