[Perox]

Quote:

 
You generally don't want something bass heavy for monitoring. DT770s are technically "studio" headphones, but a lot of pros aren't going to use them because they have a lot of bass but are lacking in the mids. KRKs aren't going to have thumping bass, but they are going to be the best for actual monitoring. Comfort may be a bit of an issue. I feel like they are akin to the Sony MDR series. Not very comfortable, but they are not meant to be. They are workhorses. 
 
One question I do have that could affect these recommendations is why are you driving the headphones from your laptop? I understand that you are making electronic music, but are you just doing that in garage band or a similar program? Or do you have a separate keyboard/synth setup? Do you have actual studio equipment?
 
If you are just making music for yourself and your friends to listen to, then you honestly probably don't want a monitoring headphone, because they aren't much fun to listen to. If you are producing music to sell or something, thats one thing, but if not I think you might find that a traditional bass-heavy, non-studio can may be a lot better for you. You can still make the music you want, but when you play it back it will be a lot more enjoyable. Just a thought! If you want other suggestions, let us know!

When you're talking about comfort are you talking about the Shures or KRKs? I understand that studio monitors are more-or-less used only as a reference, and you're supposed to do monitoring on actual monitor speakers. But since I don't have any (yet) I need headphones that I'll be able to use the whole day.
 
And now to the question: I don't have any studio equipment, so I had to start somewhere and figured that first I'll need to buy gear that effects to sound first (cans, speakers, audio interfaces) and those fun things after (MIDI controllers, keyboards, launchpads). Right now I am just making music for myself and friends, but I think it's kinda training for me, I still don't know that much about sound design, I make dubstep so I need to learn about FM synthesis to make growls and other crazy ****. I go to guitar lessons and a part of that are music theory lessons once a week so that helps me with writing melodies and chord progressions (but I'm still awful at the chords). I want to produce and sell music for sure when I get older (I'm 14). And BTW, how old do you have to be to sell music? I live in Slovakia (Europe) if that helps.
Real thanks for the help so far guys!

 

[kid vic]

Quote:

When you're talking about comfort are you talking about the Shures or KRKs? I understand that studio monitors are more-or-less used only as a reference, and you're supposed to do monitoring on actual monitor speakers. But since I don't have any (yet) I need headphones that I'll be able to use the whole day.
 
And now to the question: I don't have any studio equipment, so I had to start somewhere and figured that first I'll need to buy gear that effects to sound first (cans, speakers, audio interfaces) and those fun things after (MIDI controllers, keyboards, launchpads). Right now I am just making music for myself and friends, but I think it's kinda training for me, I still don't know that much about sound design, I make dubstep so I need to learn about FM synthesis to make growls and other crazy ****. I go to guitar lessons and a part of that are music theory lessons once a week so that helps me with writing melodies and chord progressions (but I'm still awful at the chords). I want to produce and sell music for sure when I get older (I'm 14). And BTW, how old do you have to be to sell music? I live in Slovakia (Europe) if that helps.
Real thanks for the help so far guys!

 
My opinion (take it with a lot of salt) is that you should a nice DAC first, that will take some pressure of your laptop cpu and make producing and rendering smoother. Then get your midi controllers and keyboards. It's easier to learn to make good music on bad equipment while learning the basics of mastering through ****ty equipment while saving up for excellent equipment. If its mostly for you and your friends that your currently making music for learning how to make good music first and refining your skills while your young is better then having good equipment RIGHT NOW (imho).

 

[Perox]

Quote:

 
My opinion (take it with a lot of salt) is that you should a nice DAC first, that will take some pressure of your laptop cpu and make producing and rendering smoother. Then get your midi controllers and keyboards. It's easier to learn to make good music on bad equipment while learning the basics of mastering through ****ty equipment while saving up for excellent equipment. If its mostly for you and your friends that your currently making music for learning how to make good music first and refining your skills while your young is better then having good equipment RIGHT NOW (imho).

So you're suggesting that I should buy a DAC and use my old PortaPros (of they get repaired) for making music? Never thought of that, but I see what you mean. The thing I hate in life the most is deciding, and now that the deciding with headphones went pretty okay, I gotta decide if I actually need headphones now . Now I really don't know what to do...
I mean, I do enter alot of remix contests (the ones that allow me to do so with my age) and if some miracle would happen and I would win (like 0.001% chance) and the price would be a release, I think it should be properly mixed and mastered and that's what I want headphones for...

 

[nicholars]

Good headphones are much more important than a DAC. Get the headphones first then worry about an external DAC tbh.

 

[kid vic]

I'm not saying headphones are unimportant, I'm saying that skill is your best friend. If you develop your skill on your MIDI/keyboard on making good music, then learn the basics of mastering on some good headphones (I think an upgrade from your portapro's isn't a bad decision). The reason I suggested that you get a DAC and such was because you seemed indifferent to what the unified suggestion of what you should get was; almost as if you already knew what you wanted (which is fine, who know's your likes and dislikes better than you?).

 

[Perox]

Quote:

I'm not saying headphones are unimportant, I'm saying that skill is your best friend. If you develop your skill on your MIDI/keyboard on making good music, then learn the basics of mastering on some good headphones (I think an upgrade from your portapro's isn't a bad decision). The reason I suggested that you get a DAC and such was because you seemed indifferent to what the unified suggestion of what you should get was; almost as if you already knew what you wanted (which is fine, who know's your likes and dislikes better than you?).

This sentence confuses the hell out of me Sorry, my native language isn't english and I really can't understand what you're trying to say.
And I kinda knew what I want, I mean...MIDI controllers and keyboards don't change the quality of the sound like headphones, DACs and speakers do. But now I'm feeling that I get what you say and in my state maybe sound isn't as important as keyboards and controllers which will boost creativity. But I think that headphones are the minimum. I just gotta get them, and then buy keyboards n stuff.

I'm gonna try to find the Shure SRH840s in a local shop (there's a big lack of those in Slovakia). I just need to know an alternative if the somfort or anything ale would bug me. From this thread I saw that people suggest the KRK KNS8400 as an alternative. How much worse are they than the SRH840s? What are the differences and how much would I sacrifice? I really want to get the best sound I can from my budget, but what's the point when I'll have to take breaks every 30 minutes? Thanks so far.

 

[nicholars]

Yes for the purpose of monitoring the Shures are a good choice.

 

[Tangster]

Quote:

This sentence confuses the hell out of me Sorry, my native language isn't english and I really can't understand what you're trying to say.
And I kinda knew what I want, I mean...MIDI controllers and keyboards don't change the quality of the sound like headphones, DACs and speakers do. But now I'm feeling that I get what you say and in my state maybe sound isn't as important as keyboards and controllers which will boost creativity. But I think that headphones are the minimum. I just gotta get them, and then buy keyboards n stuff.

I'm gonna try to find the Shure SRH840s in a local shop (there's a big lack of those in Slovakia). I just need to know an alternative if the somfort or anything ale would bug me. From this thread I saw that people suggest the KRK KNS8400 as an alternative. How much worse are they than the SRH840s? What are the differences and how much would I sacrifice? I really want to get the best sound I can from my budget, but what's the point when I'll have to take breaks every 30 minutes? Thanks so far.

A little less detail, quite a bit less bass. I can wear the Shures for hours, it just that they are noticably less comfortable than my other cans. If you can't find them locally, I have a pair for sale, although post to Slovakia is expensive at £20 or so.

 

[Perox]

Ok, I got my hands on the AKG K240DFs (old version with diffuse-field eq) for a few days from a guy I know that works in a studio and the first thing I noticed is the lack of bass and overall volume. The volume is because they are 600Ohm headphones and I'm using them from my laptop jack, but is that also the reason for the lack of bass? The mids are detailed and highs aren't harsh, but there's almost no bass to speak about. In the song xKore - Stabs the snare was always really powerful and punchy (on my Koss PortaPros and Samsung earbuds from a phone). But I hardly hear/feel any punch from these. They're semi open and they leak a lot. Does the diffuse-field EQ make a big difference in comparison to the other EQ (free-field I think) ? They are pretty comfortable but my head is so small that they're like hanging on it. Like my head doesn't put any stress on the headband, it doesn't stretch. And my ears do hurt a little bit and get warm after 45 minutes or so. These are also my first over-ear headphones so maybe I'm just not used to the warmth/pressure. I think he will also give me a Beyerdynamic DT-770 (dunno which version) to try. He says that he uses the AKG K240DF for monitoring and uses the Beyer DT-770 as a reference. When I asked him about the Shure SRH-840, he said that Shure only makes great on-stage stuff (microphones,...). What do you guys think?

 

[davidsh]

The k240 has a serious bass roll-off

 

[Perox]

Quote:

The k240 has a serious bass roll-off

Do all version have it? I think the latest one is K240 MKII. The one I tried was K240DF (600Ohm).

 

[Acix]

Quote:

Ok, I got my hands on the AKG K240DFs (old version with diffuse-field eq) for a few days from a guy I know that works in a studio and the first thing I noticed is the lack of bass and overall volume. The volume is because they are 600Ohm headphones and I'm using them from my laptop jack, but is that also the reason for the lack of bass? The mids are detailed and highs aren't harsh, but there's almost no bass to speak about. In the song xKore - Stabs the snare was always really powerful and punchy (on my Koss PortaPros and Samsung earbuds from a phone). But I hardly hear/feel any punch from these. They're semi open and they leak a lot. Does the diffuse-field EQ make a big difference in comparison to the other EQ (free-field I think) ? They are pretty comfortable but my head is so small that they're like hanging on it. Like my head doesn't put any stress on the headband, it doesn't stretch. And my ears do hurt a little bit and get warm after 45 minutes or so. These are also my first over-ear headphones so maybe I'm just not used to the warmth/pressure. I think he will also give me a Beyerdynamic DT-770 (dunno which version) to try. He says that he uses the AKG K240DF for monitoring and uses the Beyer DT-770 as a reference. When I asked him about the Shure SRH-840, he said that Shure only makes great on-stage stuff (microphones,...). What do you guys think?

 
 
Forget about bassy hps as studio monitor, monitor hps for studio should be flat and transparent as possible, especially if you need them for mixing. For the 240DF @ 600Ohm you'll need a nice hps amp.

 

[Perox]

Quote:

 
 
Forget about bassy hps as studio monitor, monitor hps for studio should be flat and transparent as possible, especially if you need them for mixing. For the 240DF @ 600Ohm you'll need a nice hps amp.

I won't be using the AKG K240DF, they were just borrowed for a few days. And since the response should be as flat as possible (I don't know what you mean by transparent) isn't almost no bass equally as bad as too much bass? Could the lack of bass on the K240DF be because I wan't using an amp, or does it just boost the volume? And would DACs (such as a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 or Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6) be a replacemnt for an amp? Or do DACs not have amps and you have to use an amp anyway? I really don't want something that's bad for me, I'm just confused because this guy from the studio uses the DT-770 (along with the K240DF), another guy that was online on a chat on a online music store told be the Beyer DT-770 Pro are best monitoring headphones under 200€, Stephen Swartz (a great but not too famous producer) uses them while sometimes switching to monitors... I'm not saying that I believe the other guys that tell me the DT-770 or that Stephen Swartz's suggestion (I chatted with him) would make me choose the DT-770, but this stuff just confuses me. I really want the best I can get for monitoring/mixing/mastering purposes in this price range.

 

[nicholars]

If you want them for STUDIO MONITORING then the Shures are good IMO....
 
If you want them for RECREATIONAL MUSIC ENJOYMENT then there are better headphones at that price.

 

[Perox]

Quote:

If you want them for STUDIO MONITORING then the Shures are good IMO....
 
If you want them for RECREATIONAL MUSIC ENJOYMENT then there are better headphones at that price.

MONITORING for sure. But are the Shures good or the best at that price?