headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
de wouzer
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headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by de wouzer » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:28 pm

My neighbour doesn't like my beats. I want to make more use of my headphones. But my Sennheiser HD 25-1 is not very good for production and for my ears. Anyone an idea about real good headphones? It's my plan to spend max 500 euro, but if it's necessary (I don't expect so) I can spend more.
macbook 2.4 ghz 2 gig ram, akai MPK 25, uc33e, apc40, ableton 8 suite, krk vx6, NI audio 8

feytus
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by feytus » Mon Dec 09, 2013 12:22 am

I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's, and I think they're excellent for mixing. Just sublime. Very transparent, I've always found that they translate the mix very well to other systems. They're comfortable to wear as well. :)

5blackcats
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by 5blackcats » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:11 am

murder your neighbour

de wouzer
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by de wouzer » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:27 am

5blackcats wrote:murder your neighbour
once he complained when I was 'tapping my maschine' without sound from the speakers.
but.... although I don't know him, he seems friendly

what about the Sennheiser HD 650 ? Any experience ?
macbook 2.4 ghz 2 gig ram, akai MPK 25, uc33e, apc40, ableton 8 suite, krk vx6, NI audio 8

jestermgee
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by jestermgee » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:51 am

If you do a little bit of a search on here, on the web or any other forum along the same premise you should uncover truckloads of recommendations of almost every pair of cans under the sun:

Google Suggests:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=reco ... ve&ssui=on

Tysonviolin
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by Tysonviolin » Mon Dec 09, 2013 2:47 am

I love my DDT770 pro 250 ohm Beyerdynamics. I use them live, but if the subs are crushing me I use my KRK8400s because of their crisp midrange

TomViolenz
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by TomViolenz » Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:54 am

feytus wrote:I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's, and I think they're excellent for mixing. Just sublime. Very transparent, I've always found that they translate the mix very well to other systems. They're comfortable to wear as well. :)
I don't think you can do much better than the HD 600s for mixing!
And they usually sell for 400 bucks, sometimes a little cheaper.
But for unlocking their full potential (and you want to do that believe me) you should also get a headphone amp, as they are 300 Ohm headphones.
If you don't trust my fawning, head over to the audiophile nerds and see them fawning ;-)

http://www.head-fi.org/t/538255/sennhei ... ion-thread

tedlogan
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by tedlogan » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:44 am

TomViolenz wrote:
feytus wrote:I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's, and I think they're excellent for mixing. Just sublime. Very transparent, I've always found that they translate the mix very well to other systems. They're comfortable to wear as well. :)
I don't think you can do much better than the HD 600s for mixing!
And they usually sell for 400 bucks, sometimes a little cheaper.
But for unlocking their full potential (and you want to do that believe me) you should also get a headphone amp, as they are 300 Ohm headphones.
If you don't trust my fawning, head over to the audiophile nerds and see them fawning ;-)

http://www.head-fi.org/t/538255/sennhei ... ion-thread
I love the HD600s, got em new for £222 at Juno Records (was a one off), great for mixing. They do require a lot of juice to drive them, but I don't use a headphone amp. I listen to them by using a Pod HD as the sound card, and you can't really push the gain past 50% or you will lose your hearing.

TomViolenz
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by TomViolenz » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:52 am

tedlogan wrote:
TomViolenz wrote:
feytus wrote:I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 600's, and I think they're excellent for mixing. Just sublime. Very transparent, I've always found that they translate the mix very well to other systems. They're comfortable to wear as well. :)
I don't think you can do much better than the HD 600s for mixing!
And they usually sell for 400 bucks, sometimes a little cheaper.
But for unlocking their full potential (and you want to do that believe me) you should also get a headphone amp, as they are 300 Ohm headphones.
If you don't trust my fawning, head over to the audiophile nerds and see them fawning ;-)

http://www.head-fi.org/t/538255/sennhei ... ion-thread
I love the HD600s, got em new for £222 at Juno Records (was a one off), great for mixing. They do require a lot of juice to drive them, but I don't use a headphone amp. I listen to them by using a Pod HD as the sound card, and you can't really push the gain past 50% or you will lose your hearing.
I'm not familiar with the Pod HD, but a lot of sound cards have in-built head phone amps, so a dedicated one is certainly not the only option.
The extra power is also not so much for extra volume in general, but mostly for more and more seperated low end. You can get ear piercingly loud on very small speakers after all.

One thing to note: After you have bought the 600s you need to give them about a hundred hours with your headphone amp to open them up. Before that, they are not that special. (But I think that is true for most of these headphones)

tedlogan
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by tedlogan » Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:09 am

I'm not familiar with the Pod HD, but a lot of sound cards have in-built head phone amps, so a dedicated one is certainly not the only option.
The extra power is also not so much for extra volume in general, but mostly for more and more seperated low end. You can get ear piercingly loud on very small speakers after all.
Yeah, I need to do more research regarding the headphone amp option compared to my current setup. I have the volume, I have the clarity, but not sure if I'm getting the intended output from the cans. It seems so, they sound remarkable.
One thing to note: After you have bought the 600s you need to give them about a hundred hours with your headphone amp to open them up. Before that, they are not that special. (But I think that is true for most of these headphones)
Yes, I found after the first few weeks the "veil" people speak of disappeared and they really opened up.

TomViolenz
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by TomViolenz » Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:41 am

The great thing about these head phones is, that if you don't use them for mixing, they double beautifully as high end HiFi headphones! You'll get a quality and detail that you will only surpass once you spend about 3-4 times as much.
It's almost as if you listen to all your cd's for the first time!
But the detail may not be what you always want as a music listener, because you will def. hear the limitations of the equipment the music was recorded on and small mixing errors from the original producers! 8O
I seems the 600s were sort of an accident for Sennheiser. They sold 'em way cheaper in the beginning, and it was just meant as some sort of special edition thing they wanted to phase out after some time until they realized what they had created for this price!
I hear the 580s are also quite good and linear. You get about 90% of the 600s detail, for sometimes half the price!

tedlogan
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by tedlogan » Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:44 am

TomViolenz wrote:The great thing about these head phones is, that if you don't use them for mixing, they double beautifully as high end HiFi headphones! You'll get a quality and detail that you will only surpass once you spend about 3-4 times as much.
It's almost as if you listen to all your cd's for the first time!
But the detail may not be what you always want as a music listener, because you will def. hear the limitations of the equipment the music was recorded on and small mixing errors from the original producers! 8O
I seems the 600s were sort of an accident for Sennheiser. They sold 'em way cheaper in the beginning, and it was just meant as some sort of special edition thing they wanted to phase out after some time until they realized what they had created for this price!
I hear the 580s are also quite good and linear. You get about 90% of the 600s detail, for sometimes half the price!
Interesting, did not know about it being almost an accident.

And the parts in bold are so very true!

TomViolenz
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by TomViolenz » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:16 pm

tedlogan wrote:
I'm not familiar with the Pod HD, but a lot of sound cards have in-built head phone amps, so a dedicated one is certainly not the only option.
The extra power is also not so much for extra volume in general, but mostly for more and more seperated low end. You can get ear piercingly loud on very small speakers after all.
Yeah, I need to do more research regarding the headphone amp option compared to my current setup. I have the volume, I have the clarity, but not sure if I'm getting the intended output from the cans. It seems so, they sound remarkable.
Another thing an amp influences greatly is the attack phase of sounds. With more power the membrane can be pushed out faster and be sucked back in faster as well.

Stromkraft
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by Stromkraft » Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:53 pm

What do you guys think about the Sennheiser 650?
Make some music!

TomViolenz
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Re: headphones for studio (production and mixing)

Post by TomViolenz » Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:36 pm

Stromkraft wrote:What do you guys think about the Sennheiser 650?
There is a still active thread on this by beats me.

I think in essence we came to the conclusion that the 600s are better as monitors, while the 650s slightly hype the bass, making them nicer for your HiFi pleasures 8)

(Not that the 600s are not already very nice in that regard)

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