Mixing with Headphones-suggestions/tips?

[Luke K]

Hello,

Due to financial constraints i am unable to purchase a decent set of monitors with my pro tools rig currently but i do have a decent set of headphones.
AKG 240's
I have a few projects i'm working on now where i am close to the mixing stage.
Can anyone offer any tips suggestions when mixing with headphones? I know it is not ideal..but right now it is my best option. How can i make it work so i can still produce a good mix?

If anyone can suggest some good reference tracks i should use with these that would be useful too.
The music i am working on is mostly pop/folk/touch of jazz
Thankyou,
Luke K

[elmostephane]

there's a plugin... can't remember the name, tht you put on your master that makes the sound you hear come through your headphones as if it was played on speakers... maybe someone else around here can remember the name...

[guitar486]

Redline Monitor

[Luke K]

Awesome! it has a 60 day full functioning demo too....i will give it a run. Thankyou!

[daeron80]

But be prepared to be disappointed when you hear it through speakers. At one time, I did a bunch of "mixing" on 240s. Actually, they were even the 240DFs, which are technically nearly flat. It's simply inadequate any way you slice it. You can get demo mixes on phones, but nothing you'll want to release publicly. At least, I couldn't. If you have lots of time to spend at it, you may be able to hone in on a decent mix by listening back on various speakers - boom box, car, tv (using a DVD player, e.g.), a friend's hi-fi, etc. Make notes on what doesn't work, tweak, listen again through the various speaker systems, make notes, tweak... 5 or 6 rounds of that, and you should get there.

[Majorek]

Redline plugins freakin' rock. Just got the amazing Redline Reverb and WOW.

Regarding mixing through headphones, I am on daeron80's side. For profesionnal/public material I don't know anyone mixing with headphones. And no matter how good the plugins are, mixing through headphones will surely give you false results once on monitors. Flat, unbalanced, etc. Maybe with ALOT of practice but I would definitly put my money in good monitors as soon as I can for serious results. Just my two cents since I am poor and I can't give more.

[RiF]

I mix a lot on headphones and use these things to ease the pain:
- Taking breaks often as listening on headphones causes way more ear fatigue than listening on monitors.
- Checking back a mix on different audio systems often and learn what sounds different than on your headphones. Car stereo (my favorite, depends on the car though), little computer speakers, everything you can grab.
- A/B-ing my mixes with reference mixes, to "re-calibrate" my ears to a "normal" frequency spectrum.
- I did not like those headphone-plugins (redline monitor and another one where I forgot the name).
- I did not find a way to really judge the low end on headphones. On cans I hardly get a muddy or wooly low end, but on speakers I do. Frequency analyzers help a bit here.

[TCM]

Tip for headphones-only-mix: Koss Porta Pro
I know they are HiFi, but you get a good impression of the low end frequencies and they have quite a nice frequency range. And my early mixes on them came out quite well.
They are not expensive, will set you back about 30-35 bucks.

Of course real monitor speakers are better along with a treated room.

[obiwan177]

I agree, I tried mixing with just headphones, but once I got a set of decent KRK's than it was WAY easier to mix, and a lot more comfortable too. Headphones are really good for checking stereo balance, if you have different stereo effects like a stereo delay or something, and I would say they are necessary because nowadays the majority of people listen through earbuds, so you need them to reference your mix on. For final mixes though, I listen through some generic Apple earbuds that come with all the ipods, to make sure they will sound good on them.

[frantik]

every time i do mix primarily with headphones (i have AKG k701) i have to go back and tweak the mix a lot

i find doing EQ work is ok for headphones but dynamics, not so much..

i recommend saving your $$ for proper monitors.. probably the best purchase i've made so far