Headphones for Mixing and Mastering

[MicMaven]

I got my last new set of pads for just under $42 shipped.

I listen to headphones maybe 6 to ten hours a day for various reasons, listening to music, with my transceivers, and wireless models for listening to old time radio programs from the 40s and 50s with my young bride. But, I never pay $40 for new ear pads. I purchase mine from a couple of reliable vendors on eBay named wang_yifei and studiomate, respectively, for between $8 and $16. They sell standard original type pads - real leather, pleather, and velour - at various price points, the latter two types are typically less than $10 shipped. Very high quality like original pads. I use them on Austrian-Audio Sony and other headphones, and my favorite Audio-Technica BPHS-1 broadcast headset, among other headphone models.

My favorite pads are super cushy, really comfy memory foam pads pictured below, which come in several sizes to fit most headphone models. Luxurious! And they crush to proper depths, so they sound right. Like these: Super Thick Soft Memory Foam Cushion Pads On Over Ear Dj Headphone EarPad Sponge | eBay

That is just MY take. Your mileage may vary. James / K8JHR

 

[svyet]

I usually buy the Beyerdynamic velour pads for my Sony's for around $26 shipped and replace them every 2-3 years since they see very little use outside of field recording and tracking. I love those over the stock pleather pads. I don't use the Sony's for critical listening, so that's no problem.

With the HD600s, however, I stay with stock pads for now since non-stock pads would have a similar effect as old pads do: different driver to ear distance, different sealing character (and therefore bass response can change depending on the material's breathability). Of course, that's no problem for listening if you find a set of pads that you like. But for mixing and mastering, the general calibration profile I use is based off of stock pads. To what extent new pads would change the output would have to be measured, but I don't have the ability (or money) to find out.

I if I really wanted to go the extra mile and save money on pads in the (very) long run, I could of course buy a big stock of third-party pads that I like, and send my headphones in with them for calibration together to produce a profile specifically for those pads. But if I did that, I would probably spend the extra $50 to also have a profile specific to my headphones with new stock pads for a total of around $200. Factor in that cost, plus the cheaper pads for 5-7 years (for insurance), it's a lot less work and upfront investment to simply continue using the general profile and buying new stock pads once a year for the next 5-7 years (or more) and still having some guarantee that stock pads will continue to be available beyond that period of time. There are plusses and minuses to everything.

Like I said, for purposes of mixing and mastering, I want to at least be in the ballpark of an accurate and reliable and repeatable monitoring setup. However, for non-critical listening, comfort would be a priority, hence the velour pads I have on my Sonys

 

[Whoops]

A tip for everyone using the 7506 for reference and critical applications in Mixing and Mastering:

When you see that the Pads are wearing down and you feel like you need to replace them, it means it’s time to buy a new Set of 7506.
By the time the pads on the 7506 are wasted the drivers already lost Low End, and distort on the High End.

If you use them professionally for mixing/mastering then consider them a consumable product, just like batteries or a printer Toner.
I buy a new set every 2 years.
They’re not expensive headphones

 

[MicMaven]

When you see that the Pads are wearing down and you feel like you need to replace them, it means it’s time to buy a new Set of 7506.
By the time the pads on the 7506 are wasted the drivers already lost Low End, and distort on the High End.

Why/how would flat, tired old ear pads adversely affect the drivers? I understand flat pads would place the earphone receivers closer to the ear than they were designed to be, but I do not understand how that would physically alter or damage them. OR, are you saying the earphone receivers go bad over time?

NOT an argument - just a question. (I am always looking for reasons to buy new headphones!) James

 

[svyet]

A tip for everyone using the 7506 for reference and critical applications in Mixing and Mastering:

When you see that the Pads are wearing down and you feel like you need to replace them, it means it’s time to buy a new Set of 7506.
By the time the pads on the 7506 are wasted the drivers already lost Low End, and distort on the High End.

If you use them professionally for mixing/mastering then consider them a consumable product, just like batteries or a printer Toner.
I buy a new set every 2 years.
They’re not expensive headphones

In your case, for professional use, I guess the excellent low end translation is enough justification for buying them every two years! I assume they are retiring to general purpose use or for sale or donation, and you're not actually throwing them away, right?

I've had my V6's for over 10 years. I've even soldered in a new shorter cable to replace the awful coiled one to keep them fun and more practical to use in the field (Mogami 2552 fits the hole diameter perfectly when you remove the V6's rubber grommet/sleeve). But nothing I've worked on until I got the HD600's could be considered "critical" applications.

 

[svyet]

OR, are you saying the earphone receivers go bad over time?

This. I believe he's saying that the time it takes for the pads to wear down is a good reference point for how long it takes for the drivers to wear out enough to be out of spec They are not necessarily built to last.

 

[kags]

That mirrors my usage. HD600s, 20hrs a week, glasses, new pads once a year. Worthwhile indeed! I got my last new set of pads for just under $42 shipped.

I don't currently have any justification for the new add-ons in Sonarworks, but I'm interested in how their new speaker/room sims compare to CanOpener. CanOpener has been very good to me.

CanOpener is different than the SoundID virtual environment. CanOpener doesn’t add binaural ambience or model a specific environment. Sonarworks simulates specific speakers measured in specific environments, including binaural ambience. I trust CanOpener and I’m learning SoundID VE.

I tried the slate room sim with his headphones and it sounded very good using his mix room emulation and the midfield speakers. The slate program allows some control over the amount of binaural ambience, which is nice. I need more time to test this system but it seems pretty solid, especially for productivity cation chores. Not sure about it fir high level mixing and mastering yet.

 

[svyet]

Appreciate the clarity, and I'm interested in your thoughts after you've had more time with it. I do recall Goodhertz saying that beyond the crossfeed algo, CanOpener was tuned based on their mastering room, but I assume that's just response curves without any elaborate modeling.

Out of curiosity, I did once add a Lexicon clone reverb plugin to my listening chain set to "small studio" or "small room" or something like that...I adjusted the wet/dry just enough to make it sound believable. I had to keep taking my headphones off just to make sure there wasn't anything coming from my speakers haha..slightly disorienting at first, but I did understand how useful it can be. Some time later now with more elaborate virtual room sims and such, it may be something I incorporate as an actual tool in the future.

The whole thing reminds me of people trying to escape the limitations of analog in the past, jumping to digital, but then reincorporating analog back into the workflow either entirely or where it really counts for them. Much like film and digital photography trends away from and back to film (and even now with digital emulation of film). With headphone calibration and crossfeed emulation, the goal was to eliminate the room, but now of course there are room sims to bring that element back (albeit in a constructive way that still eliminates your actual room if it's not ideal).

All that to say, I quite like the amalgamation of analog and digital nowadays. We're certainly spoiled for choice. And certainly less of an excuse to be putting out anything that sounds bad.

 

[kags]

I listen to headphones maybe 6 to ten hours a day for various reasons, listening to music, with my transceivers, and wireless models for listening to old time radio programs from the 40s and 50s with my young bride. But, I never pay $40 for new ear pads. I purchase mine from a couple of reliable vendors on eBay named wang_yifei and studiomate, respectively, for between $8 and $16. They sell standard original type pads - real leather, pleather, and velour - at various price points, the latter two types are typically less than $10 shipped. Very high quality like original pads. I use them on Austrian-Audio Sony and other headphones, and my favorite Audio-Technica BPHS-1 broadcast headset, among other headphone models.

My favorite pads are super cushy, really comfy memory foam pads pictured below, which come in several sizes to fit most headphone models. Luxurious! And they crush to proper depths, so they sound right. Like these: Super Thick Soft Memory Foam Cushion Pads On Over Ear Dj Headphone EarPad Sponge | eBay

That is just MY take. Your mileage may vary. James / K8JHR

View attachment 116215View attachment 116216

These look like the earpads used on the Slate headphones, which I found pretty comfortable.

 

[kags]

Appreciate the clarity, and I'm interested in your thoughts after you've had more time with it. I do recall Goodhertz saying that beyond the crossfeed algo, CanOpener was tuned based on their mastering room, but I assume that's just response curves without any elaborate modeling.

Out of curiosity, I did once add a Lexicon clone reverb plugin to my listening chain set to "small studio" or "small room" or something like that...I adjusted the wet/dry just enough to make it sound believable. I had to keep taking my headphones off just to make sure there wasn't anything coming from my speakers haha..slightly disorienting at first, but I did understand how useful it can be. Some time later now with more elaborate virtual room sims and such, it may be something I incorporate as an actual tool in the future.

The whole thing reminds me of people trying to escape the limitations of analog in the past, jumping to digital, but then reincorporating analog back into the workflow either entirely or where it really counts for them. Much like film and digital photography trends away from and back to film (and even now with digital emulation of film). With headphone calibration and crossfeed emulation, the goal was to eliminate the room, but now of course there are room sims to bring that element back (albeit in a constructive way that still eliminates your actual room if it's not ideal).

All that to say, I quite like the amalgamation of analog and digital nowadays. We're certainly spoiled for choice. And certainly less of an excuse to be putting out anything that sounds bad.

I think you're correct that Goodhertz tuned the frequency response and crossfeed so that listening on headphones matched listening on their studio speakers. They didn't, as far as I know, model the ambience of the room. I'm not convinced (yet?) that adding binaural information to stereo headphones will improve mixing and/or mastering on headphones. I do find panning and some balancing is easier with CanOpener. I also find that CanOpener colors the frequency response in a small way, so I usually turn it off when I'm feeling good about the mix and I finish the mix without CanOpener.

I need to spend a bit more time with the Virtual Environment in SoundID (and maybe Slate if I can snag a pair of phones and the plugin for myself).

In general, emulating a playback device, like "car speakers" on headphones or my studio monitors seems like a gimmick that won't really give me any useful information. I feel the same about using emulations of studios that have been modeled. I did find Slate's Mix Room preset with the midfield setting and the Ambience control down around 8 o'clock seemed pretty natural, but I wasn't listening to material that I knew intimately.

 

[Whoops]

In your case, for professional use, I guess the excellent low end translation is enough justification for buying them every two years! I assume they are retiring to general purpose use or for sale or donation, and you're not actually throwing them away, right?

Most went to a box where I keep headphones to be used in recordings where I need a good quantity of headphones but hi fidelity is not important. For example, string quintet or orchestra where they just have a click track on the phones and just use the phones in 1 ear.
Or the odd Choir recording of 20 people in a church somewhere.

I lost quite a few in Live gigs, just forgot to put them back in my backpack so they stayed in the venue.

Sale and Donation could be an option in the future for sure but sometimes Orquestras need 40 pairs of headphones and I have to rent them to someone else

 

[svyet]

I'm not convinced (yet?) that adding binaural information to stereo headphones will improve mixing and/or mastering on headphones. I do find panning and some balancing is easier with CanOpener. I also find that CanOpener colors the frequency response in a small way, so I usually turn it off when I'm feeling good about the mix and I finish the mix without CanOpener.

In my short experience, I'm also not convinced. I would like to be, but I'm getting good results with SoundID and CanOpener. Like you, I will typically mix something from start to finish with CanOpener on, then turn it off as a "headphone check" and make some tweaks much like I would after checking on other sources. I think it's a happy medium that translates well elsewhere.

Most went to a box where I keep headphones to be used in recordings where I need a good quantity of headphones but hi fidelity is not important. For example, string quintet or orchestra where they just have a click track on the phones and just use the phones in 1 ear.
Or the odd Choir recording of 20 people in a church somewhere.

I lost quite a few in Live gigs, just forgot to put them back in my backpack so they stayed in the venue.

Sale and Donation could be an option in the future for sure but sometimes Orquestras need 40 pairs of headphones and I have to rent them to someone else

Love it!