Audio Recording

Mixing is sometimes misleading newbies into using headphones to mix track. It is because they always see pictures of studio personnel using headphones as they might think these engineers are actually headphones in mixing tracks.

The truth is: engineers does not use headphones when doing a mix, instead they use some monitoring system called as “near field” studio monitors.

Below are the main disadvantages when using headphones and it is why engineers are avoiding it:

1. Headphones will not substitute for the sub woofer which outputs very low/sub frequencies. This means if you are mixing using headphones, it may sound with less bass which in fact is very muddy in most monitors/speakers.

2. The frequency response of headphones is not the same as those studio monitors. This means there are times when you are working on a specific frequency and you may end up overestimating it, it is because headphones is poor in replicating it.

3. Headphones does not substitute real studio monitors like near field which have “flat frequency response” such as shown below:

Photos by:
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/multimedia/esi-near05.html

Flat frequency response is highly essential for mixing success.

4. Also mixing using headphones poses some problems like its interaction with the environment; studio environment plays a role in shaping the sound. So engineers make necessary adjustments in order to blend the complete mix with the surroundings. If you are using headphones, sound will be biased only to the environment inside your ear.

Recommendations:

-If mixing is your hobby which might be actually your future career, I suggest buying near field monitors.(photo below)

It’s a bit expensive but it’s worth the price. You can actually to mix like a pro. Stop using headphones because they are only used to check the results of the mix down and the mastering process to make sure the panning, ambiance and everything is cohesive for those headphone listeners. It is also used to check for small noise within your recording as they are sensitive.