Can you mix with headphones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter pasnu
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I always mix with my reference monitor first, and then I'll test the mix with my $70 JBL headphones and my $85 Altec Lansing computer speaker......
The thing is, when it sounds good and balanced in my monitor, there are always things that need to be fixed when I listen it thru the commercial headphones or comp. speaker....
Maybe my skill or ear haven't get to the pro level, but I think its an endless journey if I want to make my mix to sounds GOOD in ALL speakers/headphones......so the point is, I have to know my studio monitor really well, so I can translate my mix to sounds good in commercial-use headphones/speakers....
I think reference monitor is made for us to make the mix sounds clear and well-balanced, but we should make it sounds good on common speakers/phones that I really think around 70% of the market (people) use them to listen to music. ( most people listen it thru an Ipod with cheap earbud or computers speakers)
and another thing is, I always think that "space" effects like delay,chorus,reverb sounds more on headphones, so when you feel its enough in those, always feel not enough when u put it thru speakers and, the other way around.
So, no....I dont mix it with my earphones, but yes, I will check it with my earphones
 
aaronmcoleman said:
ok, you got me, $800 headphone set up may work just fine. My $25 sony set (half of the $50 one) sucks as do most set ups that cost less than $800 for mixing.
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:D:D:D:D

Well .... to be honest the reason I have that much in a headphone rig is because I'm a bit of an audiophile ..... big vinyl collection with big-money turntables and such.
I used to spend a LOT of time just listening and I wanted to be able to listen without losing quality even when wifey was asleep.
Truthfully I don't do that much anymore ..... :( .... just too much gigging to want to listen when I'm not working.
So my stuff ended up getting absorbed into my studio ....... which I also don't use. :rolleyes:

I do understand that in a home studio environment about the last thing anyone's gonna spend $800 on is a headphone rig. There's just so much else that's more important so unless you have money to burn, headphones are mostly for tracking which doesn't require the best in headphone technology.
I just wanted to make the point that it's not a truism that headphones suck.
Sucky headphones suck but there are cans that don't.

Sennheiser has a new set out that goes for around $1300 and Headroom has a headphone amp out that goes for about $2500 if I remember correctly.
I'd love to hear that rig!

I will say that AudioTechnica has a set of open airs that sound pretty damned close to my Sennheisers and they're fairly cheap ....... around $100.
ATH-AD700's.
 
pasnu said:
If I buy headphones for around 200 dollars, can I mix with them? or is it a must to have speakers?
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Quite honestly, I use both. I would recommend headphones too for listening to detail. But also, every once in a while try to take that mix and listen to it through other monitoring systems throughout your house, your car, , little computer speakers, your ipod headphones, etc, to see if it sounds good and if its up to par with commercially released music.
 
I just pick up a set of the new KRK headphones and the damn things sound just like thier monitors. I have a nicely treated room and use KRK Rokits (monitors) to mix and now I have a set of headphones I would feel comfortable mixing on. Yee Haw !!!!
 
Headphones are cool for some things, but you have to know them very well. I think the problem is ear-fatigue : it's not good to use headphones for hours, really.
Monitors won't damage your ears as much as headphones if you do not monitor too loud. I think you can get a better sense of "depth" with monitors too.
 
DJ Spinn said:
Quite honestly, I use both. I would recommend headphones too for listening to detail. But also, every once in a while try to take that mix and listen to it through other monitoring systems throughout your house, your car, , little computer speakers, your ipod headphones, etc, to see if it sounds good and if its up to par with commercially released music.
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Ditto this. I have started using a good set of 'phones for the initial roughing-in of mixes, then tweaking with different sets of monitors, boom boxes, etc.. Seems to speed up my work flow.
 
Can you mix with headphones?

I can drive a car with my feet. I might live...I might die.

Same principle. :D
 
Lt. Bob said:
That, of course, depends on the headphones. Good audiophile types can be way flatter than most of the moderate priced monitors we mostly use. Of course, you start looking at 100 bucks and up for those. But My Sennheiser HD-600's are pretty flat.
As for the 'in-your-head' thing .... there are products that aleviate that for the most part.
I use Headphone brand amps with their crossfeed circuit but some new I just noticed might also be a good solution for you 'puter recorders and it's fairly cheap ..... $100.
VRM Box
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Dont you just love those HD600's !!! I have a set too and use them all the time. I also just got a set of KRK's new cans and so far they are nice. Not as comfortable as the Senn's, but they sound just like thier monitors in a nice room.
 
I think if you're used to recording yourself and you know about where your bass needs to be peaking and you know which custom presets work where, etc...you can more easily get away with it. But regardless of how "flat" my cans may be, I would never trust them. If I go solely by what headphones tell me, my mixes come out bass light and too dry and with the vocals way too loud. The way I can get away with it is by knowing this and compensating, but I sure don't recommend it.
 
BushmasterM4 said:
I just pick up a set of the new KRK headphones and the damn things sound just like thier monitors. I have a nicely treated room and use KRK Rokits (monitors) to mix and now I have a set of headphones I would feel comfortable mixing on. Yee Haw !!!!
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Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? If they sound exactly the same??? I have cheap Sony $30 headphones I use to check my mix detail but I don't use it to set EQ with - would it be better to have the same sounding hp's as your monitors?
 
The general opinion is no, and until last week i would have agreed. I just mixed an 8 song CD with very good results using a Focusrite VRM Box and my Sony MDR7506 headphones, the feedback from the band has been really good and everything i have played it on has sounded great.
 
pasnu said:
If I buy headphones for around 200 dollars, can I mix with them? or is it a must to have speakers?
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monitors are better for several reasons.

in hindsight one of the first things I found here on this forum was this topic.

prove it to yourself.....do mixes both ways. then post your findings.
 
bassbrad said:
The general opinion is no, and until last week i would have agreed. I just mixed an 8 song CD with very good results using a Focusrite VRM Box and my Sony MDR7506 headphones, the feedback from the band has been really good and everything i have played it on has sounded great.
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How does that work? VRM box....maybe tweak the bass... it would be great, because it would take out the room issues.(and costs and hassles)
 
Hey, speaking of monitors. You know what bugs me? Statements like this one that I pulled out of a user review of some monitors:

"The stereo field with these monitors is incredibly wide, making it really easy to see your music in 3D. You can tell exactly where each instrument is sitting in the mix from left to right, front to back and up and down in the mix."

I don't know about him, but the width of my stereo field is determined by the distances between my monitors, and the last time I saw any music in 3D was 1989...after ingesting LSD.

Everybody else seems to put a MUCH greater emphasis on monitors than I ever have. To me, even if you get an absolutely neutral pair of monitors, you still have to learn them. My KRK 8's are hyped a little in the low end, but since every modern listening device is jammed into the listener's ear and running with "MAXXBASS COMPRESSION" on it, I'm glad to have the extra low end. I just had to learn them....everybody does, no matter how much is spent.
 
chris I think it was 1975 last time music was in 3d...during one of the YES albums....
 
CoolCat said:
How does that work? VRM box....maybe tweak the bass... it would be great, because it would take out the room issues.(and costs and hassles)
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VRM Box
Check it out, I don't work for Focusrite but this product does exactly what they claim. In the past i have had mixes sent back from the customer or the mastering lab but not this last batch which was all done with the VRM box. FWIW I still check mixes in the car and various other players.
 
I use everything..I dont have a treated space so I cant just rely on my monitors...my phones are great for detail but I find my mp3 player and small PC speakers are the ones that show me Ive overstepped the bass... again

its never ideal but my next place will be bought so a studio space is on the cards

truth is you can mix on absolutely anything, its just the length of time it takes to reach a decent mix that will vary
 
arcadeko said:
Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? If they sound exactly the same??? I have cheap Sony $30 headphones I use to check my mix detail but I don't use it to set EQ with - would it be better to have the same sounding hp's as your monitors?
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Nope, the whole idea is that way I can use the headphones and/or the Monitors to mix and feel good about the mix.
 
bassbrad said:
The general opinion is no, and until last week i would have agreed. I just mixed an 8 song CD with very good results using a Focusrite VRM Box and my Sony MDR7506 headphones, the feedback from the band has been really good and everything i have played it on has sounded great.
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I totally believe that.
I've repeatedly said thru the years that my headphone mixes and my monitor mixes sound very similar. But it does require a GOOD headphone playback system.
A lotta people use crappy headphones that may sound good for just listening but are not flat.
But you can get cans that are pretty flat and the VRM looks like a way to make getting a good headphone rig a lot cheaper.
I've got about $800 in my headphone rig ...... this'll let you do it for about a fourth of that .......... pretty cool.
I'd buy one except I almost never listen to any music at the puter so a USB headphone rig is useless to me.
But it sure looks like a cool box.
 
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