Headphones for Mixing and Mastering

[Gold]

Me neither,
But having an inspiring and beautiful environment to work in affects directly in a very positive way the quality and creativity of the outcome. The Beach works great for me

I’m not on the “vampire working in a cave” genre

I like to know what time of day jt is. I face windows but they are covered with HDPE ( white cutting board material). It is translucent. I use it mostly for heat reasons. Even in the winter the sun is low in the sky and blasts in. It helps somewhat with sound isolation but the panels aren’t sealed so as not to create a resonant chamber in the window cavity.

In NYC just having a place to work is hard enough. Beautiful surroundings is not going to happen.

 

[Whoops]

In NYC just having a place to work is hard enough. Beautiful surroundings is not going to happen.

I know Paul,
I hope you understand that my invitation for you to cut records in the beach was just a joke, some friendly humour.
Of course I would love to be able to meet you in person one day and buy you some drinks, being it in NY or in some beach in Portugal.

 

[Gold]

I know you are joking and I would love to drink mojoto’s on the beach in Lisbon with you.

 

[FIX]

Sad but true. there's a big campaign now for people going to the audiometrist for free. Kids that are diagnosed with hearing loss either deny it or count on science/surgery to solve the problem.

One thing about the VSX, since the phones model the room, the transients are softened that same way they are in a room, by traveling through air. I can mix on them for hours with little or no fatigue, unlike straight earbuds or headphones. The new version of the software is so accurate that the soffit mounted speakers actually have height in the phones. The phantom center is like standing a few feet away from an artist and listening.

 

[kags]

One thing about the VSX, since the phones model the room, the transients are softened that same way they are in a room, by traveling through air. I can mix on them for hours with little or no fatigue, unlike straight earbuds or headphones. The new version of the software is so accurate that the soffit mounted speakers actually have height in the phones. The phantom center is like standing a few feet away from an artist and listening.

Do the VSX have a “generic” model where they don’t target a specific room? I would be interested in them sounding like speakers, but not necessarily a room that I might not have been to or that I wouldn’t want to mix in.

Thanks!

 

[john12ax7]

Will the software ever be available standalone where your don't need to buy the headphones? Generic software that made any headphones sound more like speakers would be useful.

 

[fazer]

This thread seems more like a sales ad for VSX. I’m not mixing professionally anymore and I want the system to motivate me to get back into it. At 72 it’s wishful thinking. Ultimately it’s in the ears first and the lifetime of learning how to listen. Spending $300 and getting a pair ATC 150’s sounds like a wet dream. Crazy.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

MidnightArrakis, don't you know that for this kind of messaging you should use PM, instead of adding noise to an existing thread?​

 

[terry setter]

This thread seems more like a sales ad for VSX. I’m not mixing professionally anymore and I want the system to motivate me to get back into it. At 72 it’s wishful thinking. Ultimately it’s in the ears first and the lifetime of learning how to listen. Spending $300 and getting a pair ATC 150’s sounds like a wet dream. Crazy.

I used Sennheiser 580s and 600+ for many years. Comfortable and reliable. I recently bought the VSX system and am quite impressed. Not trying to sell you anything, but you can return the VSX sytem if you don't like it, and you'd know that if minutes of using them. I'm keeping mine. Oh, and I turn 72 tomorrow.

For John12AX7 who asked about generic software that would not require specific headphones, the problem with that is that the software doesn't know what your particular phones are doing, so it can't predictably compensate and make them sound like modeled spaces. Would that it could. (Of course, someday soon, you'll put your preferred phones on a test dummy head that measures their actual response and that will allow the software to make optimized changes in the headphone signal, so as to achieve the results you desire. Headphones, $100. Test dummy measuring head, $1,500! But then, maybe you could use it for binaural recordings...!)

 

[fazer]

I used Sennheiser 580s and 600+ for many years. Comfortable and reliable. I recently bought the VSX system and am quite impressed. Not trying to sell you anything, but you can return the VSX sytem if you don't like it, and you'd know that if minutes of using them. I'm keeping mine. Oh, and I turn 72 tomorrow.

Just a matter of time and I’ll order a set. I have a saying I heard years ago. “When’s the going gets tough, the weak go shopping”. Hey but it’s audio. What can I do. “Somebody stop me”

 

[kags]

Will the software ever be available standalone where your don't need to buy the headphones? Generic software that made any headphones sound more like speakers would be useful.

Sonarworks SoundID Headphone software provides target (EQ) curves for something like 400 headphone models, so virtually any professional headphone you have will have a built-in measurement that you can import. Additionally, software like GoodHertz CanOpener does the crossfeed thing that makes headphones "feel" more like speakers as far as stereo imaging and depth of field go. Redline 112 is another software that does the crossfeed thing...

 

[scott2000]

Jay Baumgardner, owner of NRG. "I can start a mix on the headphones and then come into the studio and finish it and it really just translates spot on..."

assuming he uses the $499 version....
Any consensus on getting the $299 vs $499 version? Buy once cry once? Or is the $299 version worth the price of admission?

 

[Whoops]

[or in some beach in Portugal] -- I have read in more than one article that Portugal is one of the best places for U.S. citizens to retire to! Do you know anything about that?

Sure.
It’s social injustice and corruption from our politicians.
It’s a long sad story that would be too long for this thread related to headphones.

 

[SubSpec]

To add on to what @kags said about Sonarworks another software to check out is dSONIQ Realphones. It's worth demoing each. For my preferences Realphones seemed more natural and aligned a bit better with what I hear from my monitors, but that is subjective and either will get you closer to flat than stock.

 

[Pule]

I agree. Dsoniq sounds very close to my speakers in the studio, while Sonarworks has a totally wrong sound, very pronounced high mids and muted highs. I tried it with about 10 headphones and the result is always the same.

 

[kags]

I agree. Dsoniq sounds very close to my speakers in the studio, while Sonarworks has a totally wrong sound, very pronounced high mids and muted highs. I tried it with about 10 headphones and the result is always the same.

I have to spend some time with Dsoniq to learn more about it. Dsoniq is intended to emulate the sound of an acoustic environment on headphones, while SoundID's intent is to EQ headphones to produce a known "target" frequency response. With SoundID almost any decent pair of headphones will present a consistent frequency balance.

I find that mixes produced on headphones with SoundID applied translate very well to other playback systems. I find that using CanOpener helps me understand my panning and center-panned info volume levels. I haven't tried any of the software that emulates specific rooms - I work in a control room with monitors that I trust, so room simulations of different studios in my headphones seems like a confusing idea.

There are DIY headphone calibration options out there, too. Check out the info provided by Oratory on Reddit (Reddit - Dive into anything).

Disclaimer: I consult for Sonarworks, HEDD Audio, and other headphone, speaker, and microphone companies in my professional life, but I am in no way trying to promote the sale of their products, but only to present their philosophies and intentions.

 

[SonicFarm]

I was using Focal Elex in combination with Adam A8X monitors, but I swithed over to Beyer Dynamic DT177X GO. A great improvement, very comfortable to mix on them, I make pretty much same decisions as on the monitors. And yes, my room is treated, when I measure with Sonarworks software, almost no corrections.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

[or in some beach in Portugal] -- I have read in more than one article that Portugal is one of the best places for U.S. citizens to retire to! Do you know anything about that?

/

Noise, again. Pe-leeze use PM for that sort of very OT comment.

 

[terry setter]

assuming he uses the $499 version....
Any consensus on getting the $299 vs $499 version? Buy once cry once? Or is the $299 version worth the price of admission?

The $299 and the $499 are the same phones and same "basic" software. For more money, you get more room simulations. I found that buying the $299 and spending another $99 for the additional rooms I wanted (and NOT the ones that didn't interest me) I got out happily.

 

[fazer]

I downloaded a trial version of dsonic’s Realphones plugIn and Redline DB112. I downloaded can opener earlier from recommendation in this thread which has expired. I have 7506 phones for tracking, HD600 phones for mixing and some AKG 240’s from the past. Redline 112 is great for creating a less Left Right fight in the phones and for judging center field levels. Realphones can create an environment but a percentage control allow you to set the influence from 0 to 100%. It also has curves for the phones you use like sonarworks which I have used for the last 5 years on my phones and genelec monitors. I own sonarworks but have a 41 day trial for the other two. The cross feed does help make headphones more enjoyable for listening. I also purchased. Metric A/B for making referencing much easier. Still thinking about VFX but will play with phones I know.