I started out mixing on headphones like most of us do – out of necessity.
In university, I was lucky enough to be able to work in the onsite studio as much as I could. But in the early days, I was much more focused on performance and recording than anything to do with mixing and production. So I never really fully appreciated the nice set of Dynaudio BM6a’s in front of me and I used to do a lot of my mixing work from home on headphones.
It wasn’t until I got my first real gig in audio that I started to appreciate studio monitors. I was the “audio guy” who sat in the corner of a room full of amazing motion graphic designers and digital creatives. We had an adjacent room that had been converted into a vocal booth and I spent all day every day either recording vocals, making music or mixing adverts on headphones. More than anything, I wanted studio monitors!
Around that time, I was dipping in and out of other studios and I was always a bit jealous of anyone who got to mix and track on monitors instead of headphones. Getting myself a set of monitors became a real goal for me.
However, very soon after that, I landed a great gig at a post production studio in Dublin and I was given my very own studio. It was an opportunity I was very grateful to get at the time and I’m still grateful for it today. Listening to my work on studio monitors in an acoustically treated room was a complete game changer and I thrived in that environment.
No more headphones for me
It wasn’t until I moved to London that things began to change. When I first moved here, I was trying to find my new home – both literally and musically! During that time, I still had clients and I didn’t want my skills to drop off so I was back working on headphones.
About a year before my move to London, I had been introduced to quite a high profile mixing engineer and producer through a mutual connection. When I actually made the move, I spent some time working with him in his studio.
He had a set of ATC monitors that sounded pristine and I was really obsessed with them. To my ear, they picked up every little nuance of sound that you just wouldn’t hear on headphones or lesser quality monitors.
But one day, he said something that really stuck in my head. We were talking about “The Loudness Wars” and he mentioned how poor some of the audio quality was on a recent UK Number 1 hit. I said I hadn’t noticed but he asked me if I had listened to the track on headphones.
I had not.
Why was he listening to music on headphones when he had such amazing monitoring at his disposal?
Young Stephen was about to learn something…
Now, I want to caveat this by saying that I am far from perfect and this is not intended to be negative or overly critical. But I want to focus in on that track and share my revelations with you.
First of all, this song is written by Ryan Tedder and I am a huge fan of his. So again, this is not a criticism. It’s all constructive.
In fact, the credit list for this song is amazing…
Writers: Ryan Tedder, Ellie Goulding, Greg Kurstin, Noel Zancanella, Brent Kutzle
Producers: Ryan Tedder and Greg Kurstin
Mixing Engineer: Serban Ghenea
That is a superstar list of superstars lists!
The song is ‘Burn’ by Ellie Goulding. It hit Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in summer 2013 and was only knocked off the top spot by Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’. As a side note, it must have been a good time to be Serban Ghenea because he mixed both tracks!
So here’s the challenge for you:
- I want you to listen to this song played back on your studio monitors, car stereo or out of your phone or laptop speakers – basically anything that isn’t directly attached to ears.
- Make a note of anything you hear that is a little out of the ordinary.
- Once you’ve made your notes, go back and listen to the track with decent quality headphones.
- Make some notes about what you hear.
- Compare your notes.
Ready? Ok, hit play below…
Now, once again, this is not intended to be an attack on any of the people involved in making this track but here are some things that I heard to get you going…
0:16 – There’s a bad vocal edit on “cause we got the fight”.
0:56 – The hook “Burn burn burn” is the big the pay off but it’s distorted. Damn Loudness Wars!
1:10 – Glitchy vocals are great but not when there’s clicks in the edits.
1:13 – There’s a weird click on a bad edit at 1:14.
1:20 – There are quite a few clicks in the section up to 1:28.
I have no idea why those “mistakes” ended up in the final version of the song but they’re there and we can hear them. This isn’t the only song with issues like that either. However, the other argument is that they seem to have had no impact on the commercial success of the music…
With that said, going through the process above made me reflect on my own work and I began an exercise in critical listening. I listened back to some old work on headphones and despite all my training in university and all of my experience, there were similar issues present in a few of my tracks.
For example, I could hear some clicks on bad edits, reverbs that were too long, delays that were too loud, the list goes on…
The headphones were back and this time they were staying
That was such a valuable learning experience for me that mixing on headphones became an essential part of my mixing method. After that point, I never sent a mix to a client without making a mix pass on headphones. In some cases, where the mix was particularly dense, the difference was astounding.
Now, as much as it’s incredibly fun and not in the least bit embarrasing for me to share the stories of how I used to get it totally wrong, I want you to get it right!
So, here are some of the benefits of mixing on headphones:
- Bad edits will be much more obvious. Once you hear them, you can go back and clean them up. You might not hear bad edits on monitors or in an untreated room.
- Your level automation will get tighter. If there are obvious jumps in level on an instrument or in a particular section, you’ll hear it a lot more clearly and be able to smooth it out.
- Reverb and delay decisions are easier. It can often be quite difficult to hear the full impact of your reverb/delay decisions and know if they’re at the right level in the mix. Headphones make that part of the process a lot easier and are a great sense check.
- Low end management. If your ears are being blown apart, your bass is too loud. It might sound great when it’s cranked on your monitors, but not when you can’t hear.
- High end management. If it makes your ears bleed on headphones, then your top end is too harsh. Dial it back!
- Flexibility. You can mix on headphones anywhere.
I’m sure you can see that I went full circle wit this. While I’m very grateful to have studio monitors in my project studio and any studio I work in, I will never be without my trusty set of headphones to help me make better decisions.
As a result of spending so much time working on headphones in my early career, I have no problem when it comes to adapting and working on them in different environments.
The bottom line is that if you don’t own studio monitors, it’s not as big a problem as you might think. In fact, mixing on headphones can do a lot for training your ears. But, as always, please make sure you listen at an appropriate monitoring level and give yourself frequent breaks.
Mixing on studio monitors (or another type of speaker) and headphones both have their place within your method. For whatever reason that pops up, there will come a time when you will have to work exclusively on headphones, so it definitely can’t hurt getting used to it in the meantime.
If you need some more help with mixing on headphones, then click here because I’ve got you covered!
Now, I’d love to know…
Do you prefer mixing on studio monitors or headphones and why?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
Dear Stephen,
Any advices here for affordable pairs of headphone ?
I’m actually using an old Prodipe Pro580 and listening to a mix with it on my monitors (of the same brand) systematically gives the result a bit “flat”.
Regards.
Hi Etienne,
Thanks for your question. I’ve never used Prodipe but the most important question I have is what’s your budget?
Everyone’s definition of “affordable” is different!
-S
i mix on both all the time , it’s important like you say for fine details when using headphones, i have krk monitors and krk headphones so they are great as a two way mixing environment , good article man, i could hear the bad edits on my monitors too by the way , but not distortion until the headphones
Thanks Pete! I agree about the edits. I think originally they just kind of passed me by until I really listened on headphones. It happens. They’re in a lot of music. I’ll probably make mistakes myself like that down the line again. Glad you liked the article!
Headphones!!!!!!!
I can hear things clearer when I use headphones.
Instrument and vocal positioning and levels are critical and I can place them in the stereo spectrum better when I put the phones on.
Also, I don’t have the best acoustics to mix with monitors alone.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge,
Tom
Thomas Schworm ASCAP
Thomas Schworm Music Ascap publishing
Thanks Thomas. Very interesting to hear that you almost exclusively mix on headphones.
I mix on headphones and monitors as well. i go between both. Headphones are deffinately great for hearing clicks and bad edits in the mix and seeing how your mix sounds in relation to panning instruments etc. As was pointed out, if you have too much bass or high end, it will stand out more with headphones. I love using headphones.
A great point about panning of instruments. Thanks for your comment, Wayne!
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for bringing up this topic. Indeed headphones have lots of benefits like more direct sound, better transients (=”faster” listening) and avoiding room acoustics. I used to prefer my Sennheiser HD600 over my KRK VXT6 near field monitoring, especially for final editing. Simply because I felt the headphones were more accurate.
Since three years however, I have a new monitor setup with separate mid/high end monitors (NS-10m) and low end monitors (the subwoofers of a Sony SS-G1 set). Both are air-suspension types (sealed-box, no ports) and they have separate amps with external crossover on the LINE inputs (Linkwitz-Riley 24 dB/oct, 160Hz).
In search for improved monitoring I came up with this solution, and I found that especially the non-ported speakers make the difference: Most near field monitors are ported. But non-ported is so much faster in response. I now can hear all transients, clicks, editing errors etc. After volume, phase and EQ calibration I found that this setup is very comparable to the transparancy of the HD600 (calibrated myself simply by putting a condensor up at the listening position and record the playback of prerecorded chirps of synthesizer sine-waves in the DAW).
What I found out during all experimenting is this: You do not need expensive monitors. Any combination of transient-fast speakers will do (pre-owned classic sealed box used outside of its resonances). And by calibrating the system with your own microphones you can put an end to a lot of uncertainty and guesswork… 🙂
I now still use my headphones, but for different reasons: check low-end <40Hz, check stereo image for headphones etc.
Regards, Thé
Thé – that was a very interesting read! Nice to hear you’ve found a monitoring system that really works for you. You’ve taken it to the next level!
I edit, mix, and master with both headphones and multiple monitor pairs – first with headphones and then with monitors. I also check my mixes on computer speakers, car and truck stereos, and MP3 player earbuds. Recently, I heard that some engineers use a single, mono monitor to check their mixes for masking issues – I have yet to try this, but it sounds like it could be beneficial. I use the mono mode in my DAW to do the first static mix, then flip to stereo when I begin panning and FX.
Nice! Yes, a single mono monitor like the Auratone and Avantone is quite useful. I don’t personally own one but have used them in the past for many purposes. Traditionally, they were used for testing mix translation, like you do with your computer speakers etc. Can’t hurt to give it a go!
Hi Mr. S…
Spiffy article, as always, imho.
I always include some time listening through cans, in my case, Sennheiser HD650s. It’s a good way to access a room-free representation of the mix for all the reasons you gave, especially hearing if the low-end is in place and not being misrepresented by your room
As with a room, though, it’s important to know your cans, as they are an environment.
I know from experience that the HD650s are a little warm between 100-200Hz and lacking around 10KHz, so generally, I won’t make adjustments in those areas.
That’s my two-bobs’ worth.
Wobben…
Thanks Robin! Definitely agree with you on knowing your cans. I’ve got a pair I’ve been using for over ten years now that I love. Bought a new pair a couple of years ago for a change and they’re still in their box!
I’m usually mixing on about 80/20 monitor/headphones. I’ve been bitten before by not paying enough attention to the headphone mix. So many people listen on headphones these days, too (albeit terrible earbuds are unfortunately way too common), that the headphone mix is all the more important.
I don’t use large monitors or subs, so I use the headphones to check the low end, too. I try not to make too many EQ decisions on the headphones, but as you note, because they’re right on your ears, they can show you details that you tend to miss on your monitors, even if your monitors are good and your room is tuned.
One other thing to be careful of with headphones, though, is that a good set of cans – especially with a good headphone amp – can make it easier to accidentally start mixing at higher than necessary monitoring levels. You only get one set of ears and you might just want to keep mixing into your later years (I certainly do). A golden example is Al Schmitt – today at 88 years old (89 next month) and still hot – with one of most stellar clientele lists in existence. Protect those ears!
Thanks Walt. I completely agree on protecting your ears. What a career Al Schmitt has had!
I preffer to mix on headphones, they have so many advantages over monitors that it’s scary for me trying monitors:
1) Way chaper (for the most part).
2) There’s no need for acoustic treatment, though a silent room it’s still a must.
3) The sound won’t change if your head moves (unless they’re about to fall from your head lol).
4) The sound won’t change at different distances because headphones are always in the same place.
5) They’re portable.
6) They don’t annoy your neighborhoods or family.
7) Because of the details they reveal, they’re a very good choice for mastering.
8) They need way less space, so a very small home studio it’s possible to work thanks to them.
And many other things.
Thanks for the detailed answer and breaking it down into clear points. I’m sure that will help lots of other people.
Very good article. And that song is so loud, that it’s painful.
Thanks Russell!
I keep reading a lot of pros and cons of mixing with headphones online. There’s a lot of people who are really dead set against it for some reason. 70ish% of music listeners use headphones. Myself; I have headphones on most of the day and almost never listen in any other medium. Aside from all this good stuff you mention; to me, it makes sense to mix using the medium people are going to use when they want to be entertained.
I use my studio monitors as a sanity check – and anyway I travel such a lot that headphones are the only real solution – you can’t use studio monitors on a train!
I highly recommend the Ollo system with the bass pillow for low end.
Thanks Justin. There’s something about “bass pillow” that just sounds so comforting! I checked out the Ollo system and it looks really cool. Is that what you use to mix?
It’s not very comfortable, but combined with good references it really helps with the low end when using cans.
I use this system when I’m on the road – so about every other week. At home I’ve got a pair of HD 650’s with Sonarworks calibration and a pair of Event 20/20 BAS monitors.
Sounds like a fantastic setup, Justin! Thanks for sharing.
When I commented earlier, I had only listened to this on a headset, but didn’t have time to put it on monitors. Out of curiosity, I just did that and found that most of those flaws were even more evident on my studio monitors than in my HD280s.
I immediately saw improved mixes when I went from mixing strictly on headsets to doing the majority of it on studio monitors, but I’m certainly not saying that the headphones don’t have a place. I agree that is still an important step in the mix process for a number of the reasons that Stephen mentioned, no matter how good your monitoring setup is.
Hello!… Is there still anyone inside this room?
Well, normaly I use headphones in the early stages of the mix (levelling, editing, panning). I find them particularly useful when editing vocals, looking for “clicks”, reducing vocal breaths where they´r not needed, etc.
Another advantage is that I can work in my living room at home, even while my young son is watching cartoons on TV or playing videogames (with their own high frequences, as you might know :-).
But: I always have to check the result on monitor speakers later on (when I`m home alone) because there`s a big possibility that some levels don`t sit perfectly in the mix…