Best headphones for mixing?

[Dusty B]

What's up, folks. Dusty B here, aka Dusty Blender, aka Ol' Dirty, aka Chubby White, aka Smelly Balls, aka The Less Attractive Rick Rubin, aka Croc Feet, aka Crocs n Sox. Who the fuck is Dusty B?

Quick question. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 400 headphones. They're pretty good with a great low end, but I'm noticing that the mids sound a bit muddy and the highs not quite as high when I listen elsewhere. I also have a cheap pair of wireless ANCs that I use outside of music production. But I think I need to get another 'pro' pair to use when finalizing my mix, thinking I can use the Sennheiser's and another pair to get things sounding pretty good across all devices.

I need to get a pair of monitors eventually, but I mostly make beats late at night when my wife and kids are sleeping.

 

[OGBama]

Get @Dusty B some wired ATH-M50X, I have and use those.

 

[Dusty B]

Cheers pal, thank you.

 

[Fade]

I've been using the Sony MDR-7506 since 1998. It lasts long and sounds great when mixing. The bass isn't bassy, everything is even.

 

[K-waz]

In my opinion headphones are great for recording and making beats but I would never use them to mix anything musically with them. You might as well mix your music with house speakers.

 

[VVS]

Quick answer...there are NO headphones worth mixing on exclusively. BUT if you must take that route I recommend the HD 6XX from drop.com.

 

[Dusty B]

Quick answer...there are NO headphones worth mixing on exclusively. BUT if you must take that route I recommend the HD 6XX from drop.com.

Thanks man, that's what I figured. For now it's the route I need to take. Appreciate the recommendation!

 

[Iron Keys]

From what I hear... Slate VSX by mile.

I'm planning on getting them at something. First things first for me is a computer however.

 

[JustIn Flow]

I use, since a lot of years "Superlux HD668" in combination with nearfield monitor (actually Presonus Eris E5 XT).
These are absolute low budget Headphones (about 25 Euro), but they have a good linear sound and fits well!
For chopping and playing around you don't need expensive Headphones. But i think for the mixing process near field monitors are indispensable.

I also have family and 2 children. So I build up the beat through the headphones and use the monitors exclusively for finalizing in short moments.

 

[Dusty B]

Appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

And I get that headphones aren't ideal, but unfortunately 10pm and later is my free time right now.

 

[InsideOutBeats]

Appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

And I get that headphones aren't ideal, but unfortunately 10pm and later is my free time right now.

Feel you man, I’m like that, kids in bed, home from work, late night producing. Think I’ll get around to some new headphones soon. Just checked out @VVS and @Iron Keys recommendations, little more research before I commit.

 

[Kane the MOD]

Feel you man, I’m like that, kids in bed, home from work, late night producing. Think I’ll get around to some new headphones soon. Just checked out @VVS and @Iron Keys recommendations, little more research before I commit.

I copped last year the AKG Pro Audio K712 PRO Over-Ear, which are decent headphones for mixing.

 

[TWU]

Got a Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80 ohm). Especially the mids and highs are really crisp and detailed, so it takes a little time to get used to them. But because of the details, unwanted sounds and frequencies are easily audible.

I've also got a couple of these very cheap sony headphones:

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They're not great for mixing, sound horribly muddy, but as a reference for most lo-fi audio devices they're bang on.

And for mixing I usually use my monitors and headphones to create a stereo image.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Having used both the Sennheiser HD280's and the Beyerdynamic DT990's I would recommend the DT's. 990's or 770's, you might need a headphone pre amp with them as they have high ohm's. But like @TWU I find them very detailed in the high end, and much more comfortable to wear for extended periods.

Mixing on headphones alone has its limitations, like stereo field imaging. Because left and right channels are isolated, you dont get the bleed from right speaker to left ear and left speaker to right ear, people recommend open back headphones in this scenario, but I cant see that really helping the issue too much.

You can go a long way if you know your monitoring source, how music is supposed to sound on them by listening to commercial music to get to know how music should sound on them, also testing your mixes on as many different monitoring systems as possible, you eventually will learn where to pay particular attention and you will get to know your monitoring source and how it translates across other systems.

Always though make sure that whatever monitoring system you are using, it is made for the purpose. You need a flat frequency response, without holes in any part of the frequency range, or artificial boosts. You need studio headphones or studio monitors, with these monitoring systems they have at least had some attention given to a flat accurate representation of the signal going into them, so you can make decisions based on accurate information coming out of them.

 

[Dusty B]

Having used both the Sennheiser HD280's and the Beyerdynamic DT990's I would recommend the DT's. 990's or 770's, you might need a headphone pre amp with them as they have high ohm's. But like @TWU I find them very detailed in the high end, and much more comfortable to wear for extended periods.

Mixing on headphones alone has its limitations, like stereo field imaging. Because left and right channels are isolated, you dont get the bleed from right speaker to left ear and left speaker to right ear, people recommend open back headphones in this scenario, but I cant see that really helping the issue too much.

You can go a long way if you know your monitoring source, how music is supposed to sound on them by listening to commercial music to get to know how music should sound on them, also testing your mixes on as many different monitoring systems as possible, you eventually will learn where to pay particular attention and you will get to know your monitoring source and how it translates across other systems.

Always though make sure that whatever monitoring system you are using, it is made for the purpose. You need a flat frequency response, without holes in any part of the frequency range, or artificial boosts. You need studio headphones or studio monitors, with these monitoring systems they have at least had some attention given to a flat accurate representation of the signal going into them, so you can make decisions based on accurate information coming out of them.

thanks for the details! curious, how would I know if I need a preamp or not, or do you recommend just using a preamp regardless?

 

[2GooD Productions]

thanks for the details! curious, how would I know if I need a preamp or not, or do you recommend just using a preamp regardless?

You will know you need a pre amp when you find the headphones arent loud enough. High Ohm headphones need a more powerful input level, some interfaces/mixers have enough, some dont.

 

[Iron Keys]

Just checked out @VVS and @Iron Keys recommendations, little more research before I commit.

The thing to be clear with VSX..

When you monitor in normal headphones, you aren't hearing music necessarily so accurately to its reproduction still... also Slate VSX has several headphones modelled too.

In Slate VSX it mimics (apparently very well) as if you were in an actual studio... so you can hear how the music would sound out loud.

Similarly, you pick one studio as your 'main space', and once your track is mostly mixed you will check in the other studio spaces --- each space will identify a different weakness, for example let's say your mix sounds perfect in your main room, you check in another studio and the high end is too harsh, so you edit your high end there, when you check back in your main studio the mix will still sound the same as before except there will be no harsh in other systems.

This is what has been detailed to me, not personal experi3nce.


Customer service sounds brilliant --- headphones fall apart, Steve will replace. You can buy and try for 30days get full refund no questions.

 

[Dusty B]

You will know you need a pre amp when you find the headphones arent loud enough. High Ohm headphones need a more powerful input level, some interfaces/mixers have enough, some dont.

Great to know. Thank you.

 

[InsideOutBeats]

@Iron Keys, I’ll check them out further. Every single beat I’ve made has been all done on an Mpc with Dre beats headphones. (Perhaps that needs a change up)

Got ROKIT 5’s but can’t use them in current situation so if there are headphones that can almost mimic a studio then I’m all up for those!

 

[Iron Keys]

@Iron Keys, I’ll check them out further. Every single beat I’ve made has been all done on an Mpc with Dre beats headphones. (Perhaps that needs a change up)

Got ROKIT 5’s but can’t use them in current situation so if there are headphones that can almost mimic a studio then I’m all up for those!

Defo. I really just wish I could demo them first.