I live in a loft in the city so my living room is very tall and has no separation between the kitchen and hallway as well. When you clap , the reverb is so metallic sounding. The walls in the living room have so much decoration from my roommate that I'm not even sure I can hang any bass traps or acoustic panels. In that case would mixing with headphones be better? I know there are plugins like waves nx that emulate virtual mixing rooms for headphones but I think I'd still need a lot more accurate headphones than I have. I use the Sony MDR v55. Main question I guess is would having monitors in an untrested room be better in my situation? I guess it is possible for me to move to my bedroom but since my desktop wouldnt fit I'd need to buy a decent Computer in addition to monitors and the traps and panels. I
Are monitors useless without room treatment?
- Thread starter wowfilter
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scrapheaper
Moderator
Mixing on headphones is very do-able- some people prefer it for some things, even without room emulations.
If your room is really as bad as you say it is I would get some headphones
If your room is really as bad as you say it is I would get some headphones
Milo Burke
New member
There are two main disadvantages to mixing on headphones:
1) Imaging and sense of acoustic space dramatically suffer, but electronic music rarely relies on these
2) Mix translation suffers unless you're careful to compensate (this is a big one)
If I was in your space with all the problems you mentioned, I would mix on headphones. Fortunately, good sounding headphones are way cheaper than good sounding speakers and room treatment. Way cheaper. The two main types:
- Open-back headphones are best for detail and accuracy. But they don't isolate much noise. These are preferred if your roommate is gone a lot or is very quiet. Most of the best headphones in the world are open-back. I really like my AKG k702.
- Closed-back headphones offer isolation from sounds around you, but they generally are not as clear or detailed as open-backed headphones. Closed-back headphones are essential for recording vocals and any instrument requiring a microphone. (And useful if your roommate watches TV or does noisy stuff while you mix.) I really like my Sennheiser HD280 Pro.
As I mentioned, translation suffers when you mix on headphones. But you can work around this:
1) Imaging and sense of acoustic space dramatically suffer, but electronic music rarely relies on these
2) Mix translation suffers unless you're careful to compensate (this is a big one)
If I was in your space with all the problems you mentioned, I would mix on headphones. Fortunately, good sounding headphones are way cheaper than good sounding speakers and room treatment. Way cheaper. The two main types:
- Open-back headphones are best for detail and accuracy. But they don't isolate much noise. These are preferred if your roommate is gone a lot or is very quiet. Most of the best headphones in the world are open-back. I really like my AKG k702.
- Closed-back headphones offer isolation from sounds around you, but they generally are not as clear or detailed as open-backed headphones. Closed-back headphones are essential for recording vocals and any instrument requiring a microphone. (And useful if your roommate watches TV or does noisy stuff while you mix.) I really like my Sennheiser HD280 Pro.
As I mentioned, translation suffers when you mix on headphones. But you can work around this:
- Listen to your near-finished songs on lots and lots of stereos: car stereo, living room stereo, Bluetooth speaker, earbuds, your friend's fancy stereo, etc. If it sounds amazing on your headphones and sucks on everything else, your mix isn't translating. You'll need to listen, take notes of problems you hear, then fix them in your session. Repeat the process until your mixes sound as good as they can be expected to sound from all stereos, not just your headphones.
- SonarWorks has headphone calibration software that you load into your DAW for $100. If you buy headphones on their list (and you probably should), your frequency response will be a lot closer to what it needs to be, requiring less testing on other stereos. Consider this tool or an alternative.
- SonarWorks has headphone calibration software that you load into your DAW for $100. If you buy headphones on their list (and you probably should), your frequency response will be a lot closer to what it needs to be, requiring less testing on other stereos. Consider this tool or an alternative.
Agreed - and the type of reflections you describe are the easiest to treat. Maybe try talking to GIK Acoustics - nice guys, willing to work with even the smallest project studio.
Purple Six Recordz
Stoned
My room is not treated at all and I got decent sound in My opinion.
Just test the track on headphones, car, at friends house.
Just test the track on headphones, car, at friends house.