Mixing in headphones - tips and tricks

[Amøbe]

I can't remember, if we have had this exact topic before (in that case, I'll happily delete this). I was thinking of making a thread, where we could share some tips or observations people have made in regards to mixing in headphones.

I'll start with a few:

You can easily mix bass, just be aware that it behaves differently.

If you are curious about your track is dynamic, try to take off your phones, turn the volume all the way up, and press them together. Then you can feel if there is a pumping dynamic going on, or if it's all a big fat sausage.

Kicks sound massive, when they are amplified on a bigger system - it's very easy to make them dominate the mix if you are not careful (I have this issue all the fucking time!)

If possible, try to hear your mix on a friend's monitors. This will give you a much better idea of how your mix is translating.

Hope more people will chime in, as I'm currently searching like crazy for a studio space (that won't ruin me), and my girlfriend is not keen on hearing me dial bass in, while she is doing her daily crocheting+Ru Paul's drag race routine

[Amøbe]

So the idea is to have a thread full of small pointers or a little check list that you could visit, when producing in headphones.

[Mono-xID]

What helped me a lot was listening to as much music (ideally the style of music I was trying to make) as possible on my headphones.

You'll get to know your cans so you can translate that to your own tunes. This, and lots of reference checks of your own material with "professional" tracks.

[Amøbe]

What helped me a lot was listening to as much music (ideally the style of music I was trying to make) as possible on my headphones.

You'll get to know your cans so you can translate that to your own tunes. This, and lots of reference checks of your own material with "professional" tracks.

For the latter part - isn't it hard to reference with mastered tracks?

[Amøbe]

Nice seeing you again mono

[Ben Kohonays]

If possible, try to hear your mix on a friend's monitors. This will give you a much better idea of how your mix is translating.

I'd go further than that, listen on as many systems as possible. In the car while driving can be a good one, but all these different things like ghetto blasters, ipods, hi-fi systems will all highlight certain aspects of a track, while dulling or diminshing others.

Also be aware that stereo sounds different in cans than on speakers.

[Mono-xID]

For the latter part - isn't it hard to reference with mastered tracks?

I always tried to match the volume of the reference track and my own crap. I try to nail the balance of all the elements of a track which works well when reference with a mastered tune.

Whenever I've sent a track to the mastering engineer, it was usually just minor adjustments I had to make for a good master.

Yes sir, thanks. Good to be back.

[Amøbe]

Alright - I'll start using references more heavily

[Mono-xID]

Alright - I'll start using references more heavily

It really makes sense as you're getting so used to your own track while producing. Referencing always showed me a lot of flaws like "too much bass" or "hats are too quiet" etc...

[Barfunkel]

My tip is to own two really contrasting pairs. One that is fairly accurate and doesn't hype the bass (AKG K701 for example), so the pumping bass doesn't fool you into thinking that the mix sounds good when it does not. The other pair is the opposite, ie. a typical DJ headphone with lots of bass and vibe. Those you double check on and "feel" the music a bit more. Useful for arranging as well, as I've found that with the AKG's I tend to make too subtle changes in the arrangement, since I can hear all the detail, which doesn't work in a club where the detail is mostly lost, you need more dramatic arrangements there.

[over9000]

Will use reference tracks more often, thx!

What helps me is to take breaks all 30 mins or so.
Also just stop the track quickly and restart it again, so i can hear quickly if something is off in the first few seconds, before my brain gets absorbed by the track again

+1 on the kicks i overdid it so many times...

Also the lowmids tend to be dense with headphones, eg on headphones i seem to hear its ok to put something else there, but when i then listen on speakers its cramped

Welcome back mono

[Divjak]

I only mix on inears because I like the way they sound. I cant tune stuff and EQ stuff with same accuracy on any monitors that I have experienced. However.

I have two common problems that I noticed when I put on my inear headphone mix on studio monitors in shitty room.

Mix is flat. Low end and bass is missing if I compare it to pro mixed stuff. How much of it is missing? This is really tough call, because I don't have access to really good room and monitors. Inears have insane low end response, and when I put the mix on speakers it just doesn't translate. Low end sounds weak . I get better results on monitors if I have this in mind and I force more kick and bass to louder level. But its hard to decide what is better on inears.

Width. I really really like to play with width in my tracks, for a long time it was the factor that was missing from my productions. But setting it up on inears is a bit... tricky. There are some weird artifacts that occur when you get one signal in right ear and other signal in left ear. And when setting things up things get a bit unpredictable how it sounds on monitors.

It is a bit frustrating, to hear the details disappear on studio monitors compared to inears. One day I will set up a really nice sounding room with some good speakers and things will be easier I hope.

[Amøbe]

My tip is to own two really contrasting pairs. One that is fairly accurate and doesn't hype the bass (AKG K701 for example), so the pumping bass doesn't fool you into thinking that the mix sounds good when it does not. The other pair is the opposite, ie. a typical DJ headphone with lots of bass and vibe. Those you double check on and "feel" the music a bit more. Useful for arranging as well, as I've found that with the AKG's I tend to make too subtle changes in the arrangement, since I can hear all the detail, which doesn't work in a club where the detail is mostly lost, you need more dramatic arrangements there.

This one is interesting - I actually have a set of headphones that are designed for DJs - I haven't really used them to mix in since I got some that were more flat in the sound, but I will try and switch it up!

And yes over9000 - breaks are immensely important (and something I'm very good at forgetting).

Divjak - I also strugge quite a bit with figuring out width in headphones - have you come by any good things to look out for? (I am personally just very careful, but I'm doing it a bit in the dark, if I'm honest)

[Barfunkel]

My tip is to own two really contrasting pairs. One that is fairly accurate and doesn't hype the bass (AKG K701 for example), so the pumping bass doesn't fool you into thinking that the mix sounds good when it does not. The other pair is the opposite, ie. a typical DJ headphone with lots of bass and vibe. Those you double check on and "feel" the music a bit more. Useful for arranging as well, as I've found that with the AKG's I tend to make too subtle changes in the arrangement, since I can hear all the detail, which doesn't work in a club where the detail is mostly lost, you need more dramatic arrangements there.

This one is interesting - I actually have a set of headphones that are designed for DJs - I haven't really used them to mix in since I got some that were more flat in the sound, but I will try and switch it up!

And yes over9000 - breaks are immensely important (and something I'm very good at forgetting).

Divjak - I also strugge quite a bit with figuring out width in headphones - have you come by any good things to look out for? (I am personally just very careful, but I'm doing it a bit in the dark, if I'm honest)

At least for me the biggest problem with headphones is how fast you get used to to levels being all over the place. You can hear the details, so you don't necessarily understand if something is too quiet. Occasionally switching to a different pair resets my brain in that regard.

When I use headphones, it's at least 80% AKG's, I only use the other pair once in a while. Interestingly, I was using HD25's as the other pair but I lost them in a train 2 months ago. A friend of mine heard about it and said he has some old pair he hasn't used in a few years, I can come and pick them up for free. I assumed it was some cheappo cans, turns out they are Sennheiser Momentum (cord versiod). They aren't cheap lol. And they are quite nice and pair with the AKG's perfectly, being quite bassy but not super inaccurate either.

[Amøbe]

My tip is to own two really contrasting pairs. One that is fairly accurate and doesn't hype the bass (AKG K701 for example), so the pumping bass doesn't fool you into thinking that the mix sounds good when it does not. The other pair is the opposite, ie. a typical DJ headphone with lots of bass and vibe. Those you double check on and "feel" the music a bit more. Useful for arranging as well, as I've found that with the AKG's I tend to make too subtle changes in the arrangement, since I can hear all the detail, which doesn't work in a club where the detail is mostly lost, you need more dramatic arrangements there.

This one is interesting - I actually have a set of headphones that are designed for DJs - I haven't really used them to mix in since I got some that were more flat in the sound, but I will try and switch it up!

And yes over9000 - breaks are immensely important (and something I'm very good at forgetting).

Divjak - I also strugge quite a bit with figuring out width in headphones - have you come by any good things to look out for? (I am personally just very careful, but I'm doing it a bit in the dark, if I'm honest)

At least for me the biggest problem with headphones is how fast you get used to to levels being all over the place. You can hear the details, so you don't necessarily understand if something is too quiet. Occasionally switching to a different pair resets my brain in that regard.

When I use headphones, it's at least 80% AKG's, I only use the other pair once in a while. Interestingly, I was using HD25's as the other pair but I lost them in a train 2 months ago. A friend of mine heard about it and said he has some old pair he hasn't used in a few years, I can come and pick them up for free. I assumed it was some cheappo cans, turns out they are Sennheiser Momentum (cord versiod). They aren't cheap lol. And they are quite nice and pair with the AKG's perfectly, being quite bassy but not super inaccurate either.

This actually sounds like it could solve a lot of the issues I have - when I produce in the headphones, I can hear everything very clearly, and then once I listen in my friends studio I feel like I have drowned out all details with a crazy loud kick

[illit_]

When mixing I'll pop in 2 or 3 tracks of a similar flavour and listen to one of them in full before continuing the session, volume levels set the same as what I am mixing at. Helps to make things pop out which are over cooked.

3 volume choices on the master. Think this is a Dan Worrel trick. Set it up so you keep your headphone dial in the same position but have a utility on the master chain which lets you have a quiet mode, a comfortable mode, and a loud mode. Personally I have a limiter on the loud one so i get a close image of what a final push will be, and you can put a fletcher munson curve on the quietest setting to help the tops and bottoms come out more. Just remember to turn it off!

Also, with comfortable hearing settings it is a bit quiter than i would want it. This is something i found for myself, having it on the quieter side means i can do an hour and a half before i need to have a break and i dont find myself over cooking the lows. (High end seems to be my struggle these days)

I mix in mono. Helps me to concentrate on what is cluttering up the mix. When im about 70% mixed (all tracks up, just adding sends and group funkyness) i switch out of mono and go about tackling and outstanding widthy bizniz.

I check on my monitors when i think im done, i work with sonarworks on so ill turn that off and check on the cans. It almost serves like having 2 headphones at that point but idk. I got another pair of cans which are bassy as fuck and ill usually have a walk and listen on them.

Thats it reallly. Next step is getting frequent access to a rig so i know whats really up haha

[Lost to the Void]

What helped me a lot was listening to as much music (ideally the style of music I was trying to make) as possible on my headphones.

You'll get to know your cans so you can translate that to your own tunes. This, and lots of reference checks of your own material with "professional" tracks.

This is pretty much it.
Listen to a lot of material on your headphones (same as with monitors), and REALLY listen, pay attention, don`t browse shit on your phone or whatever, actually LISTEN to different material. Focus on the dynamics for a listening session. Then focus on the frequency balance. Then stereo etc.
Break it down and really learn your cans.

Even though I have 2 studios, one treated mastering room with full scale reference monitoring, and a production room with a custom 4 way nearfield setup, I still prefer to produce on headphones for full immersion. And I can confidently make decisions in my headphones (currently using OLLO S4X, which are just amazing cans for the money) knowing how they will translate. So it is entirely possible to get pro results, it really is about paying attention and learning your cans.

In some cases I would say the opposite of other advice here, and I would try to minimise the amount of cross referencing to other listening sources UNLESS you absolutely trust the fidelity of those sources. Otherwise you are just adding another layer of doubt to the process.
If you have a janky monitoring setup and are trying to reference your headphone mixes against them, then what are you really referencing?
Better to have ONE trusted listening source you know inside out than 2 or 3 you don`t trust entirely.

Watch your listening volume. At least once an hour, take a 5-10 minute ear break, turn the volume down to zero, and then after your break slowly bring the volume up to a comfortable level. SLOWLY.
As you bring up the volume, pay close attention to the consistency of the mix balance and dynamic balance. You may find this helps you spot areas in your mix where you went "ear blind" to, from listening to a constant level. Quite often it will be the kicks that need rebalancing.

Unless you use some kind of haptic feedback device, like a subpac, then bass perception is very different.
You no longer feel the bass physically.
The way I gauge my low end, and low end is my "thing" so I always focus heavily here, is that I forget about "physical impact" when it comes to judgement. Most people tend to crank their headphone volumes to try to emulate that physical impact. But once you learn your cans, then bass judgement just becomes about clarity. Once your bass is clear and present and defined in the mix as a whole, then it should be correct in-the-real.
Both the level and the dynamics should be clear in the same way as any other dominant element in your mix.