monitors vs headphone (professional)

R

ronpoler

Guest
if i monitor my mix and master on "professional monitoring headphones" comared to monitoring speakers (which are waaaayy more expensive)
what are some of the difference that i need to expect and realize with in the entire process
 
oh no, good headphones are expensive, too. usefull headphones start at 1500$ like STAX, or other upper class manufacturers. forget the cheaper stuff, they are all pink sunglasses, everything sounds nice on them, which is very bad during audio production.

there are not many differences with upperclass equipment. only the stereofield is an issue. i don't have much experience working with headphones, but i think it is possible to make good mixes with them.

but i think 2 things are important:

-most listeners use speakers, and not headphones.
-working with headphones all the time can quickly damage your ears.

speakers are the best option if you ask me.
 
i didnt realize that headphones were 1000-1500 if they are monitoring speakers...thats crazy i guess ill have to use the comparison method(compare the way a professional cd sounds on my speakers and the my tracks sound)
 
$1, $100, $1,000, $10,000 - I don't care.

You CAN NOT hear phase relationships while wearing headphones. It's not possible (unless your head is completely hollow, which means you've got bigger problems than not having good monitors :bigeyes: ). That's an awfully important part of the mixing process...

Mixing on headphones isn't a good idea, period. Checking fades, isolating pops & clicks, checking volume variances, sure. But actually making critical mixing decisions? Nope.

For mastering? I couldn't even imagine it. Same thing - If there are anomalies that require a bit more isolation to track down, that's fine. Or for checking tails at levels that would damage speakers if an errant pop came through - I can see that.
 
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MASSIVE Mastering said:
$1, $100, $1,000, $10,000 - I don't care.

You CAN NOT hear phase relationships while wearing headphones. It's not possible (unless your head is completely hollow, which means you've got bigger problems than not having good monitors :bigeyes: ). That's an awfully important part of the mixing process...

Mixing on headphones isn't a good idea, period. Checking fades, isolating pops & clicks, checking volume variances, sure. But actually making critical mixing decisions? Nope.

For mastering? I couldn't even imagine it. Same thing - If there are anomalies that require a bit more isolation to track down, that's fine. Or for checking tails at levels that would damage speakers if an errant pop came through - I can see that.
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I don't completely agree. All you have to do is check everything in mono for phase cancellation. But headphones do fatigue your ears quickly. But there are some headphone specially designed not to do so for about $300. And they are great to hear how your panning makes room for other things. But the bottom line is that you will have to check it on some stereo speakers before you can call it a rap. But he is right, for mastering, a no-no. But mixing??? if you have to you can make do. But plan on burning alot of reference cds.
 
I reckon the only certain thing is that you'll be able to make a mix that sounds good on that specific pair of cans.
 
monitors are a must and are your basic listening tools for mixing. Headphones can be an extra tool, but never the main tool.

and real good headphones are very expensive, so i sugest you save further and then buy some monitors.
 
Monitors all the way. Which also means you need a decent mixing environment. But I would go through that trouble, if you want to call it trouble, rather than use headphones...
 
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. But it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

Using headphones consistantly can mess up your ears BIG TIME cuz the high frequencies go straight into your ear. NOT RECOMMENDED!
 
Esthetix said:
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet. But it's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!

Using headphones consistantly can mess up your ears BIG TIME cuz the high frequencies go straight into your ear. NOT RECOMMENDED!
Click to expand...
I think you have things a bit mixed up.

*Any* speaker system (large or small) can be dangerous, not because of frequency content, but because of average volume over time. Yes, you *can* damage the frequency response of your ears by abusing parts of the spectrum, but it's not the case generally with headphones.
 
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i think you will find that massive was talking about phase relationships and not phase cancellations. the latter can be checked with mono'ing your mix, the former cannot through phones or mono'ing
 
neilwight said:
i think you will find that massive was talking about phase relationships and not phase cancellations. the latter can be checked with mono'ing your mix, the former cannot through phones or mono'ing
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ohh, ok.
 
I use both.

I use HD 650s to isolate noise, pops, clicks etc.. and monitors for the sound placement within the stereo field.

The ultimate mix should be performed using monitors.
 
audiotecnicality said:
I think you have things a bit mixed up.

*Any* speaker system (large or small) can be dangerous, not because of frequency content, but because of average volume over time. Yes, you *can* damage the frequency response of your ears by abusing parts of the spectrum, but it's not the case generally with headphones.
Click to expand...

I have read (and I don't know if it's true) that it CAN be the case with some headphones, - depending on where the driver is focused on your ear. Some blast the sound straight into your ear canal vs. others which have more than one driver and are multi directional with the idea being that it 1) improves the sense of imaging and 2) reduces hearing fatigue

Like I said, I don't know if it's true or not. Just tossing my 2 cents in there :)
 
pccjamie said:
depending on where the driver is focused on your ear.
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Exactly. Where, and how loud. My argument was that frequency has less to do with it...you can ruin your hearing just as easily with a couple monitors pointing "straight into your ear", adjusted for relative volume.

One reason HP may be more dangerous is that it takes relatively little power to generate damaging volumes, as compared to a monitor system, for example. (Acoustic power diminishes exponentially over distance and surface area; your ear canals are tiny compared to your ears in a room).
 
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