Any of you guys mix with headphones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

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It isn't ideal and I do have monitors but things have changed.. my once hobby "studio" basement now got refinished with a new drywall ceiling and pot lights and turned into extra living space as life changes and we needed the room. As such, my new "live" area will be in the back of the basement. All my DIY acoustic panels are off the wall so listening to music through monitors is gonna be crazy with what I assume will be bass and reflections all over. Luckily I can still jam on live amps and such and close mic'ing negates a lot of reflections but I will probably end up using more IR's and some drum sampling mixed in with the real deal as my drums close to the furnace is likely to be a slap back disaster. In any event, I have some isolation headphones which are decent for tracking but I know they suck for mixing. Seems to me open back style earphones are best for this but there is a lot out there in the market. Anyone gone this route and what have you liked or not liked?
 
Sennheiser HD280 Pro. Add some damping inside the cans (be careful not to damage anything when opening it up). They're surprisingly good for this task.
 
I have a set of Sennheiser HD 600 phones that are made for mixing - they are fucking incredible.

I track with Audio Technica ATH-M50 phones. Also top notch...

Steve
 
I'm using AKG 240s. They were referred to me by a talented producer. I'm not sure if they are the best but I have grown very used to the sound and can mix up a storm. They are comfortable. The cord is detachable which is great for ez replacement - I always run over my cords with my chair so trashing a whole headset sucks.
 
sah5150":2olcg0v6 said:
I have a set of Sennheiser HD 600 phones that are made for mixing - they are fucking incredible.

Steve

I also use a pair of HD 600's which are great, the only thing is I'm not sure if I need a headphone amp for it or not, my Roland quad capture usb interface pushes them pretty good but i'm curious as hell how they would sound with an amp. I also picked up a pair of much older HD 545's on ebay for $40 as a back up, which also work pretty well. I track with Sony 7506s which have way too much highs for my taste.

Good luck!
 
I do most of my mixing when I'm at work so headphones are a must. It took a lot of practice but I've learned to work my way around the inconsistencies of my headphones.

crankyrayhanky":39uo1t15 said:
I'm using AKG 240s. They were referred to me by a talented producer. I'm not sure if they are the best but I have grown very used to the sound and can mix up a storm. They are comfortable. The cord is detachable which is great for ez replacement - I always run over my cords with my chair so trashing a whole headset sucks.

Same here. I'll have to check into those AKG 240s.
 
A lot of the advice about mixing on monitors also applies to working with headphones, perhaps the most important precept being know your monitoring gear very well so that you'll know how your mix will translate to other systems and environments since that is the ultimate goal. Acquiring this kind of familiarity will, of course, take time and likely involve a bit of trial and error. One other sage piece of advice I heard from Chris Lord-Alge on a Waves video about monitoring (see video link below) is to always start your mix session by first listening to something you know (i.e., material you are intimately familiar with in other environments so you can see how it sounds in your current monitoring environment and to give you a reference for comparison).

 
metalsoup":1ocp3wo8 said:
One other sage piece of advice I heard from Chris Lord-Alge on a Waves video about monitoring (see video link below) is to always start your mix session by first listening to something you know (i.e., material you are intimately familiar with in other environments so you can see how it sounds in your current monitoring environment and to give you a reference for comparison).

Jeez, I wish I had this advice a long time ago. Probably would have saved me money, time and kept me from wanting to break shit after spending a long time mixing with headphones only to find out later it basically sounds like shit on just about every device you can think of lol... And the volume thing is great advice, I need to stop my "ears ringing like shit" mixes :lol: :LOL:
 
Thanks for the replies guys, some good info here. I also have had issues with rolling over my cables and ruining isolation headphones so that is a fantastic feature to be able to just change the cable!

Anyway, i was delayed in getting back to this thread because after 8 years of no problems, the week i get my basement ceiling finished, my faucet sprung a leak from a loose part and i had a flood and had to cut out a 4 x 4 patch and will have to redo the drywall tape and mudding myself. Karma? Who knows....
 
Tronald Dump":3w3schxe said:
I do most of my mixing when I'm at work so headphones are a must. It took a lot of practice but I've learned to work my way around the inconsistencies of my headphones.

crankyrayhanky":3w3schxe said:
I'm using AKG 240s. They were referred to me by a talented producer. I'm not sure if they are the best but I have grown very used to the sound and can mix up a storm. They are comfortable. The cord is detachable which is great for ez replacement - I always run over my cords with my chair so trashing a whole headset sucks.

Same here. I'll have to check into those AKG 240s.
Hahaha! I work on shit at work all the time. I have to use ear buds though. If they saw me with some big studio headphones they would most likely say something.
 
slyym":37kntuib said:
Tronald Dump":37kntuib said:
I do most of my mixing when I'm at work so headphones are a must. It took a lot of practice but I've learned to work my way around the inconsistencies of my headphones.

crankyrayhanky":37kntuib said:
I'm using AKG 240s. They were referred to me by a talented producer. I'm not sure if they are the best but I have grown very used to the sound and can mix up a storm. They are comfortable. The cord is detachable which is great for ez replacement - I always run over my cords with my chair so trashing a whole headset sucks.

Same here. I'll have to check into those AKG 240s.
Hahaha! I work on shit at work all the time. I have to use ear buds though. If they saw me with some big studio headphones they would most likely say something.

I'm at my most creative between 1am and 4am and I work nights, so....... :D I listen to all my mixes with earbuds and big-ass headphones. It helps me to keep things in perspective, especially when not using studio monitors.
 
I took some advice from here on the forum and actually took my rough mix out to my car and listened thru the stereo to get an idea what it would sound like in a different environment. :O
 

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