When to use monitors?

[Cooperman]

Hi everyone,

There have been a number that I have read fairly recently about how important it is to use a good set of near field monitors when mixing down. An issue that I don't belive has been addressed however is that of monitoring when actually recording the track. I would have thought that it would be better to use a good set of NF mon. when you are recording, however I have seen videos etc of musicians using only headphones when recording a track - what's the deal?

Paul

 

[drstawl]

Headphones are vital in a recording session whenever you need to isolate microphones from other sound sources.

 

[hongteck]

Monitoring with just headphones may not be accurate because it doesn't represent how most of your listeners will listen to your recordings. Hence we should also include a good pair of monitors and some average speakers on top of your headsets to ensure everything is alright before commiting your mix.

I use headphones to capture any problems with the details like if there's hiss, pops, cracks etc. in the tracks .. whereelse my
stereo pair of speakers for that overall monitoring. Finally, I test with my average sounding multimedia speakers before being satisfied with the final mix.

I used to mix with headphones and it sounds great in my walkman when I can listen to the details of my sound. But when my friend downloaded into her computer and played it in her computer speakers, its sonically muddy ..can't hear the rhythm guitars and bass ..!

 

[Dragon]

Hongteck, I think he was talking about monitoring live sound, not mixing. As the inestimable drstawl said so nicely, it's important to listen with headphones while recording, especially for impossible-to-repeat takes, to make sure there's no noise you weren't expecting (like leaving a computer monitor on when recording a single-coil guitar from 2' away).

 

[drstawl]

Dragon: I was just thinking along the lines of recording a mic'ed track while listening to the rest of the mix or a click track without ending up with any of the mix/ click track on the new take. However I do agree that headphones may also bring out such stray noises that go un-noticed while setting up to record. But I can get a loud tone going with my SG >6 feet from my monitor.

 

[Cooperman]

Hey drstawl, I completely understand the problem of having the mix/click coming out on the track that you are recording, but this wouldn't be a problem in a real studio where you'd be playing guitar in the control room and your amp would be mic'd up in a separate booth(or perhaps at home it would be you'd be playing guitar in your own bedroom but having your amp being mic'd up down the hallway in the spare bedroom ). I've heard many great engineers/producers say that it is of the utmost importance to get the sounds that you want on tape without having to fiddle with them when it comes to mixing down - surely this requires monitoring thru a good set of speakers rather than headphones?