Shout out to better mixing on headphones

[AlphaFive]

As my first new topic on this forum outside of Introductions, I'd like to give a little kudos to two mixing plugins I recently purchased and found incredibly useful.

 

Purchased Sonarworks Reference 3 for headphones and Waves NX recently. Both are rather dull plugins that probably wont excite beginner to intermediate level producers. They do however greatly excite me, for a somewhat controversial reason - I mix using headphones. Its not ideal, and many will argue the virtues of good monitors for hours on this topic. I do so more out of necessity - my MediaDesk monitors died on me and i dont have a decent acoustically treated workspace anyway. And i gotta say, it isnt perfect but it kinda works now.

 

REFERENCE 3 - Essentially tunes my reference headphones (AKG K712 PRO). Sonarworks have mapped the response of a swag of leading reference headphones and created this plugin to correct any imperfections - simply drop it into your master channel and turn it off when rendering your files into audio. My AKGs are the shiz and I was sceptical at first because of this. I lie not, this plugin breathed new life into these headphones. They sound significantly crisper and sweeter (yes I appreciate this defies monitor logic), and my bounced post-production mixes sound far better on all audio systems I tested them on.

 

WAVES NX - Just released. Essentially simulates two monitors sitting in front of you. Gold for long production sessions.

 

Finally a shoutout to those working without decent monitors. We do not suffer alone 

[Narukami]

Headphones are great though I don't use them as my main sound source. For sound design, bass, levels, pretty much everything else, I use my monitors. Even though my room is far from perfect nor do my monitors even sound that good (Behringer Truth B2013A), I prefer them for 80% of what I do simply because they're "beefier" than headphones. When I work mostly on headphones, they don't sound as big as when I'd work on monitors. Plus, my ears get less tired on monitors.

 

Still, I use my cans (Sony MDR V6) for one job only and that job is EQing. This is because, to me at least, EQ is such a subtle and delicate job but it's the most important aspect of a mix. I cut more than I boost. I only either take out or increase by 1-3dB. I EQ in mono AND at low volumes because it limits me in a "box" and it forces me to make every move count. It also helps reduce ear fatigue significantly. I only use my cans for just this one job but it pretty much makes my tracks sound a whole lot better.

 

So yeah, cans are great. At least, good ones. Idk, I think people debating about monitors vs headphones, Logic vs Ableton, electronic music vs "real" music, etc, are all just dumb. Too busy picking a side and yelling at each other instead of doing something productive

[AlphaFive]

Yeah totally agree re the speaker/headphone war. How do you find the Sonys? I have a set of AKG K712 PRO cans, they are unbelieveable (and should be for the price). It is possible to get by using just headphones, just as it is possible to survive as a vegan. A good set of monitors is invaluable though.

 

Im in the market for a new pair of monitors now. Narrowed it down to the Adam A3X, Eve SC204, or Yamaha HS5. Leaning towards the Eves.

[Narukami]

Oh man, the Sonys are fantastic. I hated them at first because there was not enough bass and too much midrange. Then I realised that I have a tiny Asian head (or more likely, the unit was quite loose) and I have to tighten the headphones up with a scarf around my head. Tight and punchy bass, strong and present mids and clear highs, it's pretty great. Considering the fact that these were made in the 80s and are still loved today, it tells you quite a lot about it.

 

I wanna get a second pair of headphones, looking at the Audio Technica's AT-M50. I have tested a pair of AKGs though, I loved the sound. I'd probably get those if I could find them.

 

I don't know much about monitors, tbh. All I know is that people seem to quite like and/or respect the ones made by Yamaha or maybe there's one Yamaha model that's quite liked. As far as I know, your monitors are as good as your room, so if your room sucks, your monitor will suck too haha

[Scottie]

The Yamahas will definitely be the best out of those three.

[Mitch]

1 hour ago, Scottie said:

The Yamahas will definitely be the best out of those three.

Not sure about the Adam 3's, but I know the 7's shit all over the Yamahas