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  #1  
Old 10-20-2004, 02:18 PM
rpb rpb is offline
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Default thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

i'm currently a performer on the road, and i have a pair of edirol ma-10a micromonitors to mix my tracks.
however, i'd like to save a little space in my road box by monitoring/mixing on headphones. and i'm just wondering if this would be suicide for my mixes. and if it would be a good idea, could anybody recommend a great pair to mix with?

thanks
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  #2  
Old 10-20-2004, 02:36 PM
Brent Flash Brent Flash is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

Not the best way to mix. Don't make your final mix with headphones. Just my opinion.

What headphones to use? The ones you know the best. The one you have had the longest and know what they sound like.
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  #3  
Old 10-20-2004, 04:21 PM
pk_hat pk_hat is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

Quote:
i'm just wondering if this would be suicide for my mixes.
Yes, it would.

While I often "pre-mix" on headphones if I'm not at the studio, on headphones I'm very familiar with (Sennheiser HD280 PRO), things are - more often than not - never as they seemed in the cans, frequencies and levels are off-balance, resulting in some tweaking and adjusting to be made when playing the mix through good monitors. There's simply no way around it, you need to hear your mix pushing air in order to make better judgements and hoping it translates well everywhere else.
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  #4  
Old 10-20-2004, 10:30 PM
Chris Shaeffer Chris Shaeffer is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

I do pre-mixing with cans all the time. Works great, as long as I don't think that I actually have a good mix. Nothing sounds the way it does in headphones, ever. In one of the studio's where I work, there are other media facilities nearby that can hear what I'm working on. For their sanity I do a lot of my editing and mixing in the cans. Then I fire up the monitors and do the final adjustments- usually pretty significant.

(shrug) If you know what you can and can't do with phones, it works. After doing this for a few years I know what the limitations are. You can't really mix on them, but you can get to know the material, do any edits, and whatnot.

And I agree: the best phones for mixing work are the ones you know the best.

-Chris
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Old 10-20-2004, 10:43 PM
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JFreak JFreak is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

you definetely have to make the final mix with good monitors, not headphones; HOWEVER, while you're on the road, you can make decent rough mixes with headphones and therefore saving some time. you just need to be aware of few things:

1) the stereo field is totally different. hard left is totally hard left with headphones, there's no "air" between your ears (i hope) to make it possible for a proper stereo field to appear. generally, when you mix with headphones, you tend to mix closer to the center than with regular monitoring.

2) the frequency response of ear changes by the air pressure of monitored sound. smaller SPL of headphones will lead to reduced bass, reduced higs, and over-emphasized mids. and when you mix your material according to your taste, the opposite will happen: your mix will sound like it was listened to inside a teenager's car (ear-killing highs and overdone bass). knowing this you can concentrate to mixing the mids and not caring about bringing the top and bottom end up.

3) the same reason (lower SPL) will lead to reduced dynamics and you will likely try to over-compress your material and therefore you will likely lose all transients and life from your mix. knowing this you should never touch a limiter when you mix with headphones, and be careful with the compressor too.

...so is it doomed to mix with headphones? no. it's the same as with any other monitoring system: once you know it by heart, you can do a killer mix. it's just so different and therefore so hard.

(i nowadays do my monitoring with genelec 8050's and check my mix with shure E5 headphones and my home stereo system before i call it a FINAL. the E5's will reveal very clearly if the mix has not-so-perfect stereo field, and the home stereo system will reveal if i need to change dynamics to either direction. and after i have called a mix FINAL then i check it once more with my laptop's built-in speakers. if it sounds good all the way, the mix is ready. i wouldn't say headphones are useless...)
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  #6  
Old 10-20-2004, 11:02 PM
fadein fadein is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

things that sound great in headphones usually don't sound great on monitors. it's just how it is. headphones don't take into consideration anything having to do with space, and low/low-mid frequencies are very hard to judge.

bite the bullet and lug some decent monitors!
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Old 10-21-2004, 03:53 AM
El CaCa El CaCa is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

Well, if you're really going to go through w/ this still...I'd say go for some open back headphones...They are a bit more true to the sound than closed ears...

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Old 10-21-2004, 04:03 AM
Digi2004 Digi2004 is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

I recommend BEYER DYNAMIC 990s. I have been using them for two and a half years, and after the initial 'changeover' period, I can now safely say that I am getting some very repeatable results (when the session mixed with headphones is transferred to the monitor setup).

I am sure that others will have their own suggestions / opinions, but as far as all-round, Good Quality headphones go, these are some of the best at a nice price too!
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  #9  
Old 10-21-2004, 05:24 AM
Bluemoon Bluemoon is offline
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Default Re: thoughts on mixing tracks with headphones

I'd rather mix on a pair of DT770's than Edirol M10a's anyday, and I think except for positioning, which you can do at base camp, you'll get a much better idea about your levels, even eq and comp on good phones than bad monitors. Also you can do all that boring editing stuff better on phones than any monitoring system.

All the advice above is true if you're comparing phones to good studio monitors, but I actually have a pair of M10s at home (bought them for live mixing, sound familiar?) and only ever use them now as low-fi comparitors to my main monitors.

I prefer the slightly cheaper 770's to the 990's as I've never been convinced by the accuracy of the 'eq' used in the 990's, but whatever you do, leave the nice (looking) little blue boxes at home and go with a decent pair of phones you know.
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