are there any headphones that act like monitors?

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A while back I conducted extensive experiments with headphone mixing. I'm designing studio monitors, so I want to be very familiar with any technology that might potentially put me out of business. With all the new advancements in signal processing and virtualization algorithms I think this is a valid concern (and maybe even a potential new market). Good monitoring requires good speakers and a good control room. Headphones are certainty a lot cheaper than both. Anyhow, I tired everything. I developed my own HTRF (Head Related Transfer Function). I tried almost every virtualization product available, diffuse field equalization, etc., etc., etc. - and every combination. Despite my most valiant efforts, I simply could not produce consistent, translatable mixes using headphones. And surprisingly (or not?) one of the biggest problem areas always turned out to be the bass. At first glance the bass might seem to be the simplest frequency range to replicated, since it contains little to no spatial information. However, the tactile sensation of bass sound on your body is apparently very important to our perception of spectral balance and low frequency acuity. Some of the multitude of other problems associated with headphones can be overcome with the auralization and equalization methods I mentioned above, but the bass issues simple cannot. So, at least for the time being the studio monitor business is quite safe, and headphones should definitely not be use for mixing or any other activity requiring decisions about sound quality and translation.

Thomas

http://barefootsound.com
 
This kind of cogent and intelligent reply is far more welcome and informative than obscene flames (apparently the moderator agrees since the worst of them were deleted.)

My original post was based in my own twenty-five year experience with the kind of recording I do, and was not meant to pertain to recording live bands.
 
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Derek,

In all hopes that your question has been answered.
If so, allow me to ask...what it because you read "opinions" by these folks here on the BBS?
Then most likely you deduced your own answer from all of them.
THAT'S the way it works right?

Believe me, pissing in someone else's pond with statements here gets us absolutely nowhere.

You brought in some heavy hitters this time.
They are giving advice and that's it! But it's not something they dreamed up. Experience taught them as will teach us all.

Best of luck to you

Denver
 
Yo' D. Verner, CUZZIN' BRUCIE BLUE BEAR IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG and I can PROVE IT!!!!!!!!!






































..............he has much more than 7 thous-sumthin', posts!

His total is more than 9500+ as his orginal moniker he used when he 1st signed up, bvaleria, has at least 1200!!!




And, uhhhhhhhh, ummmmmmmmm...........errrrrrrrrr........... he can't cook or......................... speak Mandarin Chinese AND he wears dirty sneakers to JAMFEST's!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


So you see, Cuzzin' Brucie ain't REALLY ALL THAT!!! ;) ;) ;)






....hed-phn choices; AKG 240's, Sony MDR750's & now Sennheisers!
 
M Havlen said:
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Headphones....
Click to expand...

eeewwwww I'd hate to try to "mix" with these. They aren't really that great to track with. Now I might try to use my old Sennheiser 414's to mix if I had to. They almost sound like you're out in the open air. But they've still got each side isolated like all hphones.
 
Bear...you shouldn't have retyped your words for that guy, we all know that for him we need to call the "waaaaaaambulance".

MISTERQCUE...I'm interested in the model number of those Sennheisers. I may have the chance to take a pair home to try if the model is right.

Denver
 
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