Recommended Headphones for Mixing?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
register
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Recommended Headphones for Mixing?

Post by register » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:25 pm

Hey all. Later this month I'm gonna be moving into a smaller flat, it's not a cardboard box or anything, but it means I have to economise on space. I seriously doubt I can get my fostex pm2's + stands in there and keep it comfortably spacious, so I'm looking to get some relatively flat response headphones for while I'm there.
Before you all start ranting: i KNOW you can't properly mix on headphones, and that correctly setup studio monitors are 2nd to none. I am now more casual about music production than I was a few years ago, so right now I'm happy to compromise and mix on a decent pair of 'phones.
Does anyone know what good pair of headphones to mix on would be? Like I say, right now I'm used to using fostex pm2's, which I love to death. They have excellent bass response, very powerful tweeters, slightly lack in the ultra - highs and the low mids I'd say.
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

liveISlife
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Post by liveISlife » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:33 pm

There is some good threads on this somewhere burred here. As for I, these make me wet... http://www.akg.com/site/products/powers ... ge,EN.html

leedsquietman
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Post by leedsquietman » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:56 pm

I just picked up some Audio Technica ATHM-40fs for 80 dollars Canadian (less than half suggested retail price) and they are awesome - better than my Sony 7506s, which are also very good. The frequency range on the ATHM-40fs is 5 Hz - 28,000 Khz - they are seriously excellent even for their full retail price.

I do almost all my mixing on phones - just be sure to reference it on monitors before you commit the mix though.
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.

nuxnamon
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Post by nuxnamon » Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:50 pm

audio technica ATH-M50.. read the reviews.. can't go wrong for the money..

lola
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Post by lola » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:05 pm

AKG 701
sennheiser hd 650
Beyer dynamic dt880 pro

Be sure you get also a good amp to feed them, in order to get less colorization

DJDJ
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Post by DJDJ » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:12 pm

A lot of people seem to like the sennheiser 650's or the Beyerdynamic DT-880's for mixing. It's all a matter of taste. 2 things to consider if you want to mix in headphones:

1. a power amp for your headphones will go a long way towards getting a good clear & balanced sound.

2. there is a learning curve with mixing on headphones, and it can take a while to get used to it. Things like effects levels, stereo imaging, etc are very different in cans.


the upside of it is that room acoustics aren't an issue to deal with, so if you get a good pair of cans and learn how to use em well, you can mix anywhere.

Here's a couple of links that you may find helpful. Be sure to Read Macc's posts--

http://www.dogsonacid.com/showthread.ph ... headphones

https://www.dogsonacid.com/showthread.p ... did=585407
Last edited by DJDJ on Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Superchibisan
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Post by Superchibisan » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:16 pm

this type of thread REALLY needs to be searched for before you post a new topic on it. you'll get plenty of results as i believe there are 15 threads about this.

whatever the case get Ultrasone brand headphones. you won't be sorry.

Chang
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Post by Chang » Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:28 pm

register wrote:Hey all. Later this month I'm gonna be moving into a smaller flat, it's not a cardboard box or anything, but it means I have to economise on space. I seriously doubt I can get my fostex pm2's + stands in there and keep it comfortably spacious, so I'm looking to get some relatively flat response headphones for while I'm there.
Before you all start ranting: i KNOW you can't properly mix on headphones, and that correctly setup studio monitors are 2nd to none. I am now more casual about music production than I was a few years ago, so right now I'm happy to compromise and mix on a decent pair of 'phones.
Does anyone know what good pair of headphones to mix on would be? Like I say, right now I'm used to using fostex pm2's, which I love to death. They have excellent bass response, very powerful tweeters, slightly lack in the ultra - highs and the low mids I'd say.
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.


If you are just mixing down and not singing you should look into professional Open back headphones which tend to be much more accurate on low end & let you hear the overall stereo field much better than with closed. Also open back or semi open backed are much less fatiguing than all the usual closed headphones and can be used worn for a much longer period of time than closed. Downside is obviously on full opens they are bad for tracking vocals because of bleed through. Upside is you will get a better mix and hear everything clearer.

Even the most high end closed cup head phones that claim totally flat response still
tend to give low end sound overexaggeration and make low end sound bigger than it is. and once again closed cup make the stereo field less accurate than in open backs. Google open back headphones. Any pro will tell you for mixing open backs are way to go.

leedsquietman
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Post by leedsquietman » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:08 am

while this is broadly correct, it also depends on the closed back headphones. Some have just as good quality. They are not as comfortable for extended periods.

I had Sennheiser HD650's - they were awesome, really good sound quality, very comfortable - but I don't personally think they are worth $600 plus dollars. They got damaged in a basement flood last year and I was gutted, but I don't feel they were much different sound wise from the Audio technicas I now own, although the comfort level was much better. Ditto AKG 701s etc. Great - but are they worth the money ??? Maybe if you get an unbelievable deal through a store blowout or something.

The Audio Technica ATHM50 is great - the 40fs are too, very little difference between them. Sony MDR 7509HD. All good.

It's all so subjective. Listen to a few and see which ones you like best.
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Homebelly
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Post by Homebelly » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:28 am

I just bought a set of these..
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/ho ... headphones

I'm very impressed.
I also have a pair of HD 280P.
The HD595's are aimed at home stereo use, but they produce a great sound image, and they are way comfortable, so much so in fact that i have forgotten i have them on more than once only to be reminded that i do when i try and get up to walk away and find i am dragging my lap top along behind me.
15" 2.4 MBP/Live/Sampler/Operator/ Home made Dumble clone/Two Strats/One Jazz Bass.
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register
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Post by register » Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:18 am

thank you very much, tons to help me out here.
As for the Open / Closed thing, I don't think recording vox with the same phones will be too much of an issue, the main thing is to have something that sounds relatively flat to my ears just to get a good mixdown.
thanks!

pimpleburger
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Post by pimpleburger » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:26 pm

I'm a multi-instrumentalist and mainly gig as a drummer. Und zo, wanting to protect my hearing I bought some Shure E5 in-ear monitors. They are a dual driver model.

Anyway I wear them for everyday use ie listening to an MP3 player, in-ears for gigging, practicing on my midi drums etc.

Because I wear these things so damn much, I am used to them more than my studio monitors! So now I get a rough mix up and running using my normal monitors at low volume and fine tune and recheck my decissions using the Shure E5's and then one last listen on monitors at higher volume for bass response and overall checking and I'm done.

My mixes have never quite been release quality before but since using the in-ears I am now there and I'm delighted.

I think mixing on headphones is perfectly doable and so long as you are used to them and check your mixes on a regualr system then you should be fine.

Here are a couple of links to Soundonsound articals about mixing using headphones

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/a ... phones.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/a ... phones.htm

Should you want to have a read up on it. There are some recommendations in there too.

Peace,
pimpleburger
Y'all take care now!

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Post by CHARLIE! » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:12 pm

I have had great results using my sennehiser HD280P.


Not expensive but sound amazing... They tend to give a bit of bias on the bass because they are closed but you can easily take a listen on some different systems or just learn the cans and adjust accordingly.

I inversely am about to buy my first monitors :).

Been using headphones for far too long.

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Post by 5rings » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:52 pm

nuxnamon wrote:audio technica ATH-M50.. read the reviews.. can't go wrong for the money..
+1

I love mine
5rings.us

nebulae
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Post by nebulae » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:43 pm

I've trusted my AKG-240s for a very long time. Decades.

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