a little problem revisited

[Rusty K]

Hello there,

A few weeks back I posted a thread about a problem I was having. That is, headphone distortion monitoring my mixes. A distortion I did not hear on my room monitors. There were many posts and a lot of good advice. One suggestion was to get another pair of headphones to A/B with my own. I just purchased a pair of AKG K-240's. As far as mixing I can already tell a vast difference in quality from the Sony MDR 7506's. Of course I use my room monitors as primary.

My problem is that I'm still getting substantial headphone distortion at levels that are nowhere near clip. I can't figure out why this should be happening. Here's some stats of a mix I'm currently working on.

This mixdown is at levels distortion free in the headphones.

Left-(-3.35db), Right-(-2/86db)
Avg. RMS Left-(-22.16db), Right-(-22.05db)

If I push the level over this I detect (headphone) distortion.

When I try mastering the mix I'm barely able to sqeeze and amplify the mix at all. The levels hardly break the -3db level with some peaks between -1db and -.03db.

I tried to "Normalize" (which I usually don't use) the mix and the levels went up but again at certain peak levels I get the headphone distortion.

I thought perhaps I clipped the individual tracks in recording but I've checked and I can't find anything.

I'd sure appreciate some resolution of this problem.

Thanks,
Rusty K

 

[Rusty K]

This has me stumped.

I'm getting distortions in my headphones (nothing is detectable in room monitors)at levels well below clip.

I've just purchased a new pair of phones, AKG K-240's, and I was hearing the same with my older Sony MDR 7506's.

What could be causing this clip like distortion?

I've gone back and remixed checking each track for anomolies. This has happened on several song mixes. I'm trying to get a CD out and I'm absolutely stuck till this is resolved.

Does anyone have a clue?

Thanks,
Rusty K

 

[bennychico11]

have you tried bouncing to an audio CD and then listening back on various other systems?
also what are you plugging your headphones into? a soundcard? a headphone amp?

 

[Rusty K]

I just finished listening to several CD's with headphones and none have these distortions and are at higher levels than my mixes/masters. It's obviously not a hardware problem.

I'm thinking of bypassing all my plugs and pushing the levels to see if it's something I'm adding with a plugin.

Rusty K

 

[bennychico11]

I just finished listening to several CD's with headphones and none have these distortions and are at higher levels than my mixes/masters. It's obviously not a hardware problem.

I'm thinking of bypassing all my plugs and pushing the levels to see if it's something I'm adding with a plugin.

Rusty K

and you listened to these CDs through the same soundcard you mix through?