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Mixing on headphones - interesting discussion, Andrew Scheps

Very interesting. Sounds like you pick a pair of headphones and get use to them. They don't even have to be expensive. He uses Sony 7506. He doesn't have issues adjusting the low end or the stereo field. He doesn't use calibration or any other headphone software.
 
I firmly believe that mixing on HD800S is better than than 99% of home studios. Even with speakers worth 3k+

I'd rather have ''ear speakers'' that always give me the same sound without bad room resonances. I can sort out the low end with Ozone TBC and by double checking on monitors. It's true that headphones don't give the same ''physical'' sub feel, but you can hear it.

I can hear when sounds are out of phase, (feels weird in the brain width wise) so the stereo channels being isolated isn't an issue, and it's always possible to check in mono to hear the full effect of phasing. It's actually a good practice to check in mono even with speakers.

The argument that you can't pan well on headphones makes no sense imo. You're just as likely to overpan on speakers as you are to underpan on headphones. It's all a matter of reference. On top of that you can be more accurate with headphones when panning and referencing other tracks.

I think the issue is that lots of affordable headphones actually have a pretty messed up frequency response, even within respectable brands, so that can make them sound kinda nasty compared to good cheap monitors, but investing in great headphones is priceless, unless you want to build a brand new studio room and spend tens of thousands.
 
davidson said:
mixing on headphones is absolutely fine.
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Absolutely! You also need skills like Scheps and a pair of really familiar and good headphones (and the knowledge on how they translate) to actually pull that off, though. :D

While I do agree to an extent with @Joël Dollié , it's mostly about the mixing skills and experience of the user- and also about the experience on using headphones in general. I've mixed a ton of stuff in my life but even with all that knowledge giving me only headphones for monitoring will result in catastrophic over-eq'd mess, haha!
 
I'm curious about the DAC / headphone preamp he is using. Did not mention that in the video if I remember correctly. I've been test driving the Gracedesign M900 for a couple of days now, really makes a difference for me.
 
Left hear (almost) not working... (except for tinnitus! That I hear very much. Thank you)
Headphones is my almost only solution since I'm doing music when everyone is asleep. But I have to remember to switch left and right from time to time to realize how unbalanced I am... :-/
 
Minko said:
I'm curious about the DAC / headphone preamp he is using. Did not mention that in the video if I remember correctly. I've been test driving the Gracedesign M900 for a couple of days now, really makes a difference for me.
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Going by memory here... so it's shaky ... but I'm pretty sure that at least once he mentioned using his regular audio interface output. I think that was in a hotel room. But no doubt, he's got some killer gear in that studio.
 
I've mixed solely on headphones for years now. Own work, telebox..
I have a rubbish room and work unsociable hours, so it's a need rather than outright choice.

I think the same rules apply to cans as with speakers: Get to know them, get ones with a good frequency response and reference other mixes continuously. I've steered away from calibration software etc, and instead simply relied on reference material. Old school style.
 
Man, this video is great, thanks for sharing it. On every audio forum there are countless threads from much less accomplished individuals proclaiming that their preference of mixing on speakers is an indisputable fact, much to the chagrin of me and anybody else who has mixed on headphones and had it translate to large playback very well. It's nice to have somebody with a ton of experience and acclaim say the exact opposite of the loud, incorrect claim.

Of course in a vacuum where money and time was no object, I'd pick the perfect room outfitted with a Meyer Bluehorn Atmos system over my NDH 20s. Unfortunately, nobody has seen it fit to award me with that kind of cash, so until then I'm going to keep doing a lot of work on these (uncalibrated!!!) cans.
 
Tim_Wells said:
Very interesting. Sounds like you pick a pair of headphones and get use to them. They don't even have to be expensive. He uses Sony 7506. He doesn't have issues adjusting the low end or the stereo field. He doesn't use calibration or any other headphone software.
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This is the way it has always been, headphones or not. Know your tools. Back in my rock days, this is why you'd always take a mix out to someone's car to see if it was right or not. You knew your car way better than the amazing monitors in the studio you were renting.

I applied the same reasoning to my own studio. I started on a pair of KRK 5's 20 years ago and kept using them. I knew what they could do and could mix accordingly. Recently made a big upgrade to better quality stuff and there will be a learning curve.
 
I use the LCD-X with a dedicate Pre-Amp ( a cheap FIIO K5 PRO ) in combination with Acustica Audio Sierra for calibration and Room

So when I can't use my Focal in studio, I can Mix on my Headphones.

And in general, I switch from my Monitor to my LCD-X during my Mix/Mastering session

For me it's a fantastic workflow.
 
StefanoM said:
I use the LCD-X with a dedicate Pre-Amp ( a cheap FIIO K5 PRO ) in combination with Acustica Audio Sierra for calibration and Room

So when I can't use my Focal in studio, I can Mix on my Headphones.

And in general, I switch from my Monitor to my LCD-X during my Mix/Mastering session

For me it's a fantastic workflow.
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Sounds nice. Out of interest, do you prefer Sierra over Realphones? I like the latter more (but with less expensive cans than the LCD-X, ie HD6XX or S4 or k701).
 
SupremeFist said:
+Sounds nice. Out of interest, do you prefer Sierra over Realphones? I like the latter more (but with less expensive cans than the LCD-X, ie HD6XX or S4 or k701).
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Hi,

Yeah I've tested Sienna, Sonarworks + Cannopener and Relphones as well.

For me Acustica Audio Sienna is the best solution.

Only the calibration with Sierra Reference to me sounds better. Sienna ROOM/Guru is outstanding if you want to create a credible crossfeed, and Studio Room.

I have also other heaphones, not only LCD-X ( that are my MAIN and reference Headphones)

I use Sienna with all the DT 770,880,990, and also with the Audio Technica M50x

I feel the Sienna Calibration always better, then other products.

Cheers
 
I honestly can't mix with headphones, I tried but for some reason, It's not the stereo imagine/crossfeed thing but I can never get the grasp of full frequency spectrum well, I tried a bunch of headphones, lower-end ones to really high-end ones, all the same, sometimes I feel the mix sounds good on my headphones but after I check with the speakers, I found some issues at the lower mid has volume jumping up and down and require some multiband compression, that I could not identify that with headphones, in theory, it actually should be easier to identify these things with headphones but in practice, I can't.
 
Tim_Wells said:
Going by memory here... so it's shaky ... but I'm pretty sure that at least once he mentioned using his regular audio interface output. I think that was in a hotel room. But no doubt, he's got some killer gear in that studio.
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I've read it was a UAD Twin somewhere. But I don't know for sure. Same as Tony Maserati used a Black Lion DAC. But don't know if that is still the case.
 
When mixing on headphones, I have to check the mix at multiple volume levels to get a clear picture.

When mixing drums for example, I need to turn up the volume fairly loud to hear the best balance between the perc and the rest of the track. If I don’t go through this process, I usually mix the drums too hot.

So headphone mixing isn’t perfect. But it is doable. I think the pushback against it is as much internet “parroting” as anything else. It was gratifying to hear Anne-Kathrin Dern mention on YT that she and other LA based composers habitually mixed on cans.
 
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