Even a $500 pair is considered high end pro! Still a huge amount, but those are the best headphones money can buy!Ĭlearly headphones provide the best value in monitoring.
#Crossfeed plugin pro#
It seems like there’s a lot of great options in the sub-$1500 range.īut if you’re looking for a more serious pair many seasoned engineers will tell you to save until you can afford something in the $3000-4000 range.īy contrast, the most expensive headphones in Sennheiser’s pro audio range top out at $1699 USD. Have you checked out monitor prices lately? There’s a huge variation. That might sound like you have to spend a lot, but in comparison to the other options… Headphones are the best value for money Open-backed headphone designs are much less fatiguing and much more transparent. You’ll need good quality open-backed reference headphones to mix effectively I am certainly not suggesting you mix your album on a pair of consumer closed-back cans, or (heaven forbid) earbuds. That won’t change even if you have the best listening chain in the world.īut most importantly, not all headphones are created equal. Don’t mix too loud!Īnd no matter where you mix you have to take regular breaks for a variety of reasons. It’s extremely easy to lose track of your listening levels while mixing, but it’s incredibly important for your ears. This is also true, but it depends on a lot of different factors.Įar fatigue can be an issue in any listening setup if you’re monitoring too loudly or sitting too close to the speakers. The next main issue I normally hear is that headphones can cause bad ear fatigue more quickly. Just be aware of your panning and the width of your sources in the stereo field and you won’t have a problem-don’t be afraid to pan wide! There are some interesting plugins that can simulate the effect of crossfeed in your DAW, but why not keep it simple? It’s true that the absence of crossfeed while mixing on headphones can potentially lead to problematic stereo field choices.īut as long as you know it’s a risk you can avoid it! On headphones you have no awareness of how the sounds from the two speakers blending affects your mix. This is what leads engineers to claim that mixing on headphones gives your tracks an unrealistic feel. It means that a small amount of sound from the left and right speakers will mix together and make the stereo image seem a little narrower. The sound emanating from each speaker blends together a little bit in the air. The direct sound from a nearfield monitor isn’t completely isolated when it reaches your ears like it is on headphones. Monitor crossfeedįirst off, there are some fundamental differences between mixing on headphones and mixing on monitors. These are both true and I’ll address them here before you grab your pitchforks. The reasons that you shouldn’t mix on headphones seem pretty clear and compelling at first. But first… The case against mixing on headphones These are the top reasons why mixing on headphones can be better than mixing on nearfield monitors. In fact, I think a lot of beginner and intermediate producers and engineers could benefit from mixing on headphones. While they make a lot of good points, it’s not completely true that you should never mix on headphones. Know your tools.I often see introductory mixing guides that stress the importance of not relying on headphones for mixing music. With reverb or pan effects it's just the same. Just like you learned to keep the bass impression slightly lower on your 270s or it will boom elsewhere. so play it through speakers and cans and listen attentively. You may know some track from a club, have a high quality version at home.
Which is exactly your 'problem' and why it's hard to transfer a 'flat' audio image under cans into something that faithfully fakes a room response.īut it's actually not that bad because your ears adapt rather fast to your standard environment - if you use it constantly with all kind of audio. Reasonable, considering how fine the human ear can act as a detector. I'm shure that a good mic modeller can deal with pop vocals quite well, but on a natural voice it blurs the signal. Severe means that the difference between nice and shit is a tiny balance of settings and it needs some experience to get thise right.
They are far from 'natural' results on their own and need severe tweaking to achieve a pleasing sound. I have some sophisticated (and expensive) plugins that deal with stuff roughly in the same domain (detect room resonances, adjust impact and proximity of a sound etc). Good cans, but closed - likely the reason why this puzzles you.