ironmine
500+ Head-Fier
Anybody tried this?
https://www.blueripplesound.com/o3a_core
https://www.blueripplesound.com/o3a_core
To crossfeed or not to crossfeed? That is the question...
- Thread starter jasonb
- Start date
akmal2789412237682
Head-Fier
yes, for mixing & mastering with headphones
As someone who only mixes and masters with Headphones and, especially, IEM, I do not cross feed.
It can mask mistakes you don't notice, but people who listen without cross feed will
71 dB
Headphoneus Supremus
I mix my own music using both speakers and headphones (no crossfeed!). I try to create spatiality that works with speakers and headphones as is (I call this omnistereophony). Crossfeed is not needed (it is even harmful) when music is mixed that way, but unfortunately a very small fraction of all stereophonic music produced in history is.
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At least in Japan, nobody cares about speakers (almost nobody). Music is mixed/mastered with and for In-Ear and Headphones.
Speakers are obviously used in the process to check that everything still sounds correct and good with them, but that's it.
But i am well aware, that this differs from country to country
Speakers are obviously used in the process to check that everything still sounds correct and good with them, but that's it.
But i am well aware, that this differs from country to country
71 dB
Headphoneus Supremus
Even outside Japan, music is mixed more for headphones these days, but there's decades worth of older music that was mixed predominantly for speakers, (In Japan too I assume?). Even the music of today that is supposedly mixed for headphones isn't totally binaural in nature and often benefits from mild crossfeed, at least according to my ears. Binaural spatiality is pretty "narrow", especially at low frequencies, compared to speaker spatiality and it takes courage to produce that narrow mixes.
That said, I don't listen to Japanese artists (just as you probably don't listen to Finnish artists). Discovering music I like is hard time consuming work and there just haven't been any Japanese artists attracting my attention.
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Hey hey, i am a big Ensiferum fan^^ and i used to listen to Korpiklaani a few years back^^
Is it really that masters are assumed everyone is listening in whatever headphones? Based on my own understanding, I really doubt it. So when it comes to most masterings, engineers are listening through speaker monitors. I suspect your own preference in headphone might be EQ for your ear. At least when it comes to my own experiences with sources....there can be a wide range in speaker levels. Some stereo movies being louder "normalization" and some streaming DD+ Atmos being the lowest "normalization" of volume.
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71 dB
Headphoneus Supremus
In that case you listen to Finnish music more than I do!
Most Studios (including award winning studios doing albums for award winning bands) in Japan use Headphones and Earphones for mixing and mastering.
That is exactly the reason, why most IEM companies have several Studio Reference Monitors in their portfolio. Shure has 2 (SE535 and SE846 White Filter), Westone has 4 (Mach 40/60/80), Vision Ears has 3 (VE6, VE7 and VE8, even though the 8 is questionable), FitEar has 2 (MH334 Studio Reference and MH335DW Studio Reference)
These are all made with/for Sound Studios for mixing and mastering and produce and flat/accurate Studio Monitoring Sound. And because the big success of these IEM, more and more companies do the same with Headphones (Sony MDR-MV1, Sennheiser HD 490 Pro, Neumann NDH-30)
The reason is not just that the music is made for headphones/earphones, the bigger reason is that you have an room independent, reproducible, reliable sound.
No sound studio has an 100% perfect calibrated set of monitors in an anechoic chamber where the engineer sits for hours and mixes/masters music, alone in the center of a dark room with a net floor on an microscopic tiny table to prevent and reflections with his head 100% straight. Those rooms are well treated rooms with calibrated monitors, but in real world usage scenarios, your head position constantly changes, your seat position slightly changes, there might be stuff behind you, you can't prevent, other people in the room changing reflections and so on. There are too many factors and variables that can make the use of speakers complicated and unreliable.
So first and foremost, the increased use of Headphones and IEM is due to allowing you to do a better job and is unrelated to what people use to listen to your mix. That most people listen back with Headphones/Earphones is just an additional advantage that makes your job easier
With people living in increasingly high density accommodation built to economy standards as far as sound insulation goes, listening to speakers will become a luxury for most at some point I fear. Mixing for headphones may become standard practice some years from now.
bigshot
Headphoneus Supremus
I've never worked in a studio that used headphones for anything other than tracking and editing. Mixing has always been done on studio monitors and then checked on small near field speakers.
Forgive me, but I'm kind of dubious. Now I don't know the trends for Japan, but I know that with all other countries all mastering with major labels is done via speaker monitors. I know in this sub-forum, gregorio will say this about professionals mastering music (in his region, Europe).
When it comes to the consumer, I know most people are listening through stereo bookshelf speakers or a TV soundbar. IEMs are mostly listening to music when you're working out. I have wireless headphones for working out, and most my days is listening through a 7.1.4 speaker system through main TV, or a soundbar for my bedroom TV.
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