I usually make my beats with headphones it seems as if everytime im happy with the sound of the beat and listen to it in someone else place with heavy speakers, the drums are extremely heavy or the melody is too low. In other words i can never get the sound on my earphones to sound the same as on heavy speakers. Since the sound on my headphones is really what im going with, any suggestions on basic things i should know about mixing to make everything sound proportional?
Beats not sounding the same
- Thread starter Boom city
- Start date
A
ace1987
Guest
one thing you should keep in mind is that the headphones are always going to be a lot more precise on the beat. It'd be recommended to go with some sort of speakers to test them out once you complete it. Also, check your dB meter to see if its getting too Hot, cause that could be a reason why the drums are hitting heavily. What are you using to make beats?
moses
hardliner
no magic here. you need a professional monitoring enviroment: excellent DA's, speakers, and amplification, good cables, and optimal room-acoustics.
all this is very expensive, but there is no way around if you want consistent results in every situation. don't think professionals use 20000$ speaker for prestige or fun. this is the guaranty to sound nice under any condition.
a studio can only be as good as its monitoring system.
all this is very expensive, but there is no way around if you want consistent results in every situation. don't think professionals use 20000$ speaker for prestige or fun. this is the guaranty to sound nice under any condition.
a studio can only be as good as its monitoring system.
It seems that headphones (the super expensive ones included) have an adverse effect on objectivity.
I would suggest some 'shock therapy'. Leave your headphones locked up somewhere and mix the same tune again on a set of studio speakers (don't have to be very expensive ones btw) until it sounds good on all systems you can get access to.
Then listen to that new mix again on the cans and A/B compare it to the mix made on the cans alone. You'll be surprised how you got fooled by what you thought before can't sound any better.
easy
B#
I would suggest some 'shock therapy'. Leave your headphones locked up somewhere and mix the same tune again on a set of studio speakers (don't have to be very expensive ones btw) until it sounds good on all systems you can get access to.
Then listen to that new mix again on the cans and A/B compare it to the mix made on the cans alone. You'll be surprised how you got fooled by what you thought before can't sound any better.
easy
B#
G
geoff_emerick
Guest
Depends on the headphones. Some headphones are a little bass heavy and have a little boost in the low end like mine do. Plus, I've mixed on gemmni's and it sounded good in the room (that was tuned, by the way), took it to my friends car, sounded like ****. WAY too muc low end. Just because the monitors are $2,000,000 or whatever doesn't mean they'll sound good everywhere. You know what? A set of Yahamha NS10's will do good. They sound like ass, but if you can get a mix to sound good on those, just think of how they'll sound on a nice home stereo system. I've heard of some big time engineers mixing on computer speakers, why? Because a lot of people listen to music on the computer nowadays. Just because the studio and equipment is big and expensive, doesn't mean it'll sound like it once it's out in the "real world".
N
neilwight
Guest
hmmm, a set of ns-10s will sound good if the track goes through a mastering facility prior to release...(read every commercial track mixed on ns-10s.
theyve nothing below 60hz and a nasty mid hump coupled to rather harsh highs. this leaves alot of range where you arent even guessing, its simpy not presented to you. using them really helps point out certain issues in tracks at a mixing stage and can often let you guess what crappy stereos are going to sound like.
every studio ive ever been in with ns-10s also used big studio speakers. ive never seen it done fully on them though that doesnt mean its never taken place.
i used to use a pair in here, replaced with peavey 652S which are very similar, on everything i master once im getting near the end but i could never use solely.....yikes.
often with a track that the mastered version and the unmastered versions sound very close on my big full rangers, you flip to the peaveys or ns-10s and you then hear a huge difference between the two track versions. often no bass and very uneven response on the original, everything fine on the mastered.
switching the mastered version between the full range and ns-10s results in little difference between the two sets. obviously the larger ones sound better and fuller but theres not huge holes in the spectrum like the original.
this is really whats meant by translation. differing systems are always going to sound different, what you want us to try and maintain an evenness and commonality through them all
theyve nothing below 60hz and a nasty mid hump coupled to rather harsh highs. this leaves alot of range where you arent even guessing, its simpy not presented to you. using them really helps point out certain issues in tracks at a mixing stage and can often let you guess what crappy stereos are going to sound like.
every studio ive ever been in with ns-10s also used big studio speakers. ive never seen it done fully on them though that doesnt mean its never taken place.
i used to use a pair in here, replaced with peavey 652S which are very similar, on everything i master once im getting near the end but i could never use solely.....yikes.
often with a track that the mastered version and the unmastered versions sound very close on my big full rangers, you flip to the peaveys or ns-10s and you then hear a huge difference between the two track versions. often no bass and very uneven response on the original, everything fine on the mastered.
switching the mastered version between the full range and ns-10s results in little difference between the two sets. obviously the larger ones sound better and fuller but theres not huge holes in the spectrum like the original.
this is really whats meant by translation. differing systems are always going to sound different, what you want us to try and maintain an evenness and commonality through them all
G
geoff_emerick
Guest
Yeah, I've never seen a studio with just a pair of NS-10's, either. They are good reference monitors to what people have in their homes..
dood, if you *need* to mix on the 'phones, what you should do first, is listen to every cd you know ON those phones. then at least you wont be completely surprised when it sounds like a different track in a car... youll have *some* idea of what they sound like, even if its not necessarily a 'good' sound....
peace.
peace.
i don't know how this translates to phones, as i never mix with 'em, but when i mix (*especially* hip hop) i always cut back the low end. the reason is that most people are gonna listen to it in their cars, and they're gonna jack the bass. so if you cut the bottom end back a bit, it still sounds good as is, and it hums when someone cranks the bass without distorting (well, you *can* make it distort, but sucking that much takes effort). just make sure you check it on a few systems to be sure you don't entirely kill your low frequencies.
kontak80
I Moderate FP and shyt
Most headphones do not serve the low end of a track justice. So therefore, you tend to un-knowingly over compensate. It may sound good in the headphones, but once you play the track on the speakers, the low end will dominate the track, due to the overcompensation on the headphones.
What you need to do is, take your Ipod or CD player with you to Guitar Center. Have a few tracks that have some nice low end and test out each set of phones seperately until you find some phones that knock. Keep in mind, I do not suggest that you mix with headphones. You should do that utilizing the monitors. But you do want your signal going through your headphones to be along the same lines as to what will come out of your speakers. Id prefer not to use headphones at all, but I live in an apartment and I like to make beats late at night.
I did exactly what I told you to do, and these are the phones that sounded the best to me.
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--SNYMDR7506
What you need to do is, take your Ipod or CD player with you to Guitar Center. Have a few tracks that have some nice low end and test out each set of phones seperately until you find some phones that knock. Keep in mind, I do not suggest that you mix with headphones. You should do that utilizing the monitors. But you do want your signal going through your headphones to be along the same lines as to what will come out of your speakers. Id prefer not to use headphones at all, but I live in an apartment and I like to make beats late at night.
I did exactly what I told you to do, and these are the phones that sounded the best to me.
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--SNYMDR7506