Calling Everyone Mixing music in Headphones!!!!!!!!
May 9, 2013 at 4:03 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 42
audiorefinery

audiorefinery

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Greetings everyone,
 
There are a vast assortment of mixing threads here and in other forums. I have not found one where everyone can congregate and talk about the headphones they prefer to use for mixing music, what genre, and why they like them and what there weaknesses are. So I figured I would start it and see if there was any interest.
 
Keep in mind we are a community and we are sharing and not debating each others usages. 
 
May 9, 2013 at 4:12 PM Post #2 of 42
HD600's FTW! 
wink_face.gif

 
 
I use MDR-V6's for mixing.
 
Why I use them:
1. Cheap
2. Plenty of detail
3. Easy to drive (gets plenty loud when mixing in club/PA environment
4. Comfortable
5. Good treble (important for me because I beatmatch using the cymbals/snares of the incoming track.
 
I mainly mix Deep/Funky House & breaks.
 
May 9, 2013 at 4:26 PM Post #4 of 42
Quote:
dsound said:
HD600's FTW! 
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Click to expand...

 
Excellent well-balanced cans for mixes (and for music listening!)
 
I used to use Shure 440s/940s for recording, mixing, etc. Although a bit bright, for what I recorded (acoustic/keyboard-driven crappy stuff) they were quite alright. After initial mix I then used some old Tapco monitors (and played them in my car) to see how balanced the sound was. :wink:
 
Good Luck!
 
May 9, 2013 at 4:40 PM Post #5 of 42
Quote:
audiorefinery said:
Thank you dsound for sharing your preferences. What does the Bottlehead do to the response of your 600 that a clean SS amp wouldn't?
Click to expand...

 
Good question.  I will only comment from my experience going from my Hybrid amp to the BH. Changes I noticed with the Stock (no tube-swapping, no speedball) Crack was:
 
1. Bigger Soundstage
2. Greater instrument separation.
3. Slight loss in treble-dynamics
4. More relaxed-presentation
 
PM me if you have any more questions, don't want you to hijack your own thread!
bigsmile_face.gif

 
May 9, 2013 at 5:08 PM Post #7 of 42
I've only done a small amount of mixing for songs my band has recorded. I would use my Beyer DT 770's for the most part (tracking, mixing, etc.), then switch over to my Grado SR225's to see how the mix sounded with those, making small tweaks as necessary.
 
The only thing I had to remain cognizant of was the bass bump in the Beyers. I'd purposely place the bass a little too high with them, then double-check everything with the Grados, and other sources (we'd take the CD out to our different cars and check how it sounded, or put it in a home theater system. Just trying to make sure it sounded right in various applications).
 
 
May 10, 2013 at 2:23 AM Post #12 of 42
If you're on a budget, either AKG's top line models (K701, K702, Q701, K712) or Sennheiser HD600 should be good for mixing. Sennheiser HD800 is something I'd recommend if you have the cash. Then you'll need some kind of crossfeed to simulate monitor speakers. At the top of my head, Hardware: SPL Phonitor, SPL 2Control, and Smyth Realizer; Software: redline monitor, isone pro, and head-fit.
 
May 10, 2013 at 7:50 AM Post #13 of 42
I've successfully used the JVC HAS500 to great results.  Not only for mixing but as well for mastering.
 
I find the S500 to offer response very similar to what you'd expect from a decent pair of monitors like a set of Quested.
 
Mind you the room acoustics doesn't come into play which IS part of how people listen to music on speakers in their home or in their cars but Ive mixed/mastered some pretty diverse stuff on these things.
 
Matter of fact, I finished mixing my band's album, sent it off to mastering and only had the JVC HAS500 to check the masters.  The masters sounded great on the S500 so I released the album that way. I also mixed and mastered (so far) about 60 songs on these headphones out of necessity (not enough time to be in my own studio, since I'm traveling so much for work).
 
But I'm actually quite impressed with how well these headphones performed, I even went to my mastering engineer's studio and we compared headphones, he had ATHM50 and I brought my S500.  He was damn impressed and his only complaint was cord length, but that's easily remedied with 10 minutes and a soldering iron.
 
You can listen to my band's album here.
 
http://gooniesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/too
 
Peace
Illumination
 
May 10, 2013 at 8:14 AM Post #14 of 42
I use headphones a lot for when I am editing video, which of course involves editing sound.
 
Headphones are great for editing sound and in particular editing speech or, for example, substituting bits of "atmos" for bits of unwanted recorded sound, there are many tasks like this when editing sound. This editing of sound is quite an art and one which, if I say so myself, I am good at. I first started editing sound in the 80s when I started working in radio for the BBC. Then it was 1/4" tape of course.
 
The best headphones I have for editing sound are my AKG K702s. These are extremely accurate and give really superb detail which is vital for the kind of editing I've described. I use these with a good solid state amplifier (either my up-market Sugden or my budget Pro-ject, either is just as good).
 
When I come to stereo placement (which is later in the editing process, close to the end) I use my Rogers db101 speakers. These I have ideally positioned for near-field monitoring. My Rogers db101 speakers are driven by my Sugden amplifier which is very accurate.
 
Music I use is mostly added without any need for mixing. However I do edit music a lot to fit within sequences. For editing music I do use headphones. If I were mixing music a lot I would get suitable speakers (freq range going down much further than my current Rogers) and I would use those.
 
In summary:
 
My experience is that headphones are superb for editing sound, but usually not very good for mixing music.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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