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Telesonic95
New member
Could a pair of headphones such as the Grado GS1000i + Grado RA1 amp be a good substitute for a pair of monitors like the Adam R7X?
Mickster
Well-known member
The answer is pretty much........no. You do need a good pair for tracking and it never hurts to test your mix on phones that you're very familiar with.......but headphones of any type or brand will compromise your overall mix. A good pair of monitors is always going to help your mix much more.
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Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Essentially, no. Headphones are one component of checking a mix, but headphones just aren't real. Tell me about the sounds in the real world that you can hear in one ear, but not the other. Mixing with headphones is like trying to build a model of an MS Escher painting.
Steenamaroo
...
I hope that's a well known reference.
Love it!
OP, stereo image is the big problem.
Pan something hard left on headphones and you only hear it in the left ear.
Do the same on speakers and both ears still hear it. Obviously it's extremely left heavy, but this is the main argument against mixing on headphones, afaik.
I guess you could do the guts of the work on cans then reference stereo image on a consumer setup or something.
It's probably not ideal though.
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Telesonic95
New member
But is it true that you have to have speaker monitors quite loud to hear the bass?
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RAMI
Guest
GONZO-X
Well-known member
this has been discussed a thousand times, you might want to use the search function.
mixing on headphones hides comb filtering to a degree, you need true mixing monitors to do the job right, or you will have translation problems.
mixing on headphones hides comb filtering to a degree, you need true mixing monitors to do the job right, or you will have translation problems.
ashcat_lt
Well-known member
Had a Russian girlfriend for a while. Talk about translation problems!
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sixer2007
New member
John Willett
Circle Sound Services
Firstly, I would never use Grado headphones for monitoring. They have that Grado "sound" that many people may like for music listening, but I find it too coloured for critical monitoring.
Yes, you can get great results using good headphones, especially if the only monitors you can afford are cheap ones - but you really need *both* headphones and monitors to do it well.
I use the ME Geithain RL906 monitors and Sennheiser HD 800 and HD 25-1 headphones through the Grace m903 monitor controller.
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cyanbeat
New member
It depends. If you want to record a band or acoustic musician and want to hear every little sound and noise, then monitors are your answer. However, in electronic music fidelity (other than a clean signal) is totally subjective and many folks couldn't tell the difference if you recorded with decent dj headphones or monitors in my opinion. I use dj headphones actually and test them on my Rokit 5 studio monitors and it often comes out great. Great sound is very subjective. Saving dough is fun too 
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Never a truer word said.
Ok, a truer word was said !
John Willett
Circle Sound Services
Not sure I agree with this - I can hear a lot more subtle detail with headphones.
If I want to hear deep into a mix and listen for some subtle detail that is not clear on monitors, then I use my closed Sennheiser HD 25-1 headphones to bring it out.
And my monitors are top quality Geithain RL906 costing in the region of £2.5k the pair, so I'm not using poor monitors.
Yes, you *do* need good monitors to do the job properly, but headphones are also an essential tool as they enable you to shut out everything in the listening environment and concentrate deep into the recording.
You really need both.
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I agree. My monitors aren't in the range of John's but I can hear little things on phones that I can't always on monitors. In a way, that's logical, given that the sound is closer to where your hearing really is.