Mixing with headphones, pros and cons.

[JamesMcp]

I find my ears fatigue much more quickly with headphones. Its difficult not having sound manifesting in air before it reaches your ear. It all depends on whether you want to be hearing what youre listeners will hear, and most of the time they will be listening through loudspeakers. Unless its for a young teen ipod generation audience, then buds are the way to go :P

[andrebrito]

I like headphoes to check for details but speakers are speakers !

[jwl]

Originally Posted by andrebrito

I like headphoes to check for details but speakers are speakers !

Agreed, I do the exact same thing.

[macleodgrant]

i once mixed a song on headphones and it was better than the songs i mixed using the speakers! really weird. nowadays when i mix i have my Sony MDR7509, consumer sony ipod headphones and my genelec 8040 and with that combination (checking the mix all the time on all mediums) i feel i get the best balance!

[montanasan]

What are generally thought of as being the best headphones for mixing?

[clownjuggles]

Sennheiser HD600 and 650's are the top two i know of.

[macc]

I mix absolutely everything on cans, pretty much always have (although I won't say 'always will'). I make crusty organic-sounding breakbeat/drum and bass/jazz type stuff, and attend mastering sessions. I speak to the ME at Heathmans a bit too, who does virtually all the dnb that goes through there (a LOT!).

He's shaken his head at me a few times when he' mastering through god-knows-how-many-pounds-worth of monitoring. He's actually said he can't believe that my mixes were done on £70 headphones (Sennheiser HD270's, same as 280's in different enclosure). That's a nice feeling! I might not be the best engineer in the world, but it shows that when you really know them, you can mix on them, so long as they are above a certain level, quality-wise.

I also hear my stuff out in clubs regularly, and having your bass sounding nice and crisp while making beer walk off tables puts a smile on your face.

There are of course shortcomings, but with time (and I've been doing this for 7 or 8 years) you just don't think about it and mix. As with anything, it is all about knowing how they translate, and those Sennheisers translate very very well in my experience.

I've just always found that compensating for a room is highly problematic, and needs serious money/time spent to justify the results. Headphones don't 100% cure that, and of course have their own foibles, but they help a lot with that, and generally speaking you can take your 'mixing room' anywhere you like in your bag.

Fatigue and volume are considerations, and it is STILL a constant battle to remember to turn it down all the time. Without the physical sensation of speakers (ie impact!) you may find you've been mixing at max for longer than you thought - NOT GOOD. Having a calibrated level you know about which you regularly mix at allows you to test it loud, and test it soft, before returning to a stable non-damaging level. I'm extremely careful about that these days!

I've just upgraded to Sennheiser HD600's and they are burning in at home as I type... I'm waiting for a headphone amp to drive them properly, and then I have to get to know them. Going to be tough after 7-8 years in the same model of cans!


Good luck - it can be done :D

[SoundGuyIHS]

I went to a pro studio in my town, and the engineer there was using Sennheiser HD 650's, but had some 280's also. I personally own the 280's and while they're definitley not the best cans on the market, they work.

[edit machine]

you will likely damage your hearing very quickly if you mix exclusively in headphones. there was just a thread about this in the post production forum.

still if you must, i suggest the Ultrasone line, they have some fancy engineering that makes them sound more natural and much less fatiguing than anything else I have ever used. (i still don't mix exclusively in them, but they are great for double checking.)

Company Website here: Ultrasone

[Weasel9992]

With some anecdotal exceptions, the general rule is that it's not a good idea to mix on headphones for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the greater potential hearing loss if you mix at high volumes. The other practical reasons are the low end and stereo field distortions you get becuase the speakers are so right up against your ears on either side of your head. Is that where you would put a pair of monitors, even in a perfect room? Of course not. I'm all for checking mixes on headphones...I use a pair of AKG K701's for that purpose...but they don't replace a great monitoring chain (including great conversion) and an accurate room.

Frank

[Beardhead]

I work with my monitors as well as three different headphones. The Ultrasones are my refernce headphones and mixes seem to translate very well. The AKGs are more consumer-like somehow, they tend to sound nice and not show mistakes. The Beyerdynamics are very strong in the low frequencies but kind of muddy. When it sounds good on all three models and of course the monitors chances are the mix will translate well.
This method doesn't sound too professional, does it .

[Raketel]

I'm not too sure, but If I recall correctly one curve was based on a test with headphones and one with speakers. Just google "Fletcher Munson curve" and "Robinson Dadson curve" to see the difference. Hope this is some help for you.
Also if you mix with headphones and want to avoid damaging your ears, there are some headphones out there, that don't send the sound right into the ear, but to your auricle, so that there will be more reflected sound than direct sound. Maybe this will give you more of a feeling that you're using speakers. I don't have any experience with them,but maybe someone here has used them.

[andyspiller]

I frequently have no choice as my son sleeps about half my working day (night). I was using some Sony MDRs but they ended up so painful that as a stop gap I bought some Grado RS60s until my RS1s arrive. The difference in tone and accuracy is such that I am very happy using this as a compromise to my working situation. The Grados also reveal to me the problem with the previous headphones rather than any mixing issues. If you like you can check out the 4 Demos I have posted at my MySpace URL - these were all finished late at night on Headphones.

[thesteve]

I use headphones only to check out mixes when I am 3/4 done. I check on a pair of Ultrasone HFI 700s because I know them well, then on a poopy set of sonys that are more of a representation of the stuff that people listen to at their computers with.
It is not recommended to mix with headphone for all the above listed reasons, but allegedly Sufjan mixed Feel The Illinoise with headphones....

[nilsemil]

Did really sufjan do all the mixing and recording. Dont think so but not sure.

Could we get a google name for the reflection headphones someone was talking about?

Thanks for good ideas folks!

[Akshay]

mixing on headphones is great for checking pan positions (that's what i have noticed) but mixing on headphones is not a good idea because headphones is not a very natural way to listen to music,

music mixed on monitors will sound good on headphones as well as monitors

[Bluebeep]

I realize this is old but mixing on headphones won't get old! haha

I have to mix on headphones all the time coz I work late at night and thanks to articles like this one and some research I've got a good grasp of what I need to be doing.

I found an article that describes what the problems are and how you can work around them (well sort of) but it looks awesome! Hope this helps someone...

How to Mix With Headphones

Let me know what you guys think!