Headphones As Monitors? Part I |
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Jul 8 2021, 01:33 AM
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Headphones should NOT be used as monitors as we all know. However, headphones have a place in your studio and are a great tool for checking a mix. Not a great tool for working on a mix, but great for being able to spot issues in a mix that you may not notice when being played through your monitors. Here are 5 ways that a good pair of cans can help you in your home studio.
1.)CHECKING YOUR MIX: You can get a very good idea of what is happening in your mix by just giving it a listen on a pair of decent cans. When you are mixing at home, you are probably mixing in a room that is more or less square, this is bad. Sound bounces around and you get what are called “Standing Waves” or sounds that just sort of resonate in the room and trick your ears in to hearing things that are not part of the mix. For example, if a room has a standing wave at 550hz, you may think your mix has a lot more mid/bass in it than it actually does. If you check it on a good pair of headphones, you take the room out of the equation. This is not to say you should mix on your headphones, just that it’s a good way to spot check a mix for issues. Also, i’m talking about studio quality headphones here, not ear uds. Ear uds are your last step before being done with a mix. Most people will listen on ear buds so it’s a good idea to use a pair to check a mix and see if anything pops out in a way that it shouldn’t. 2.)DETAIL WORK: You can off load a mix on to a laptop and get out from behind the desk and go outside or go where you like and sit down and start working on your mix. This is a good chance to just get out from behind your desk and change the scenery. Also, since you are out of the studio, you’ll need to use your headphones and it’s a good chance to dig in and look for any details that you may have missed when working on your studio monitors. Headphones are very good for this kind of thing as they take all the ambient noise out of the equation. The driver is right on your ear so you may start hearing very small things that you may have missed on your monitors like pops/clicks/noise/etc. 3.)TRACKING AT HOME: Folks are tracking at home more and more. It’s cheaper, far cheaper than a pro studio. What many bands do is track everything at home while using midi drums. They then take these tracks in to a studio and use the large room in the studio to re track the drums, and any other instruments that are not sounding good for whatever reason. You can track guitar, bass, vocals, etc. At home with very minimal gear and use your headphones as monitors so as not to disturb the neighbors/roomates, while being able to focus on on your track with a high degree of detail due to the headphones. 4.)RECORDING IN THE FIELD: If you are recording music out of doors such as a live gig, or even grabbing sounds from outside to be used somewhere in the mix. If you are working with live music, headphones are a must have. You cant really use monitors when doing live work. You need to isolate the music and headphones are the most practical way to go about it. Also, it can protect your hearing from very loud sources like a live band. 5.)EDITING VIDEO: Headphones are a great way to edit video on the go. If you have your laptop, you can edit your video anywhere at any time. Headphones allow you to get a good detailed read on your levels so as to match up your voice with all of the other tracks involved in the video content you are creating. It’s a very practical way to work for video content creation and it’s very portable. You don’t want to have to bring monitors with you when you are editing a video at your local coffee shop. So what headphones should you get? We will talk about that in PART II. QUESTION: ANYONE HAVE A PAIR OF HEADPHONES THAT THEY WOULD SUGGEST? *Here is a great lesson to take advantage of a good set of cans by JAVIER https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Listen...e-Mocking-Bird/ This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Aug 3 2021, 02:51 AM |
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Jul 8 2021, 08:16 AM
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I have these as home and they're brilliant.
https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/best-audio-hea...reo-hifi-hd-600 I have these at my holiday home, they're okay, a bit snug on the ears, great for the price. https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/headphones-mic...ver-ear-hd-400s -------------------- SEE MY GMC CERTIFICATE  “Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” Israelmore Ayivor |
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Jul 8 2021, 09:20 AM
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Keeping in line with Phil I like the Sennheiser HD 650 for critical listening and mixing if it's you're only option.
Why? They're open back cans that allow for some left/right "crosstalk" that is a bit more realistic to a natural environment. Around $400 US but way way cheaper than the Adam or Focal alternatives that high end audio mags will mention when discussing mixing with headphones. For tracking, if you're actually micing an amp in the same space as you're recording - Sennheiser hd280. The best sounding headphones with very minimal bleed. You also won't get any click bleed into a vocal mic with them. *These are usually $100 US and probably one of the best sonic investments you can make. This post has been edited by klasaine: Jul 8 2021, 09:21 AM -------------------- - Ken Lasaine
https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/foolin-the-clouds https://soundcloud.com/klasaine2/surfin-at-the-country-hop Soundcloud assorted ... https://soundcloud.com/klasaine3 New record ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kenlasaine Solo Guitar ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...5iIdO2tpgtj25Ke Stuff I'm on ... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZh...b-dhb-4B0KgRY-d |
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Jul 8 2021, 07:15 PM
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going to use you guys suggestions in part II!
QUOTE (Phil66 @ Jul 8 2021, 03:16 AM)  I have these as home and they're brilliant. https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/best-audio-hea...reo-hifi-hd-600 I have these at my holiday home, they're okay, a bit snug on the ears, great for the price. https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/headphones-mic...ver-ear-hd-400s |
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