I think you’re the only channel that nailed the issue when talking about mixes. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. I mix and master for a specific audience, so I mix using LP 6V 2’s, Sony MDR 7506s, IK multimedia ILoud monitors, And most importantly I monitor on an iPhone as the final test. My audience listens on garbage earbuds and cell phones and once in a while Bluetooth speaker. Thanks for the video
I also got a good mastering grade little labs monitor and used some Mogami cables into it. This helped when monitoring with my MDR7509 headphones. The low end and resonance came out more. But yes you need to know your audience and most listen on a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. So whynot mix into headphones? I actually mastered a couple of songs on headphones and had my friend who owns a mastering studio listen to my work and he was impressed. So again people say things on forums but it needs to be taken in with a grain of salt.
An excellent video about a topic that deserves more attention. For my amateur requirements, headphones are both cost-effective and practical. They're also ideal for critical listening when mixing audio drama and I'm not sure I'd use monitors for those projects even if I could.
Great content. Thank you. I've been mixing on headphones for a short period now, and as long as the headphones are neutral and you understand and learn them, the mixes translate just fine.
A VERY important video this guys, and some crucial points in this video. It is a luxury to have a well treated room with accurate speakers to mix in... but understand, that's not the case for 99.999% of listeners. We don't all own £k's of ATC's to listening to Mark's masters on. It's important to know how the sound you hear when mixing, translates to the listeners of your mix. Your speakers/headphones (and their value) are not as important as knowing how they sound (the strengths/weaknesses and accuracies). There is no one size fits all, but it's a process of learning to help you understand the nuances of your sound setup (by testing your mixes on other devices), so that you trust your mix translates to other configurations.
Multiple frames of reference works for me. I did a lot of wav recording and mp3 encoding of dj archives for streaming platforms when I got involved in internet radio around the turn of the century.. There was always a quality/bandwidth tradeoff in the ISDN/diallup days, which faded away once cable dsl arrived. We didn't need to crush wavs down to 32 or 64kbps anymore, and the listening experience became a lot less tinny. I've kept a few of those 32k mp3 archives to remind me of the bad old days. I binned all the Real Producer and Windows Media Encoder stuff because of the harrbl aliasing. The reedy mp3s are my equivalent of priceless shellac mono 78s. Documents of bygone days. I still crush stuff down to 320kbps mp3 for freebie listeners on Soundcloud and Yootoob, but only release tracks for munny in 24bit wav. Listening to both versions on reference speakers and headphones of varying quality, I can usually find a happy medium. I'm looking for easy locomotion from A to B, some subtle psychoacoustic movement in the sound stage, and enough dynamics to give the listener a decent dopamine hit. Obviously, I prefer to be rewarded for my efforts, but not everyone is rich as Croesus, so I make an effort to encode my mp3s as clean as possible, without normalisation. Altruism hasn't proved fatal yet.
When I worked for the CBC we mixed on closed headphones all the time when we were located in a concert hall or location where we couldn't mount speakers. It was often the only option and you quickly learned how to hear differently between speakers and headphones. Always being familiar with the sound of the mics you were using and minimal equalization (preferably none) while recording and mixing. If we were mixing in studio we never used headphones unless there was a detected problem that listening through phones could pin-point. When recording drama the sound effects (foley) engineer always wore headphones while the recording engineer listened through speakers.
I mixed on headphones for a while and checked back on speakers, now it's vice versa. My main headphones have no bass extension at all and are very transparent, I could go on talking, but I think the most important point is to know your system. As you said, after listening to commercial tracks for a while, your ears save a kind of profile, you're getting to used to a sound. And of course, trust your mastering engineer^^. Speaking of cars, I've never got a drivers license and never wanted one, but I'm sure a boombox in public transport will do :D.
@@PresentDayProduction Yeah! And Germany's public transport is known for its happy, friendly and open minded users and drivers. What could possibly go wrong?
i used to check all my mixes full blown in my car. even on shitty speakers you get a feel for whats gong on. unfortunately i don't have a car anymore...
Andrew Scheps mixes on headphones these days (cheapo Sony MDR 7506's) I managed to break my 7506s pretty quickly so switched back to my trusty Beyer DT-990s.
I’ve always struggled a bit on headphones. We’ve got a good sounding control room, several sets of decent monitors, a shitty mono grot box, a horrible stereo sound bar thing and a hifi. Once a mix is coming through decently in all those systems, I know I’m in the ballpark. I do like to use phones to do a bit of fine tweaking. Ive always seemed to be able to hear any effects better through cans but for 90 percent of work it’s monitors all the way!Cans are great for anyone with neighbours or a miserable Mrs though…! Great vid fellas.
Despite all the must-mix-on-nearfield-monitors criers out there, I have given in to my impulse and desire to mix on headphones because _this is how I hear the most of what is going on in my mix._ In between mixing sessions, I check my current WIP in the car, on my phone, on laptop speakers and, yes, my hearing aids too (which I do not wear for mixing). This gives me a plethora of different environments and frequency responses, and if my mix can stand its ground on all of them, I call it good.
Such an affectionate kitten, Floppy! Invaluable tips in this video. I've found some virtual Pianos spread the keyboard so wide it's uncomfortable even just playing, let alone, mixing. I often reduce the width closer to mono if required. Ditto for drums.
If it works for you and your audience, then do it, if it doesn’t then find the solution that works, there’s no right or wrong way, there’s only the one that works, I use both for what they show best, including headphones with a sub at times for hearing absolut detail but feeling the bass, bit of a mixing freak anyway because my „large“ mains are electrostatics, works for me and clients get blown away…works for me
I have to mix mostly on headphones because of the room and the house full of people. One day I might have a treated room with real privacy but I can't see it happening in the near future. I usually check everything through and make final changes based on speakers at the end of the process. I have realised that on headphones I often leave the voice and perhaps some lead instruments far too high in the mix and that becomes immediately obvious when I shift to speakers. I also always used to find the reverb/delay problem you mention in the video, fine on phones and too much on speakers. Now I pre-compensate and it's alright.
I mixed one of my tunes on my HD650's once, when I put it on my main system it had about 20db more bass extension than it should, the mids and tops however sounded both crisp and lively and had just the right amount of sizzle.
I do the low end on the headphones just cause I know how it's gonna translate better than 90% of rooms, i can do it on my monitors in my studio room but I can get it better on the phones, think I've had 5-6 different rooms while having the same phones 4 most of the time.
I find judging depth and weight really hard on headphones. I work about 50/50 headphones and monitors as my room doesn’t have the best acoustics. I tend to and get the overall vibe down on the speakers and then nail the midrange on the headphones
Good video. You start by bashing on abby studio plug-in the first thing you do. I would like to point out that I discovered the reverb and delay issue by using that plugin and I think it has a place.
It goes like this...You must know what your headphones sound like compared to your speakers (considering you have a set of headphones you always use and the speakers you always use) then you are able to articulate what it should sound like in those headphones as it relates to how it will sound in the speakers. If you change either one ..... you will need to do the comparison all over again. It's best to use your favorite reference track to do this. Bottom line, Know your equipment!
I've been forced to work predominantly on headphones for as long as I've made music - due to living with less than impressed parents, with in-laws, in flats and small rooms with my partner - only now currently just waiting to furnish my first proper studio room since I took music up nearly 10 years ago... it's taken me years to feel like I'm finally nailing it, but I feel you really can solely mix on headphones with practice. Main things I've found: 1. Reference tracks for the ear test are invaluable... to have a comparison point a click away is basically a necessity to manage fatigue and make good decisions. 2. Visual references - oscilloscope VSTs like psyscope and good spectrum analysers along with the reference track can help make surgical decisions where headphones are not too ideal. I try to keep eye-mixing to a minimum for large parts of the process, but visual references are useful to me as I'm making almost inaudible changes in bass/kicks which will be mega noticeable off a big sound system. 3. Test alternative environments. Car test, short test through speakers whenever is appropriate/possible, test in a DJ set if it's that kind of thing. 4. Know the headphones. They are inherently flawed and understanding that is how you can adapt to it. Question everything, learn from it. The more adjusted to the headphones you are the more points 1-3 are instincts you notice you might need to check back on rather than something to worry about all the time. More worried about adjusting to speakers to be honest... any tips!? 🤣
Spend money on your room treatment (not cheap foam squares), instead of buying outboard gear or plugins. Buy the best monitors you can afford. If you can't buy full range monitors get a sub as well. If you can't hear it you can't engineer it. The larger the cone the more wattage which means less distortion, buying smaller speakers for smaller rooms is bs. Lastly buy Sonarworks to tune your room. This will make your studio sound as professional as you can get it.
I use Sonarworks Reference 4 to calibrate my Focal monitors and my Audio Technika M50x headphones. Therefore I have the same sound when mixing whether on monitors or on headphones. That is a huge help.
Great video guys, as always! Any advice on the crossfeed function that some headphone amplifiers offer (cough SPL). More of a gimmick or a tangible / useful tool?
Instead of going after an hardware crossfeed solution, with all the intrinsic limitations of something that hardly can be upgraded, I suggest to give a try to software apps/plugins that can do the same job but with far more options, flexibility and precision/quality due to the fact that they operate through dsp. Also, apps/plugins can be used in demo mode for a while so you can test and compare a lot of them. I personally use SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba on my mac, which is an advanced sound control app that also integrates headphone eq capability for a lot of models. Thanks to the fact that SoundSource supports external plugins like a daw for every audio I/O, I also load on the main output CanOpener Studio by Goodhertz that implements a very effective (in my opinion and compared to other solutions) crossfeed algorithm that works really well with my Austrian Audio Hi-X65.
If you spend as much on headphones as you would on decent nearfield monitors, you'll hear how good the SPL Phonitor pres are. The crossfeed function is just the icing on an audiophile cake.
I’d suggest that within an hour of release, any album (vinyl or otherwise) will probably end up on RUclips and/or other digital platforms... as, if you really do know your audience, you’ll understand they(we) are all tight-fisted sods who prefer to listen for free. If you use headphones, ‘cause you don’t have space for big speakers, can you playback in a bicycle helmet if you don’t have a car? I see D.J Flopcat has been old-skool scratchin’ again.
if you work on a laptop you could use the cheap silly laptop speakers to test your mixes, for me it really revealed issues with the transients which I missed using my headphones
I tried and never could, or could but always sounded trash on speakers and i tried hard many times. To mod a few things, check stereo yes but like you said to do the main bulk not a chance . and yes Beats are trash haha, im a beyer dt880 guy , used to have hd650 but i never got the hype they make all sound too good.
hello james and mark for your very informative and enjoyable videos. love your humour as well. i have a bit of a weird question for you: what i’m experiencing time after time is that music in movies often sound better when it has way too much reverb. i also have the feeling that sometimes familiar songs that are used in movies have been mixed with additional reverb. am i on drugs? probably. am i hearing things that do not exist? if so, please let me know.
Interesting! Could it be something like an “epicness” factor? The movie music and sound effects are designed to be as epic as possible, accomplished through various methods and maybe the reverb is the most obvious of the methods?
See the video on proper reverb pre-delay. Reverb does add an epic element, especially to orchestral content. If you nail the pre-delay, the effect can have a massive impact.
As an on location engineer it’s tough to use speakers, typically headphones are a necessity, I mix 90% of my productions on headphones and 40% of them on my laptop on location. (editing for the sake of clarity, 90% of 100% and 40% of 100% meaning that 10% are on speakers and 60% are on my home setup... on headphones, at home, meaning I prefer headphones even when at home... attempting to convey I almost strictly use headphones. apparently this was confusing lol, I feel like clarifying may have made it more confusing but there you go!)
@@michaelrice6620 nope, I'm saying 90% of productions are on headphones 10% on speakers, full stop. Out of all my productions roughly 40% of the time I'm on the go, the other 60% of the time I'm on my desktop at home.
@@JonathanGalle thats makes more sense. So do you basically do the whole mix in headphones and then make minor adjustments on your monitors at the end to fix whatever problems? N if thats the case do you usually find there is alot of stuff to fix or is it just small things here n there? N what headphones do you use just in case because this is very interesting i have a hard time trusting my headphones but if i was able to do work at night while everyone is asleep that would be nice.
@@michaelrice6620 I don't really use speakers for anything except to keep working when my ears are tired of headphones, usually I find I can do everything I need to with just headphones, occasionally I'll check on my AirPods but that's about it, biggest issue I find myself having is miss-judging frequency range of the bass, typically turn up the sub-lows and not the mid-rang enough. AirPods show this way more than monitors though. I use MDR-V6's similar to what Andrew Scheps mixes on (he uses MDR - V7506, which are a newer version with less low end)
Would have been great if you did a a video on something like sienna that actually models many different rooms, instead of just being biased. Lots of people do mixing on headphones with software now. Even some great mastering engineers only working on headphones like Glenn Schick. Check him out for the vast amount of mastering he has done on headphones.. I mix on HD 600 with Sienna through a Babyface Pro FS and I have never mixed better! Sienna has been a game changer for me...
Great video! One question though, in reference to hard panned things sounding “unnatural” in headphones, I personally have never experienced that. A lot of rock and metal I listened to on earbuds growing up had hard panned elements and I loved it. Do you think it was the fact that I grew up on that type of sound influenced the fact I perceive that to be natural to me?
He means it doesn't sound like a natural recording and playback of something. It would never fool you. On some records its normal to hear hard panning but those elements would never fool you in the real world. In other words, walking down the street with your earbuds in, you would never turn your head to look at something because you were fooled by the sound in your earbuds that was hard panned, because your brain would tell you its fake.
A lot of those hard panned instruments are doubles. Mainly guitars, but imagine just 1 guitar in one ear and the lead vocals in the other ear, that would definitely sound weird.
In metal we do in fact have super hard panned stuff. It only causes trouble when they sound in isolation. I have two strategies to deal with it: 1) add a minimal amount of reverb that will not be noticeable when everyone plays together but when there is only one guitar playing - that's a thing what people who always work with speakers won't notice since their room will provide the natural reverb. 2) if the part is longer then you will need to bring the instrument closer to the middle with maybe some sneaky panning automation.
Dear PresentDayProduction, This is your best video in a while, I think. However, if Mark doesn't stop using the term "over-exaggerate," I'll instruct Floppy to scratch Mark on the bum." Love, Bigglesworth
Dear Bigglesworth, James here - I shall swiftly delete “over-exaggerate” from his built-in memory banks and Floppy can continue sleeping henceforth. Best regards, Captain Spikeworth
Phones are more cost effective than treating your room and dialing in monitors. And I always heard that you can't mix on phones. So, I treated my room, and all that. Then I got into mastering, got trained, and found my best masters come from headphones. The product doesn't lie. It's a new era 8)
@@g.o.9513 I like the plain old ART HeadAmp4. These things are pretty generic. Like, after a certain point, I don't hear any difference between one amp and another.
Great video. One of my favorite YT channels. Side note: Sony actually didn’t invent the WalkMan. Aiwa did (both Japanese based companies). Sony bought Aiwa and voilà they “invented” the WalkMan. Cheers.
I disagree about how you say not to hard pan stereo sources. Drum overheads are not like the ride cymbal is purely in the left mic and not in the right at all. If it's a spaced pair you can move them slightly closer if the image is too wide.
I'm surprised you did not mentioned anything about not being able to detect phase cancellation issues with headphones, unless ofcourse you listen to a mono sum
What faux control room plugins did y’all review? I found this video looking into the waves CLA one. I’ve tried mixing in my apartment but it’s a shit monitoring environment, already gotten a few noise complaints, and I don’t want my girlfriend to leave with the pup. Haha. This is a great video though. Taking notes. Do you think I should get another pair of headphones (or two)? Sort of like how you would switch between a few different monitors?
Instead of using binaural emulation BS use simple crossover. It can be achieved in every DAW by turning down "stereo width" a bit. You will have much better idea how the "center" would sound on speakers. And for the reverb room side - convolution reverb can work really well.
so, what are you guys recommendations for good headphones to mix with? i'm using my old trusty DT 900 pro. They are quite bass heavy, but i'm used to them.
I haven’t tried that, and I really don’t see the point in all that stuff. Checking how a mix translates to headphones on headphones and to speakers on speakers works for me!
@@PresentDayProduction sure. Works for you 😁 Reason I ask is they include the single-knob version on their monitor controllers. When you don’t have a treated room, or no sound isolated room (or both) plus great monitors (yet), wouldn’t it be a nice idea to have a monitor controller with which you can begin mixing on headphones and lateron add monitors, but while you’re mixing on headphones (for speakers) still get the crossfeed when you want it with the twist of a knob so you could (presumably) go from binaural to stereo to check for stereo effects. And while you wouldn’t need it want it, you might be an interesting party to try, say, the Marc one or 2control… (frankly, why else would you review 400 quid monitors when you have ample car-value monitor equivalent sitting there)… Maybe you can get someone from SPL send you over one for review? 😏
Try Goodhertz CanOpener. You get a long trial period. For me, this was a really important part of getting my perception correct on headphones. It's not a room simulation and it doesn't sound like speakers, being ust a great crosstalk like the SPL unit, but I do find that my mix decisions translate better to speakers afterwards. The only downsides are 1) that you're going to have to commit to a totally mono lowend that fans out in width higher up (Nugen's Monofilter helps here, since it has a similar funnel effect, and my actual bass is always mono anyway) and 2) you have to remember to turn it off before you record or export audio affected by the plugin (unless you're using Reaper or another DAW that has a separate Monitoring chain).
@@1337murk Stupid me, of course! I remember living next door to an elderly couple and they have seemed not being fond of my music, or voice, or TV, my children, my existence ...
As an engineer who designs car audio systems: all your assumptions about cars are wrong. Bass is boosted to overcome road and tire noise (yes, even in EVs, more so due to making MORE noise due to their weight then ICE cars), acoustic dampening affects massively the midrange, mids are almost always missing (even in premium systems), upper mids are often tuned to pinna resonances of the CEO of the car company and highs are often affected by the bad quality of used dome materials, DSP shannanigans to impress customers, windows ARE parallel for sound waves and add null points between 300 Hz - 2 kHz. Do not check a mix in a car! Never!
James here - this is a desk that I designed, modelled and rendered in 3D, all in an entirely 3D centimetre-accurate digital version of our studio. drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-WX8r1StoVewA3ssxPyGx9Y8Mfiadbxz
@@PresentDayProduction impressive! Also one of the point you made about reverbs and delay is true i agree with that, for that reason I use plugins like room simulators. Ik that's not the good idea but thats the best i could do, since I don't have good speakers. I saw all the mixed opinions on almost all RUclipsrs about room simulator plugins,, but I can only trust you guys, since you guys really know what you are talking about. One question, is realphones far field monitor is trustable? Ofc i don't believe it's from ATC but my question is if it sounds at least affordable cheap monitors?
None of this explains why T.V. speech is inaudible behind the music. My quest for an explanation other than the possibility that thirteen yearolds are doing the mix continues.
I think you’re the only channel that nailed the issue when talking about mixes. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. I mix and master for a specific audience, so I mix using LP 6V 2’s, Sony MDR 7506s, IK multimedia ILoud monitors, And most importantly I monitor on an iPhone as the final test. My audience listens on garbage earbuds and cell phones and once in a while Bluetooth speaker. Thanks for the video
That’s awesome 👍 thank you for watching!
I also got a good mastering grade little labs monitor and used some Mogami cables into it. This helped when monitoring with my MDR7509 headphones. The low end and resonance came out more. But yes you need to know your audience and most listen on a Bluetooth speaker or headphones. So whynot mix into headphones? I actually mastered a couple of songs on headphones and had my friend who owns a mastering studio listen to my work and he was impressed. So again people say things on forums but it needs to be taken in with a grain of salt.
How are the iLoud irl?
@@emiel333 Great reference monitors so you don’t have to use a boombox or avatones to check the vocals and pan.
@@LocaliLLocano Don’t argue with success
The single music producing channel on YT that gives truly honest reviews and legitimate info. Period.
An excellent video about a topic that deserves more attention. For my amateur requirements, headphones are both cost-effective and practical. They're also ideal for critical listening when mixing audio drama and I'm not sure I'd use monitors for those projects even if I could.
Great content. Thank you. I've been mixing on headphones for a short period now, and as long as the headphones are neutral and you understand and learn them, the mixes translate just fine.
I mix on Senny HD650’s + Sonarworks, I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s extremely flat and the same wherever I go
A VERY important video this guys, and some crucial points in this video.
It is a luxury to have a well treated room with accurate speakers to mix in... but understand, that's not the case for 99.999% of listeners. We don't all own £k's of ATC's to listening to Mark's masters on.
It's important to know how the sound you hear when mixing, translates to the listeners of your mix. Your speakers/headphones (and their value) are not as important as knowing how they sound (the strengths/weaknesses and accuracies).
There is no one size fits all, but it's a process of learning to help you understand the nuances of your sound setup (by testing your mixes on other devices), so that you trust your mix translates to other configurations.
Multiple frames of reference works for me.
I did a lot of wav recording and mp3 encoding of dj archives for streaming platforms when I got involved in internet radio around the turn of the century..
There was always a quality/bandwidth tradeoff in the ISDN/diallup days, which faded away once cable dsl arrived. We didn't need to crush wavs down to 32 or 64kbps anymore, and the listening experience became a lot less tinny.
I've kept a few of those 32k mp3 archives to remind me of the bad old days. I binned all the Real Producer and Windows Media Encoder stuff because of the harrbl aliasing. The reedy mp3s are my equivalent of priceless shellac mono 78s. Documents of bygone days.
I still crush stuff down to 320kbps mp3 for freebie listeners on Soundcloud and Yootoob, but only release tracks for munny in 24bit wav.
Listening to both versions on reference speakers and headphones of varying quality, I can usually find a happy medium. I'm looking for easy locomotion from A to B, some subtle psychoacoustic movement in the sound stage, and enough dynamics to give the listener a decent dopamine hit.
Obviously, I prefer to be rewarded for my efforts, but not everyone is rich as Croesus, so I make an effort to encode my mp3s as clean as possible, without normalisation. Altruism hasn't proved fatal yet.
When I worked for the CBC we mixed on closed headphones all the time when we were located in a concert hall or location where we couldn't mount speakers. It was often the only option and you quickly learned how to hear differently between speakers and headphones. Always being familiar with the sound of the mics you were using and minimal equalization (preferably none) while recording and mixing. If we were mixing in studio we never used headphones unless there was a detected problem that listening through phones could pin-point. When recording drama the sound effects (foley) engineer always wore headphones while the recording engineer listened through speakers.
I mixed on headphones for a while and checked back on speakers, now it's vice versa. My main headphones have no bass extension at all and are very transparent, I could go on talking, but I think the most important point is to know your system. As you said, after listening to commercial tracks for a while, your ears save a kind of profile, you're getting to used to a sound. And of course, trust your mastering engineer^^.
Speaking of cars, I've never got a drivers license and never wanted one, but I'm sure a boombox in public transport will do :D.
No-one will mind if you put the boom box on on the bus! Trust me!
@@PresentDayProduction Yeah! And Germany's public transport is known for its happy, friendly and open minded users and drivers. What could possibly go wrong?
i used to check all my mixes full blown in my car. even on shitty speakers you get a feel for whats gong on. unfortunately i don't have a car anymore...
Andrew Scheps mixes on headphones these days (cheapo Sony MDR 7506's) I managed to break my 7506s pretty quickly so switched back to my trusty Beyer DT-990s.
I’ve always struggled a bit on headphones. We’ve got a good sounding control room, several sets of decent monitors, a shitty mono grot box, a horrible stereo sound bar thing and a hifi. Once a mix is coming through decently in all those systems, I know I’m in the ballpark. I do like to use phones to do a bit of fine tweaking. Ive always seemed to be able to hear any effects better through cans but for 90 percent of work it’s monitors all the way!Cans are great for anyone with neighbours or a miserable Mrs though…!
Great vid fellas.
Despite all the must-mix-on-nearfield-monitors criers out there, I have given in to my impulse and desire to mix on headphones because _this is how I hear the most of what is going on in my mix._ In between mixing sessions, I check my current WIP in the car, on my phone, on laptop speakers and, yes, my hearing aids too (which I do not wear for mixing). This gives me a plethora of different environments and frequency responses, and if my mix can stand its ground on all of them, I call it good.
Such an affectionate kitten, Floppy! Invaluable tips in this video. I've found some virtual Pianos spread the keyboard so wide it's uncomfortable even just playing, let alone, mixing. I often reduce the width closer to mono if required. Ditto for drums.
That thumbnail is priceless 🤣
If it works for you and your audience, then do it, if it doesn’t then find the solution that works, there’s no right or wrong way, there’s only the one that works, I use both for what they show best, including headphones with a sub at times for hearing absolut detail but feeling the bass, bit of a mixing freak anyway because my „large“ mains are electrostatics, works for me and clients get blown away…works for me
You guys are absolutely brilliant! My absolute new favorite music/audio channel! Amazing work guys, really
I have to mix mostly on headphones because of the room and the house full of people. One day I might have a treated room with real privacy but I can't see it happening in the near future. I usually check everything through and make final changes based on speakers at the end of the process. I have realised that on headphones I often leave the voice and perhaps some lead instruments far too high in the mix and that becomes immediately obvious when I shift to speakers. I also always used to find the reverb/delay problem you mention in the video, fine on phones and too much on speakers. Now I pre-compensate and it's alright.
I mixed one of my tunes on my HD650's once, when I put it on my main system it had about 20db more bass extension than it should, the mids and tops however sounded both crisp and lively and had just the right amount of sizzle.
A very well-explained and informative video, without using too many tekkie terms!
This was so helpful for newbies like me! Thank you so very much!
I do the low end on the headphones just cause I know how it's gonna translate better than 90% of rooms, i can do it on my monitors in my studio room but I can get it better on the phones, think I've had 5-6 different rooms while having the same phones 4 most of the time.
I find judging depth and weight really hard on headphones. I work about 50/50 headphones and monitors as my room doesn’t have the best acoustics. I tend to and get the overall vibe down on the speakers and then nail the midrange on the headphones
Home run!
Great Tipps, Man!!
7:15 had me cracking up! So many people buy those Dre phones and think they have good mixing headphones hahahaha smh
A lot of people swear by LCR Mixing so it's interesting seeing someone recommend panning 80%
Great advice, thanks for the video's lads!
As someone who mixes 90% on headphones… Thank you!
Do you suggest a headphone amplifier? (NDH-30)
@@g.o.9513 not really, not with modern interfaces, they have enough clean power to drive most studio headphones
I use ambeo orbit panner for hard panning. but I usually use hard panning as an effect.
That’s awesome! I’ve bought Ambeo a couple days ago, it’s fantastic!
@@emiel333 i thought the software was free but only certain versions are free im guessing the ambeo dearvr micro is free
Good video. You start by bashing on abby studio plug-in the first thing you do. I would like to point out that I discovered the reverb and delay issue by using that plugin and I think it has a place.
It goes like this...You must know what your headphones sound like compared to your speakers (considering you have a set of headphones you always use and the speakers you always use) then you are able to articulate what it should sound like in those headphones as it relates to how it will sound in the speakers. If you change either one ..... you will need to do the comparison all over again. It's best to use your favorite reference track to do this. Bottom line, Know your equipment!
I've been forced to work predominantly on headphones for as long as I've made music - due to living with less than impressed parents, with in-laws, in flats and small rooms with my partner - only now currently just waiting to furnish my first proper studio room since I took music up nearly 10 years ago... it's taken me years to feel like I'm finally nailing it, but I feel you really can solely mix on headphones with practice.
Main things I've found:
1. Reference tracks for the ear test are invaluable... to have a comparison point a click away is basically a necessity to manage fatigue and make good decisions.
2. Visual references - oscilloscope VSTs like psyscope and good spectrum analysers along with the reference track can help make surgical decisions where headphones are not too ideal. I try to keep eye-mixing to a minimum for large parts of the process, but visual references are useful to me as I'm making almost inaudible changes in bass/kicks which will be mega noticeable off a big sound system.
3. Test alternative environments. Car test, short test through speakers whenever is appropriate/possible, test in a DJ set if it's that kind of thing.
4. Know the headphones. They are inherently flawed and understanding that is how you can adapt to it. Question everything, learn from it. The more adjusted to the headphones you are the more points 1-3 are instincts you notice you might need to check back on rather than something to worry about all the time.
More worried about adjusting to speakers to be honest... any tips!? 🤣
Spend money on your room treatment (not cheap foam squares), instead of buying outboard gear or plugins. Buy the best monitors you can afford. If you can't buy full range monitors get a sub as well. If you can't hear it you can't engineer it. The larger the cone the more wattage which means less distortion, buying smaller speakers for smaller rooms is bs. Lastly buy Sonarworks to tune your room. This will make your studio sound as professional as you can get it.
The correct term for the bits that are the external parts of your ear, is pinnae, I believe.
Welcome to Pedant's Corner! 😁
Thanks Tim! But isn’t that the bit that hangs between your legs?! 🤣
I love headphones. I'd rather listen to music on them and shut the world out 🎧😌
I use Sonarworks Reference 4 to calibrate my Focal monitors and my Audio Technika M50x headphones. Therefore I have the same sound when mixing whether on monitors or on headphones. That is a huge help.
Love the lion!
Steve Lipson mixed Propaganda's 1985 Album 'A Secret Wish' on headphones for Trevor Horn's ZTT label.
Great video guys, as always! Any advice on the crossfeed function that some headphone amplifiers offer (cough SPL). More of a gimmick or a tangible / useful tool?
Haven’t personally tried it, so it would be a case of “if you have it and it works for you, then great!”
Instead of going after an hardware crossfeed solution, with all the intrinsic limitations of something that hardly can be upgraded, I suggest to give a try to software apps/plugins that can do the same job but with far more options, flexibility and precision/quality due to the fact that they operate through dsp. Also, apps/plugins can be used in demo mode for a while so you can test and compare a lot of them. I personally use SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba on my mac, which is an advanced sound control app that also integrates headphone eq capability for a lot of models. Thanks to the fact that SoundSource supports external plugins like a daw for every audio I/O, I also load on the main output CanOpener Studio by Goodhertz that implements a very effective (in my opinion and compared to other solutions) crossfeed algorithm that works really well with my Austrian Audio Hi-X65.
If you spend as much on headphones as you would on decent nearfield monitors, you'll hear how good the SPL Phonitor pres are. The crossfeed function is just the icing on an audiophile cake.
I’d suggest that within an hour of release, any album (vinyl or otherwise) will probably end up on RUclips and/or other digital platforms... as, if you really do know your audience, you’ll understand they(we) are all tight-fisted sods who prefer to listen for free. If you use headphones, ‘cause you don’t have space for big speakers, can you playback in a bicycle helmet if you don’t have a car? I see D.J Flopcat has been old-skool scratchin’ again.
Old school scratching indeed! Analogue blood, too 🤣
@@PresentDayProduction
Analogue Blood was a terrific 80s London rap artist.
if you work on a laptop you could use the cheap silly laptop speakers to test your mixes, for me it really revealed issues with the transients which I missed using my headphones
I tried and never could, or could but always sounded trash on speakers and i tried hard many times. To mod a few things, check stereo yes but like you said to do the main bulk not a chance . and yes Beats are trash haha, im a beyer dt880 guy , used to have hd650 but i never got the hype they make all sound too good.
hello james and mark for your very informative and enjoyable videos. love your humour as well.
i have a bit of a weird question for you:
what i’m experiencing time after time is that music in movies often sound better when it has way too much reverb.
i also have the feeling that sometimes familiar songs that are used in movies have been mixed with additional reverb.
am i on drugs? probably.
am i hearing things that do not exist? if so, please let me know.
Interesting! Could it be something like an “epicness” factor? The movie music and sound effects are designed to be as epic as possible, accomplished through various methods and maybe the reverb is the most obvious of the methods?
@@PresentDayProduction my guess as well. i was just wondering if anyone here has ever noticed this too.
See the video on proper reverb pre-delay. Reverb does add an epic element, especially to orchestral content. If you nail the pre-delay, the effect can have a massive impact.
😀 great video
I mix on headphones Neumann NDH 20's did use Beyer 990 pros before. Hey Floppy you not feeling like playing nicely today lol.
I also will listen from the other room when doing the low mids
Awww yea headphone mixin' all day most of the night. :D meow, back to it I go!
As an on location engineer it’s tough to use speakers, typically headphones are a necessity, I mix 90% of my productions on headphones and 40% of them on my laptop on location.
(editing for the sake of clarity, 90% of 100% and 40% of 100% meaning that 10% are on speakers and 60% are on my home setup... on headphones, at home, meaning I prefer headphones even when at home... attempting to convey I almost strictly use headphones. apparently this was confusing lol, I feel like clarifying may have made it more confusing but there you go!)
Thats 130%
@@michaelrice6620 nope, I'm saying 90% of productions are on headphones 10% on speakers, full stop. Out of all my productions roughly 40% of the time I'm on the go, the other 60% of the time I'm on my desktop at home.
@@JonathanGalle thats makes more sense. So do you basically do the whole mix in headphones and then make minor adjustments on your monitors at the end to fix whatever problems? N if thats the case do you usually find there is alot of stuff to fix or is it just small things here n there? N what headphones do you use just in case because this is very interesting i have a hard time trusting my headphones but if i was able to do work at night while everyone is asleep that would be nice.
@@michaelrice6620 I don't really use speakers for anything except to keep working when my ears are tired of headphones, usually I find I can do everything I need to with just headphones, occasionally I'll check on my AirPods but that's about it, biggest issue I find myself having is miss-judging frequency range of the bass, typically turn up the sub-lows and not the mid-rang enough. AirPods show this way more than monitors though. I use MDR-V6's similar to what Andrew Scheps mixes on (he uses MDR - V7506, which are a newer version with less low end)
Would have been great if you did a a video on something like sienna that actually models many different rooms, instead of just being biased. Lots of people do mixing on headphones with software now. Even some great mastering engineers only working on headphones like Glenn Schick. Check him out for the vast amount of mastering he has done on headphones..
I mix on HD 600 with Sienna through a Babyface Pro FS and I have never mixed better! Sienna has been a game changer for me...
We are never biased in our reviews, we always give our true opinions. It sounded bad, and that is precisely what the review said
Very well done presentation - efficient content - insightful - very fine production values - organized
Great video! One question though, in reference to hard panned things sounding “unnatural” in headphones, I personally have never experienced that. A lot of rock and metal I listened to on earbuds growing up had hard panned elements and I loved it. Do you think it was the fact that I grew up on that type of sound influenced the fact I perceive that to be natural to me?
He means it doesn't sound like a natural recording and playback of something. It would never fool you. On some records its normal to hear hard panning but those elements would never fool you in the real world. In other words, walking down the street with your earbuds in, you would never turn your head to look at something because you were fooled by the sound in your earbuds that was hard panned, because your brain would tell you its fake.
A lot of those hard panned instruments are doubles. Mainly guitars, but imagine just 1 guitar in one ear and the lead vocals in the other ear, that would definitely sound weird.
In metal we do in fact have super hard panned stuff. It only causes trouble when they sound in isolation. I have two strategies to deal with it: 1) add a minimal amount of reverb that will not be noticeable when everyone plays together but when there is only one guitar playing - that's a thing what people who always work with speakers won't notice since their room will provide the natural reverb. 2) if the part is longer then you will need to bring the instrument closer to the middle with maybe some sneaky panning automation.
Great video
I use headphones coz I don't have an environment to use speakers
sound ID then canopener - sorted - mixing might be on headphones 70% then car then speakers - no one uses speakers as much anymore it seems sadly .
Dear PresentDayProduction,
This is your best video in a while, I think. However, if Mark doesn't stop using the term "over-exaggerate," I'll instruct Floppy to scratch Mark on the bum."
Love,
Bigglesworth
Dear Bigglesworth,
James here - I shall swiftly delete “over-exaggerate” from his built-in memory banks and Floppy can continue sleeping henceforth.
Best regards,
Captain Spikeworth
@@PresentDayProduction
*leans back in chair with fingers pressed together*
Excellent work, Mr. Bigglesworth. . .
apps for phones sound like a Star Trek Phazer
Next you guys need to try and review mixing using Musk's neuro-link
Phones are more cost effective than treating your room and dialing in monitors. And I always heard that you can't mix on phones. So, I treated my room, and all that. Then I got into mastering, got trained, and found my best masters come from headphones. The product doesn't lie. It's a new era 8)
Hi, do you recommend a headphone amplifier for NDH-30? Thinking the m900 by Grace Design..
@@g.o.9513 I like the plain old ART HeadAmp4. These things are pretty generic. Like, after a certain point, I don't hear any difference between one amp and another.
Brilliant.
Great video. One of my favorite YT channels. Side note: Sony actually didn’t invent the WalkMan. Aiwa did (both Japanese based companies). Sony bought Aiwa and voilà they “invented” the WalkMan. Cheers.
Awesome, thanks for the info! And thanks for watching 👍
@@PresentDayProduction No problem 😉
Nice video
I disagree about how you say not to hard pan stereo sources. Drum overheads are not like the ride cymbal is purely in the left mic and not in the right at all. If it's a spaced pair you can move them slightly closer if the image is too wide.
Excellent !
another stonker lads
Cheers!
I'm surprised you did not mentioned anything about not being able to detect phase cancellation issues with headphones, unless ofcourse you listen to a mono sum
What faux control room plugins did y’all review? I found this video looking into the waves CLA one. I’ve tried mixing in my apartment but it’s a shit monitoring environment, already gotten a few noise complaints, and I don’t want my girlfriend to leave with the pup. Haha.
This is a great video though. Taking notes. Do you think I should get another pair of headphones (or two)? Sort of like how you would switch between a few different monitors?
I have to..I went from a house with soundproofing to a tiny bedroom apt studio
Interesting. What do you think about the OLLO headphones?
I haven’t tried them, but they look great. And reasonably priced, too. We’ll try and get hold of a pair!
Instead of using binaural emulation BS use simple crossover. It can be achieved in every DAW by turning down "stereo width" a bit. You will have much better idea how the "center" would sound on speakers. And for the reverb room side - convolution reverb can work really well.
I would like to hear you honest opinion about neumann ndh 30 headphones.😎 They are very popular now.
PS: I love "Mr Cat"
so, what are you guys recommendations for good headphones to mix with? i'm using my old trusty DT 900 pro. They are quite bass heavy, but i'm used to them.
We use DT990 if we need to, so you have a good set right there!
Oh my headphones don't work in rooms, I've tried that. They need to be cranked way too much
Open back problems...
@@myHorribleMusic :D
Have you ever tried SPL‘s phonitor matrix on (a mix on) headphones? I keep wondering how well they emulate the crossfeed of speakers…
I haven’t tried that, and I really don’t see the point in all that stuff. Checking how a mix translates to headphones on headphones and to speakers on speakers works for me!
@@PresentDayProduction sure. Works for you 😁 Reason I ask is they include the single-knob version on their monitor controllers. When you don’t have a treated room, or no sound isolated room (or both) plus great monitors (yet), wouldn’t it be a nice idea to have a monitor controller with which you can begin mixing on headphones and lateron add monitors, but while you’re mixing on headphones (for speakers) still get the crossfeed when you want it with the twist of a knob so you could (presumably) go from binaural to stereo to check for stereo effects.
And while you wouldn’t need it want it, you might be an interesting party to try, say, the Marc one or 2control… (frankly, why else would you review 400 quid monitors when you have ample car-value monitor equivalent sitting there)…
Maybe you can get someone from SPL send you over one for review? 😏
Try Goodhertz CanOpener. You get a long trial period. For me, this was a really important part of getting my perception correct on headphones. It's not a room simulation and it doesn't sound like speakers, being ust a great crosstalk like the SPL unit, but I do find that my mix decisions translate better to speakers afterwards. The only downsides are 1) that you're going to have to commit to a totally mono lowend that fans out in width higher up (Nugen's Monofilter helps here, since it has a similar funnel effect, and my actual bass is always mono anyway) and 2) you have to remember to turn it off before you record or export audio affected by the plugin (unless you're using Reaper or another DAW that has a separate Monitoring chain).
I couldn't mix on a Kenwood Chef.
Do you have any tips or recommendations for cat owners? I feel like I'm forever cleaning cat hair out of my gear.
There is no answer! 😂
That's it I'm going to mix in my car
I always mix on headphones! I can't recommend it overall but it's great for beginners and broke college kids :)
And helps with your neighbours.
@@peterbrandt7911 That banging from the neighbours on the walls/floor/ceiling is essential feedback for getting a great mix tho!
@@1337murk Stupid me, of course!
I remember living next door to an elderly couple and they have seemed not being fond of my music, or voice, or TV, my children, my existence ...
@Benj try to time their banging to the BPM of your song for extra tactile bass
You can also mix in your car, but please don't mix&drive!
Great filler clip of the gamer girl. I was really impressed by her pair of headphones.
I tried mixing on headphones. A complet mess. I use both. Even a cheaper speakers monitor system.
Mix on that which you know the the sound of music on
Thought I was 1st but not sure
Roger beat you to it by just 2 mins, but don't worry, I will delete his comment so yours shows as first ;)
U use one earbud to the mixer and over the ear headphones over that to a Amp...I recorded mixes many of times like this
I always mix on headphones and finish it off through monitors.
As an engineer who designs car audio systems: all your assumptions about cars are wrong. Bass is boosted to overcome road and tire noise (yes, even in EVs, more so due to making MORE noise due to their weight then ICE cars), acoustic dampening affects massively the midrange, mids are almost always missing (even in premium systems), upper mids are often tuned to pinna resonances of the CEO of the car company and highs are often affected by the bad quality of used dome materials, DSP shannanigans to impress customers, windows ARE parallel for sound waves and add null points between 300 Hz - 2 kHz. Do not check a mix in a car! Never!
Try this for mixing/amplifying on headphones. DIY Hardware: ruclips.net/video/7Qgc2FTDCf4/видео.html
Alternative title 'Can you mix on cans, yes you can'
what is that console at the @0:59 time mark?
James here - this is a desk that I designed, modelled and rendered in 3D, all in an entirely 3D centimetre-accurate digital version of our studio.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-WX8r1StoVewA3ssxPyGx9Y8Mfiadbxz
Be honest how many takes did you took in this video?
James here - everything’s recorded in one go but maybe one or two sentences are re-taken. Nothing major
@@PresentDayProduction impressive!
Also one of the point you made about reverbs and delay is true i agree with that, for that reason I use plugins like room simulators. Ik that's not the good idea but thats the best i could do, since I don't have good speakers.
I saw all the mixed opinions on almost all RUclipsrs about room simulator plugins,, but I can only trust you guys, since you guys really know what you are talking about.
One question, is realphones far field monitor is trustable? Ofc i don't believe it's from ATC but my question is if it sounds at least affordable cheap monitors?
We personally aren’t fans of realphones so we wouldn’t be able to advocate using it - it wasn’t to our taste but I’m sure other people enjoy it!
I hate headphones 🎧 too!
5k in acoustic treatment…..yeah, to avoid using them.
Mix on headphones? No. Check on headphones? Absolutely.
I wanted to build a mixing room modeled on a car interior. Studio owner wasn't impressed.
I had a car in my old studio before we built the live room! Very useful 👍
@@PresentDayProduction did you have a cable loom you dragged over to it to feed your dash mounted NS-10s? Lol
None of this explains why T.V. speech is inaudible behind the music. My quest for an explanation other than the possibility that thirteen yearolds are doing the mix continues.
You shouldn't be mixing in a room with any noticeable natural reverb 🤔😂
Yes, in an ideal world everyone would have perfectly treated rooms!