Headphones or Monitor Speakers

Nifty

Hello folks,

I was wondering what do you use to record/mix your music?

I am using a cheapish pair of headphones at the moment, mainly so I don't upset my wife or the neighbors at silly times of the day

I was thinking of purchasing some studio quality headphones.

Any thoughts or suggestions on brands etc?
Thanks for your time all.

bluesland

Hi!
If you're going to keep using headphones ( you have good reasons to do so), I would suggest Ultrasone headphones, they're not cheap, but for me they are the best headphones ever built.
http://www.ultrasone.com

Take care!

BettyBoo

Hey there Nifty. I use a good quality set of studio headphones and they seem to work fine for me. I have the same situation where I need to keep the noise down in the house but that'll change soon when my studio/practice room is all soundproofed and finished I'll be out getting myself some nice studio monitors in no time! I have heard some people have latency issues with headphones, but In haven't struck that yet.

BBoo

guitar3456

Couple different ways to go on Headphones.

Mixing/tracking headphones- flatter field Audio Technica ATHM40FS

http://www.music123.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M40fs-Precision-Studiophones-270553-i1126646.Music123?source=ZWWRWXGB&o=5

For the standard response types:

Sony MDR 7506
Sennheiser HD280
AKG K270
Grado has a few

Professional Series

Ultrasone
Beyerdynamic

Near Field Monitors- there are a range of styles and pricing.

Economy: $200-400 range
Maudio, Samson, Alesis, Behringer, KRK, Tannoy, Fostex

Pro Grade: $400 +
Adam, Yamaha, Mackie, Dynaudio, Genelec, JBL LSR series

tucopeat

Hey Nifty,

for under 100 usd i would recommend the Audio Technica ATHM40 fs, they have a very flat response, or the sony 7506 and the sennheiser HD280's, any of these choices would work well for you. Beyerdynamic and AKG have some great choices as well, but plan on spending 2- 3 times the price.
There are quite a few who would argue that you shouldn't mix on cans, but I find myself doing it quite often, although I find I get better overall results when mixing through my KRK rockit 6's. Until you can get your room treated and get everything in order, the cans will do, but I wouldn't lay down too much scratch on a set of cans, I would save my money for a set of decent monitors, Like the new Mackies, KRK g2's, yamaha's or alesis. Or if you've got the money you might consider the Adams, Dynaudio, or Genelecs. less than 500 usd should put you into a very nice set of monitors that should do you for many years to come. Don't overspend unless you plan on do this in a professional capacity, The mid grade monitors in a well treated room will give you the results you are looking for. just some food for thought.

gtaus

\Nifty\ wrote:

...I was wondering what do you use to record/mix your music?....

I'm using a pair of Yamaha and Sony headphones at the moment. But neither pair is for studio monitoring. I'm saving up my money for a pair of Behringer Truth B2031P speakers. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-TRUTH-B2031P-Passive-Monitors-?sku=600604 Good price, good reviews. They are cheaper than the B2031A active speakers and I have an extra power amp in my home studio to drive them. I'm in a cover band and my only goal is to get some decent demo mixes of us live. So I really can't justify pro equipment or pro prices. The headphones work OK, but I find them uncomfortable after a while, which is yet another reason why I want to upgrade to studio monitors.

chipshot0701

I'm using the senn's and they are okay, but when i create and mix down to a mp3 adn play back on my PA system its not the same. Soemtimes I get way too much bass on the pa when in the headphones its less bass. So what i am doing durning recording is adding bass volume to the mix when I probably shouldnt be.
any ideas on how to tweak that?

gtaus

\chipshot0701\ wrote:

I'm using the senn's and they are okay, but when i create and mix down to a mp3 adn play back on my PA system its not the same. Soemtimes I get way too much bass on the pa when in the headphones its less bass. So what i am doing durning recording is adding bass volume to the mix when I probably shouldnt be.
any ideas on how to tweak that?

I'm new to this mixing stuff, but I've been reading alot of articles lately. Although everyone recommends getting good near field studio monitors, I have also read that a good experienced engineer can mix on just about any crap speakers if he had to. I suppose it's knowing how your mix will sound on other systems that makes or breaks your mix. If you know that your mix has too much bass on other systems, compared to your headphones, then I guess I'd cut back on the bass in your mix with the headphones. It sounds like you already figured that one out on your own.

The only other thing I would mention is that many, if not most, home stereos boost the bass for sound preferences. Maybe your PA system has too much bass in the EQ. Have you tried a flat EQ on the PA? Like I said, I'm all new to this mixing stuff and just learning alot from reading. Hope to order my studio monitors soon. Still mixing in the headphones myself. Take care.

jamminmj

One thing you can do is listen to other similar styles of music from cd's and see how they translate to your phones or monitors. Analyze them on other speakers also just like you would your own mixes. In a perfect world there would be one flat microphone to record with and one flat speaker to monitor with. But we all know we don't live in that world.
Then there are the equal loudness contour and Fletcher Munson curves that show we hear different frequency responses at different sound pressure levels. Hence the bass and treble boost switches on stereo systems designed to add that extra hi and low frequency boost at lower SPL levels although most people I know leave them engaged and crank up their speakers and then wonder why they blew out their cones. You can add an equalizer to your monitors to compensate abit but to much is going to be detrimental. And the same speaker in my room is not going to sound the same in your room. Monitoring at consistant levels is a big plus.
My monitors are setup so that 0dbfs on my software mixer is at 85 db spl B weighted with my soundcard output volume at full. I could turn up the volume of my amp more, but then my reference is different. So this reference hasn't changed in probably 5 years and when I mix new stuff it will be level consistant with older stuff. So you just have to learn your gear and make the most of it. Get the best you can for what you can afford. With time and patience you'll get there.

Nifty

Thanks for some excellent input guys.

All very much appreciated and very interesting.

Looks like I've got some thinking to do :?

jamminmj

Nifty wrote: [it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses]

Would that be Rhinestone Shades or Cheap Sunglasses? LOL

Nifty

jamminmj

Most excellent.

gtaus

Just curious to know if you got any monitors/headphones for your mixing. I just got my Behringer B2031P studio monitors from Amazon.com for about $160.00 and really like them. I had an extra power amp to drive these studio monitors so that is why I got the passive monitors instead of the active monitors. They can handle 150 watts, but I can't push that much sound through them and still feel comfortable. So I haven't pushed them to their max yet. They do sound great and it is a welcome relief from using my headphones all the time. Take care.

Nifty

Hi gtaus,

I think I'm going the headphone route to be honest.
I haven't bought them yet as my wife has had a bit of a whine lately!

\"Can't you just get one thing a month!!\" :evil:

It was a new bass guitar this month so the headphones will be coming next

Peace

gtaus

I hear you there. Best to keep the wife happy. Headphones work fine and have the advantage of not waking people up if you are mixing late at night. I do prefer the studio monitors now that I got them, it's just easier on the head/ears not having the headphones on for hours. But you can probably get a better set of headphones than studio monitors for your same dollar. I still use my headphones - late at night - for mixing. So you just can't wrong there. Let us know what headphones you buy and how you like them. Take care.

mikeybbadd

The Behringer active moniters are the way to go, they are like night and day compared to the phones ,I know I'll never look back even some of the expensive head phones don't allow for the low and high freq's.