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Headphones and Mastering

beatsme

beatsme

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 6, 2005
1,204
2
I know nothing beats a good pair of reference speakers, but there are headphones out there that are labelled as "suitable for mastering." Anybody use these? Can anybody recommend a decent set?

I'd quite like to have some reference speakers, but I don't want to drive the neighbors crazy (I live in a 4 unit apt. building). And I'm realizing that while I can get a nice-sounding mix through my plain old stereo, it won't sound that way through the iPod or in the car...at all...

anyway, comments/suggestions?
 
The MDR-7506 is used by studios worldwide. It doesn't necessarily mean the headphone is actually that good in the overall scheme of things, it just means that it is suitable for monitoring. The MDR-7509 is also very popular among vocal and instrumental performers alike for playback monitoring. The Beyerdynamic DT100 is also extremely popular for all-purpose monitoring.

Apparently there are some people who partly master on things like the Stax Omega II headphones, but usually a mastering session will be handled by the use of monitor speakers: I doubt anyone commits to a final master based on a pair of 7506's for example.
 
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meaning:
1. the gear is secondary, and
2. using headphones removes the room from the equation, and that's a bad thing
 
yea...I think I see what you mean.

I've been "mastering" :rolleyes: this thing I'm working on for a couple of hours. Really, I think you just hafta listen to it about a zillion times to get a sense of the overall mix, and then adjust accordingly. I mean, that big bass line sounds cool, but 3 or 4 minutes of it can get a little old...
 
beatsme said:
I think you just hafta listen to it about a zillion times to get a sense of the overall mix
Click to expand...
i'm rather of the opinion that mastering should be done by someone who hasn't heard the track before, and can work from their very first impression of the song.

i.e. those who mix it shouldn't master it

among other things, the mastering engineer should be able to fix the mistakes made by the mixing engineer. note that the mixing engineer doesn't realize he's made those mistakes, 'cuz he's fixed all the ones he knows about.
 
beatsme said:
I know nothing beats a good pair of reference speakers, but there are headphones out there that are labelled as "suitable for mastering." Anybody use these? Can anybody recommend a decent set?
Click to expand...

AGK240 have bee a "standard" for a couple decades. Cheap too under $100 on-line
I bought these in the early 1980's Some Ass*&#$ just ripped them off so I'll be re-buying a pair ASAP. Oh well, looks like they are now slightly improved with a replaceable cord 55 ohms and all.

http://www.akg.com/products/powerslave,mynodeid,157,id,252,pid,252,_language,ENUS.html

If you are working at home at 2:00am speakers are kind of out of the question unless you live alone out in the woods some place. Even in the day time the noise annoys others

the '240 has a very accurate sound and are comfortable for hours.
 
zimv20 said:
meaning:
1. the gear is secondary, and
2. using headphones removes the room from the equation, and that's a bad thing
Click to expand...

You are right about that, but if you are working on a computer at home the bad thing becomes a good thing. Heard a story about Neil Young. He has a habit of making a copy of the music out of the studio to the parking lot outside and listening inside is pickup truck. Figures that's the place it has to sound good in. One could argue that unless the mixing room IS where your final audience will be head phones are best.

With all the iPods, maybe headphones ARE the listening room
 
ChrisA said:
Heard a story about Neil Young. He has a habit of making a copy of the music out of the studio to the parking lot outside and listening inside is pickup truck.
Click to expand...
well, yeah, you have to check your mixes in different environments -- car, boombox, home stereo, mp3 format, etc.

but those are all extra checks and don't replace the original mix environment, which should be as neutral and reference-like as possible. headphones are another check, but imo shouldn't be the primary mixing system.
 
beatsme said:
it's kind of thin-sounding
Click to expand...
i'm hearing it more flat than thin. careful use of delays and reverb can add the depth i think you're looking it.

it's a cool track, and the lo-fi vox actually work (though they need depth).

the processing on the bass is... unsettling. what's going on there? if it were my track, i'd shoot for making the bass more center-centric to firm up the center channel.
 
zimv20 said:
besides the vox, what did you record using the built in mic?
Click to expand...

mmm.....ok
I'll post the original file. What happened was this:
a coupla my buddies were fooling around with GarageBand, and they had a miniature steel drum, a tambourine, and a recorder (a kind of flute, I guess) that they were screwing around with. I listened to it, and thought "hey, I'll take that and put a beat to it." And then I got carried away. Hehe...
 
zimv20 said:
i'm hearing it more flat than thin. careful use of delays and reverb can add the depth i think you're looking it.

it's a cool track, and the lo-fi vox actually work (though they need depth).

the processing on the bass is... unsettling. what's going on there? if it were my track, i'd shoot for making the bass more center-centric to firm up the center channel.
Click to expand...

the bass is digital synth...I screwed around with one of the presets in GarageBand and came up with that. It does need some mid-range, that's for sure, but my one pal is really into hip-hop, so I left it like that since that's what he generally prefers (insert shrug)

I'll probably go back to it sometime after the holiday...
 
zimv20 said:
i'm hearing it more flat than thin. careful use of delays and reverb can add the depth i think you're looking it.

it's a cool track, and the lo-fi vox actually work (though they need depth).

the processing on the bass is... unsettling. what's going on there? if it were my track, i'd shoot for making the bass more center-centric to firm up the center channel.
Click to expand...

http://www.box.net/public/5khf99dsji

alrighty...there's the original.

I agree totally, it could use depth. Unfortunately, I'm kind of limited by what GarageBand can do. I'm not really able to use delay on some of it because the available effects bays are already in use :(

I'm thinking seriously about getting Pro Logic...
 
I agree with zim about the bass processing - but interestingly, it works on headphones and in a slightly different (somewhat irelevant) way, on omnidirectional speakers.
 
i'm liking the center channel and balance better, definitely. i'm getting a phase issue somewhere, perhaps the bass? hard to tell w/o access to individual channels. or did you do something funky on the 2-buss?
 
zimv20 said:
i'm liking the center channel and balance better, definitely. i'm getting a phase issue somewhere, perhaps the bass? hard to tell w/o access to individual channels. or did you do something funky on the 2-buss?
Click to expand...

hmmm...I hadn't heard it...I'll give it a listen and see if I can pick it out. It might well be a bass thing, since the bass is actually a combination of the original bass track and a newer track in a little higher register.
 
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