WIGGLING 'LITE' IN GUEST MODE

[astroschnautzer]

I don¨t have any monitors at the moment, am trying to mix with headphones with not so good results, any of those "mix with headphones" plugins out there for mac?

[rekem1000]

How good are your 'phones?

I'm so usd to my Beyer DT880's I can get pretty close to the same results as my BM5A's. It'll come down to how welll you know your 'phone's sound and being able to compensate for real world listening.

Those mix with 'phone's apps will only make things worse.

[tIB]

Ive been mixing on allesandro MS1's for the past 3 years now. no plugs needed, just a decent set of headphones that you know well and have cross referenced plenty.

[Babaluma]

yeah just keep at it and keep listening to a) your mixes on as many other systems as possible, and b) your favourite music through the same headphones. keep comparing and contrasting. after a few years you should get quite good at it.

[mojopin]

yeah, no plugins. they always make it sound much worse. i feel that mixing with quality headphones (i use hd800 with dac-1) is superior to monitors for making tonal decisions minus the sub range. or you can look it as getting more bang for your buck.

[heidi oyala]

i would not mix (only) with headphones - it is ok to make music/sketches with it - but a mix?
i was never happy with it - i have a sennheiser hd 25

[tIB]

^ needs must.

[widdly]

I can never get the bass balanced properly if I mix only on headphones. Listening to a mix on hifi speakers somewhere else then trying to fix it with headphones back in the studio is hard. I guess it takes practice and more listening.

[dogoftears]

make sure you have yr multimeter open and dont try to embelish frequencies below 80 hz. figure out the compensation between your headphones and other sound systems. everything is opposite day on phones- highs will be louder and bass lower, but this is "normal"....

i find it difficult to mix on phones alone but i have many friends who pull it off with marvelous results so i know it's possible. they are really nice for actually hearing how much mid range detail you've got.

sony MDR's here... old six shooter.

[hiawog]

i probably didn't try it long enough, but it wasn't working for me. even flawed monitors, now that i'm getting to know them, are definitely helping me get better results. but i think it's very important to listen to your mix on a few different systems and try to stabilize it. often painful and humiliating, but really helpful.

[hdd]

[astroschnautzer]

Thanks for the answers,so no plugins it is then, guess its just a matter of getting used to headphone mixing now then I'm mixing mixing on apair of akgk204 studio headphones, but I'm soon changing to sennheiser hd25 for more portability... The main problem I have is with stereo imaging, making the mixes too "narrow" and I compress more with headphones too, my mixes end up "claustrophobic" ....

[melodydad]

I think a lot of it is getting to know what it is you are hearing - whether you are using headphones or monitors.

Sennheiser HD650 maybe (although I find them a bit heavy and tiring to wear for long periods, but HD25???? I personally would not want to mix using them . . .. although I have used them just for stereo editing.

I just got a pair of the KRK8400's and so far am liking what I hear - and how they feel

[astroschnautzer]

[Hainbach]

Yeah, stick with the AKGs or get K701. You will need an open back headphone for mixing. I have to mix a lot outside of my studio and find it always helpful to have a portable pair of speakers to get the overall balance right. Even humble macbooks speakers will tell you easier if your vocals are drowning then the best headphones can. Also, put a mono switch on the master to check levels. Stereo sounds can really mess with your perception of balance.

[tuj]

you need monitors and headphones. only the combination will give you proper mixing. even then, two sets of monitors can be invaluable, one can be a set of hifi speakers.

[aksen]

[tIB]

^ better/more open sound and less fatiguing I think.

[Hainbach]

[aksen]

hmm ok. i've been using hd25s for years now, and while i certainly don't enjoy long sessions with them for comfort reasons, i didn't think about the acoustic properties of them - i found the sound reproduction on them to be pretty good, and i didn't realise open/closed back designs would make a lot of difference (i do like the isolating properties of closed phones though).

i knew mixing on headphones was not ideal, but certainly when i was writing exclusively on the PC it was the only option i had. i tend to only use them nowadays with hardware when i can't have the monitors on, though i think i still "trust" the sennheisers more than my monitor speakers just because i'm so used to them.

[tIB]

^ I dont think there is any substitute for knowing your headphones when trying to mix with them.

Next year Im hoping to get my studio kitted out with so planning on a return to monitors... be interesting to see if I go back to the MS1's every time. I suspect I will.

[amnesia]

I have mixed with headphones since 2001 and I believe if you own some great headphones like my Sennhiser HD650's you will be able to mix fine.

[Babaluma]

agree! knowing your system really really well (whether it be headphones or monitors) is probably way more important than whether you use one or the other, or the brand/price etc. am sure someone using the same cans for ten years could probably pull off a better mix than someone who just got a brand new pair of flash monitors.

[tuj]

[tIB]

Since we are on the subject I have to say the alessandro MS1's are far and away the best price to performance of anything Ive ever used- 99 US dollars and they sound brilliant. Very detailed and transparent... highly recommended.

http://www.alessandro-products.com/main.php?p=headphones

(I tried the MS2 as well and whilst they were better I didnt think they were that much better for the extra 200 dollars, I also have a pair of grado SR80 which the MS1 are better than.)