Headphone Mixing Tips Needed

[Noplan]

If it sounds good on your headphones and on the speakers then you have done it right.

[8cros]

Mixing on headphones? It's been said mixing on headphones is a bad idea - but I assume these days many people are doing it at least partially. Can anyone offer Reason-specific advice about mixing in Reason using headphones, such as specific techniques or ways of monitoring signals? I assume controlling bass is where things get most tricky. Headphone rig advice is also welcome. I usually use HD598's.

Quite accidentally I did something similar when I saw this thread. I certainly do not do the same thing, my work is not focused on the headphones. I'm going to soon start a new topic. But because my topic is quite close to the subject, I would like to clarify something.
I am disappointed that there is no technology.

1. Just like with speakers, listen to your favourite music on the headphones you mix on.

2. Make good use of metering tools to get your levels right, if you suspect your ears/headphones are deceiving you.

How are you going to implement it in Reason that does this?
What will be the concrete way?

[Stranger.]

How would you measure the sound of a mix?

Bit of a silly question m8??

[8cros]

Here a short video.

- Calibrating of the test tone.
- Headphone correction to work with the flower meter.

http://www.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php ... 87#p276287

[XysteR]

I sometimes mix at night on KRK 8400's via a Focusrite Pro 24 DSP. I'll mix for a while to get something decent. Then enable the VRM feature on the interface and try a few different environments. I don't spend much time on bass via headphones, I generally do that during the day through the monitors and sub monitor - It's the only way to do the bass of a mix imho. I find mixing on headphones at night is ok, but the following day when I open the same track, I always have to re tweak.

I really like the VRM feature on this interface, it runs via the Pro 24's onboard DSP chip, so no overhead on my computer CPU. I've actually found it really useful for mixing with headphones, to the point I couldn't do without it now. Some people don't like VRM though but I think it's a handy tool.

[Peter]

I've been using the same headphones to listen to reference tracks + my own music for years now and I think that helps (Beyerdynamic DT770). In addition, I'm using a few different tools that are helping me progress - the Focusrite VRM Box (virtual reference monitoring), Sonarworks Headphone Calibration and I just recently purchased a Subpac. I was hesitant at first to spend $350 on a "vibrating backpack" but this thing is really helping me feel out the groove of the music I'm currently working on which is totally worth it.

[oneday2one]

I have the Vrm dsp 24 and beyerdynamics 770's, but the vrm is too hard for me cause every speaker room setup makes me want to change everything. I don't get how to make it work for me not against me nor randomly.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[GRIFTY]

Ok here's my tip for everything: change your listening/monitoring volume all the time. The best way to check your mix is simply listening to it at different levels. Speakers will sound totally different because our ears are the problem. They are non lineair and very much colored.

^Agreed-except parts about ears.
Sound does arrive to body and ears from both headdies and speaks in a linear fashion,unless person is constantly moving position,causing shifts in the sound arrival times.
With headphones this is avoided in 90% of cases,because sound is delivered direct to the ear canals,with minimal time arrivals.
The air around us does the 'colouring' as you suggest,as very much the headphones and speakers do also.
The only way to view a waveform in it's purest state- is just by that-viewing it--- Not by listening to it.
Many illusions and factors with files,forms and persons,but also many "realities".

It's actually the ROOM that colors the sound the most, not the air or the distance traveled. The REFLECTIONS interact and produce comb filter effects which cause the original audio to be colored. BUT, this is how we have ALWAYS heard sound, so it's natural to forget that it's interacting. If you ever have a chance to enter an anechoic chamber, it may change your life and your perspective of sound! It's only by totally removing the affects of the space around you that you can experience just how much it contributes and colors everything we "hear".

That being said, when working in unfamiliar rooms and/or on small speakers with questionable bass response, I've long relied on phones to check low end because it's a CONTESTANT - it sounds exactly the same in every environment, with the only difference being the headphone amp and the source material. A room can affect low frequencies more than others with dips and peaks that can completely remove some frequencies while making others unnaturally prominent, so I've found this technique to be very helpful for me.

selig I think you must mean CONSTANT right?

[selig]

Ok here's my tip for everything: change your listening/monitoring volume all the time. The best way to check your mix is simply listening to it at different levels. Speakers will sound totally different because our ears are the problem. They are non lineair and very much colored.

^Agreed-except parts about ears.
Sound does arrive to body and ears from both headdies and speaks in a linear fashion,unless person is constantly moving position,causing shifts in the sound arrival times.
With headphones this is avoided in 90% of cases,because sound is delivered direct to the ear canals,with minimal time arrivals.
The air around us does the 'colouring' as you suggest,as very much the headphones and speakers do also.
The only way to view a waveform in it's purest state- is just by that-viewing it--- Not by listening to it.
Many illusions and factors with files,forms and persons,but also many "realities".

It's actually the ROOM that colors the sound the most, not the air or the distance traveled. The REFLECTIONS interact and produce comb filter effects which cause the original audio to be colored. BUT, this is how we have ALWAYS heard sound, so it's natural to forget that it's interacting. If you ever have a chance to enter an anechoic chamber, it may change your life and your perspective of sound! It's only by totally removing the affects of the space around you that you can experience just how much it contributes and colors everything we "hear".

That being said, when working in unfamiliar rooms and/or on small speakers with questionable bass response, I've long relied on phones to check low end because it's a CONTESTANT - it sounds exactly the same in every environment, with the only difference being the headphone amp and the source material. A room can affect low frequencies more than others with dips and peaks that can completely remove some frequencies while making others unnaturally prominent, so I've found this technique to be very helpful for me.

selig I think you must mean CONSTANT right?

Dang autocorrect - I meant to use the word "consistent", that is to say it sounds the same in every environment/position (unlike speakers).

[kuhliloach]

Subpac?!?!? aw man... that is cool! I hadn't heard of that.

[8cros]

I think that the headphones work best when they match Fletcher Manson curves.
Or something similar.

[JoshuaPhilgarlic]

I work on a MacBook Pro in my bed, and therefore I use headphones of course. Nothing special, just some 50€ Logitech USB stuff. On the other side I work at a professional studio (equipped with K|H monitors and a Trinnov Optimizer), so I can double-check what I did at home. And thirdly I sent a track I did last year to a professional mastering studio to see how good (or bad) my headphone mix was.

So, starting with the latter: my mix was pretty close to that one of the pro mastering. The engineer there (at Masterlab BTW) found exactly the faults in my mix that I was aware of but too lazy to fix for myself .

Second: when I check my headphone mixes at work, they sound pretty good to me. For the last track I finished, I did some tiny master EQing and done.

So in conclusion: it seems I know my cheepo headphones good enough to get a suitable mix .

[Creativemind]

If you watch this video from 29.00 mins Andrew Scheps a Professional Engineer answers a question about mixing on headphones .

Some dude talking about Reason's SSL mixer at 52 minutes

I could listen to this kind of stuff (and guys like him) all day. Very educational / informative.

It may have even inspired me to start a thread on it. A thread on informative / educational videos on music production like this one.

[selig]

I think that the headphones work best when they match Fletcher Manson curves.
Or something similar.

Wait, what? You sure about that?!?
This doesn't even make sense to me - the Fletcher Munson curves vary with volume, so no one curve could possibly match. To compound the problem, if they DID match, then you would be exaggerating the problem (think about it).
Better, if it was even possible, for your monitors to be the INVERSE of the F/M curves, right? But then, you'd be listening and making decisions on a system that sounded very different from ANY other system out there, and your mixes probably wouldn't translate that well.

I would think that headphones work best as speakers do, that is, when they represent the average system that your music will be listened on.

[Creativemind]

If you watch this video from 29.00 mins Andrew Scheps a Professional Engineer answers a question about mixing on headphones .

This guy talks at just after 21:38 about Parallel Compression and how Plug-In Delay Compensation is an issue when you use parallel compression. Made me shout at the screen, "Why wasn't ADC / PDC incorporated into Reason in Reason 7 when they gave us parallel channels on the main mixer?" lol!

[8cros]

I think that the headphones work best when they match Fletcher Munson curves.
Or something similar.

Wait, what? You sure about that?!?
This doesn't even make sense to me - the Fletcher Munson curves vary with volume, so no one curve could possibly match. To compound the problem, if they DID match, then you would be exaggerating the problem (think about it).
Better, if it was even possible, for your monitors to be the INVERSE of the F/M curves, right? But then, you'd be listening and making decisions on a system that sounded very different from ANY other system out there, and your mixes probably wouldn't translate that well.

I would think that headphones work best as speakers do, that is, when they represent the average system that your music will be listened on.

I guess you're right, there are some long-established ways of working, etc.
I try not to follow the rules and choose the way to set up for the specific situation.
I do not use monitors, I have access to monitoring, but often I do not use them. So my method is very creative.
Fletcher Munson have a different value in phons. The mean level of 80 phon is considered. This corresponds to the curve B.

We also have individual curve for headphones, as well as the curve of comfortable listening.
EQ The problem in my opinion is reduced to the equivalent curve comfortable listening to the playback curve Fletcher Munson 80 phon.

Then your ears will be equal to the maximum volume (loudness).

[tomba]

One of the things with headphone is sub bass. And another is power of the kick drum...

If you have the ability to be able to monitor with a sub woofer then that's great if you do not... relying on headphones can be troublesome.

Also ear fatigue sets in VERY early if your using headphones to do mastering. Eqing WHILE on headphones can also be damaging. and dont get me even started trying to use filters with headphones thats some craziness. I'll never forget having headphones on while im mixing down a tb 303 just pure insanity LOL

[Taff]

My Mrs has promised me a set of new studio monitor headphones for Xmas, what recommendations do people have?

[Stock Music Musician]

Using hi pass and low pass filters on your reference track can be really helpful, especially on headphones. For example, play your reference track, but filter out everything above 80hz. Then compare the sub 80hz version of the reference to your a similarly filtered version of your track (after volume matching).