Studio monitors vs. Studio head phones

Artik

New member
It's back to college again...smh jp but seriously i don't know if I'll be able to take along studio monitors i don't own a pair of studio head phones but i guess I'll have 2 get em i'm just wondering will this change anything? Will the phones be to accurate? Idk Can anyone lay out some pro and cons cause i may need to brake a few rules
 
headphones won't really work. just bring your monitors and keep them at low volume and use ur head phones too so u can hear it from two perspectives. sometimes i mix with my headphones and then i put the mix through the monitors and im like oh wow this is too loud or this is too soft, etc. so its not gonna be as accurate if u just use headphones.
 
Thanks for the feed back i was thinkin the same thing while mixing It'll be different, now i think I'll have to think about placement of my monitors any thoughts on that?(should they be closer now because of low volume or in the normal position?)
 
grab some headphones that have a flat frequency response

Sony MDR7506
 
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I'll check it that out too any particular brands you'll recommed?

Nice! Thanks alot! I have i feeling i've seen those somewhere before
 
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Just so you know for monitor placement the monitors should form a triangle with your head. As far as they are apart, is as far as you should be from them. So if they're 2 feet apart ur head should be 2 feet in front of them. I just keep mine on both sides of my monitor on the desk as if they were regular computer speakers.
 
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Yea basically right now thier about 2 feet apart and 2 feet away from me since i'm worried about the noise i'm wondering if i should go 1.5 ft apart and 1.5 ft away or even closer.
 
i generally keep my monitor volume low enough so that you can't even hear it outside of my room if i close my door. how loud have you been blasting your monitors? lolz
 
They're never really that hard i just don't wanna disturb my room mate whoever thats gonna be my volume is usually low just enough for me to make my sounds out correctly lol
 
I would use headphones too.
IMO ignoring them is a mistake.
Look around at all of the people using Ipods. They don't have bookshelf speakers strapped to their heads.
Headphones are very good to reference your mix with.
Should you mix with them? Probably not, but if your room is poo, and most likely your dorm will be, then headphones might be a usfull mixing tool along side low volume speaker mixing.
An argument can be made that mixing in headphones is better than doing so in a poor acoustic enviornment with speakers.
This is surely debatable, but plausable.

Anyway Grado sr60's are generally considered miles ahead of similarly priced headphones at their price point.
They don't isolate well.......well not at all really. They are very open, so if you need closed cans look elsewhere.

For closed cans under $100 Audio Technia ath m50's are the name I hear being brought up the most anymore.
If you don't feel like dropping so much on cans, JVC HA RX700's are highly recomended at their price point at head-fi.org.
Just picked up some myself. Impressive for $34 shipped, and resolve a nice amount of detail.
Distortion from poorly mixed/mastered music is easily flagged with these.
At the same time they have a good full sound.
 
Thanks for the info i found this plug-in while searching about this topic redline monitor it allows your head phones to act as monitors has any one tried it?
 
lol. i just had a violation the other day for excessive noise after 10p.m. in my dorm hall.
i never liked headphones myself. i'm considering getting a pair before my 3rd strike.

the mdr7506 looks good
 
Jaysir said:
lol. i just had a violation the other day for excessive noise after 10p.m. in my dorm hall.
i never liked headphones myself. i'm considering getting a pair before my 3rd strike.

the mdr7506 looks good

Actually the 7506's wouldn't be a great choice for reference. They're closed-back, so their construction assures they won't be flat...you'll have a big bottom end like all closed-back cans do. If you're going to buy a pair for monitoring I'd suggest an open-back pair or a semi-open back pair.

Frank
 
Thanks for the tip but i just got a pair of Grado SR80's from my cousin he told me to try them they're pretty good and he also told me to monitor using two phones he also gave me a pair of beyerdynamics DT 770 PRO'S his better at mixing than me so I'll try them but i like trying everything thats why i came here to see what you guys thought
 
Artik said:
Thanks for the tip but i just got a pair of Grado SR80's from my cousin he told me to try them they're pretty good and he also told me to monitor using two phones he also gave me a pair of beyerdynamics DT 770 PRO'S his better at mixing than me so I'll try them but i like trying everything thats why i came here to see what you guys thought

Both are very good at what they do.
Grado= great clairity, revealing mid range, highs, and tight punchy bass.
Beyer's I have not heard, but most would say they have a great low end, which is good for referencing bass.
 
Yea i've been using them for the past few days and i'd recommend both but if i had to pick one It'll be the Grado's
 
Im at university and in the same kind of situation. For the last few weeks ive been doing all my producing and mixing on a pair of samson rh600 headphones that I picked up for cheap and my mixes are coming out better than they did when i was using my fostex pm0.4 monitors.
So if you have a good ear, know how your headphones translate to other monitoring systems and dont have good monitors and a well treated room headphones can give a good solution if you know what your doing.
 
i've noticed tht rlly low frequencies sound good in headphones but when u play it on speakers it sounds rlly distorted.. i've had to go back n raise the frequency of many bass tracks i made

o and ur guarenteed tht speakers wont hurt ur ears (the exterior, not the eardrum) after a few hours.. :P
 
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Blaq Market said:
i've noticed tht rlly low frequencies sound good in headphones but when u play it on speakers it sounds rlly distorted.. i've had to go back n raise the frequency of many bass tracks i made

What speakers? Passive or active? If your speakers are distorting that you're, a.) using crappy speakers, b.) doing something very wrong, or c.) mixing WAAAAY too much low end.

Blaq Market said:
o and ur guarenteed tht speakers wont hurt ur ears (the exterior, not the eardrum) after a few hours.. :P

Completely untrue. High SPL's will cause hearing lost regardless of the source emitter.

Frank
 
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