Mixing Headphone Suggestions

[Rich ZeiParticipant]

Before anyone says it, I know its not 'THE BEST' way to mix but its what I have available to me at this time and for the near future.

I currently have a set of the venerable AKG K240's. I used them a lot back in the day as my go to live cans and I bought them based on my familiarity to them. I am noticing that there is a bit of, 'Wooffy-ness'in the low end.

I have heard some really good things about the AKG K 701s and the KRK KNS8400's.

Any suggestions for a pair of say sub $300us head phones that would be better?

[Cris Sabater SabaterParticipant]

Hi syklopz, I have mixed and mastered on headphones for years and got good results as my situation was not great. I now have monitors in my own room but it is possible to get top mixes using headphones. You need to know your equipment though whether it be monitors in a room or headphones. I use AKG k271 MKII headphones. They are pretty cheap and have a pretty flat EQ curve which is very important for mixing on headphones! A flat as possible response is what you need.

Cheers mate,

Cris

[Jared ShermanParticipant]

Try the new Waves NX and Sonarworks Reference 3 Headphone. I think you can get both together at JRRshop for $99 or something. Those are really great together. Just make sure your headphones are supported by Sonarworks - they have a reference curve for each set of headphones. I am pretty sure the AKG K240s are, those are pretty ubiquitous.

[Lee HawkinsParticipant]

Syklops.

AKG 701's are good but I have since transitioned to the AKG 712Pro's and also the flagship AKG 812Pro's. The 812's are very expensive (and way over your budget) but I would recommend them as they are designed specifically for this type of work, rather than general audio. I also have a pair of Sennhieser HD 650's. For me the AKG's dig much deeper and expose poor mixes better. They image better too. The Sennheiser HD650 are more forgiving. They tend to make everything sound good so I tend to use these for general music listing rather than critical mixing duties.

AKG701's are a great starting place, although if you can stretch to the 712's, the difference is large. Amazon have great deals too. The 712's are just over your $300 budget..

AKG 712 - AMAZON

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Lee Hawkins.
• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Lee Hawkins.

[Terry DoyleParticipant]

I have just ordered the AKG K712 Pro from Sonarworks with the special calibration profile and the plugin. The idea of this software is to make the headphones response as flat as possible.

You still have the issue of total separation between left and right ... but to be honest that is the way a whole lot of people will actually be listening to your stuff anyway nowadays.

I will post back once I get them and have a chance to use them for a while.

[Jim GahaganParticipant]

I think no matter what you use. I used to use K240's. K-55's, k-44's for years I used the K-55's for band practice with all of going straight to the board then to headphone distro. but recording they made me mix with too much bass. Its getting getting used to them and when you send the file to the car, home stereo, ipod. find the true color of the headphones. stereo and mono. I had Warren listen to one of my mixes (Warm-K Chase) about a month back and he liked it. a few tweaks on toms EQ's and volume automation on the chorus. what I didn't tell in my feedback was I did all of the mixing with a $16.00 set of Phillips earbuds from CVS ROFL.

Jim

[Richard TorrieParticipant]

I have a pair of AKG702 headphones and think they are brilliant all rounders without breaking the bank. Went for these over the AKG701 as they have a detachable cable so you can easily replace it should it become damaged.

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