- EDIT: Curve Impulse Responses for convolvers now available (eg. Foobar2000 with Impulse Response Convolver plugin) - see below.
I got new HD600s a few days ago. I want them for mixing, so I ran my reference track on them (
]The Cure - Open, from the Wish album) - it's super dense but also has rich low bass guitar.
I was struck how the lowest bass notes on that track roll off - not a disaster for listening, but not good for mixing. All the HD600 measurement curves show bass rolloff.
The pro-audio
Sonarworks plugin (for VST/RTAS/AAX formats, 21 day trial available) has HD600 correction, and sure enough it corrects for some of the bass rolloff - but it also sounds weird to me elsewhere (at least on my setup & cans) so I started on my own curves, using
Voxeng's GlissEQ plugin (free trial available). I found I can recover very low bass without bloating or faking - now my cans sound amazing, more enjoyable + closer to my studio monitors with sub, and
much better for mixing (for me).
This is what Sonarworks does at the low end (in Mixed filter mode) - blue is the raw cans (note the bass rolloff), green curve is the correction:
My curves are mainly bass extensions, approximating that correction as a starting point (and then going lower). The thinking is that middle and treble are likely to vary more between cans, and anyway many pros consider the HD600 'reference' as they are. I did add a tiny treble slope to reveal a bit more detail, the Senn house-sound is a touch too laid-back to me (at least on my setup) - if you don't want that just zero the gain of the 10.1k node.
Download the curves in GlissEQ preset format (the plugin can also export to CSV text format for porting to other EQs):
NEW (May 18, 2016): v0.9b Impulse Response for Convolvers (eg.
Foobar2k's
Impulse Response Convolver plugin):
New:
- every sample rate
- 64bit versions for extra quality (if your convolver supports them)
- phase issues corrected, can now be faded out to reduce their intensity (eg. Foobar Convolver 'Mix Adjust').
64-bit float
(refers to the audio format, not the OS):
r-i-l.net/_files/HD600/float64.zip
32-bit float
r-i-l.net/_files/HD600/float32.zip
Foobar2k instructions:
The files can live anywhere - just install the Convolver plugin the usual foobar way, add it in Preferences->DSP Manager, and then 'Configure selected' and load the desired curve impulse:
New: Can now reduce the correction strengfth with Mix Adjust.
The plugin is slow to update, any changes seem to take a few seconds to kick in (audio usually glitches when it does).
Note: my impulses cause a deliberate 4dB drop in output volume, to avoid clipping/audio limiting on bass-heavy tracks. But with 'Auto level adjust' ticked this is cancelled out and you may hear strong limiting when it overloads on loud bass peaks. Untick it to avoid that.
If you still get occasional clipping/limiting, reduce Level Adjust a little.
Curve 1: bass recovery approximated from the Sonarworks HD600 graph (Mixed filter mode) and my ears:
Curve 2: based on 1 but extended deeper.
Curve 3: recovers even more low bass, sounds very balanced to me.
Curve 4: (my favourite) as 3, but lowest node is 0.1dB hotter - great for listening, presence & kick (maybe too much for mixing?)
Note that the amount of bass probably partly depends on what's driving your cans. I use an EMU 1616m audio interface breakout box which is a little underpowered, so perhaps a little bass-shy. You may need to tweak the bass node gains a little to suit your source.
I love it, let me know how it works for you.
