Mixing music using high quality studio monitors in a state of the art, acoustically treated room is standard for most pro mixers. But what if your home recording studio doesn’t provide that kind of pro studio experience? What if you have a budget that doesn’t allow for a decent pair of monitors (yet!), or your studio and your 3 month old share a space in the nursery, or your neighbor is threatening to tar and feather you if you keep up that racket, or your significant other is slowly going insane listening to you play the same two bars over and over again? You need a solution that will allow you to hear the music while overcoming all the obstacles thrown in your way by a less than perfect studio space. What is the answer? If you haven’t guessed already, the answer is – headphones. The practice is not as verboten as purists make it out to be. In fact, many successful mixes have been achieved using headphones. With a few considerations addressed, mixing with cans can be a great idea. Let’s consider these considerations.
Consideration #1
As a general rule, monitors are placed between 6 and 10 feet apart and between 6 and 10 feet from the mixers head. This creates a stereo field that is completely different from the 180 degree stereo separation you get when wearing headphones. Hard panned signals are never isolated 100% when mixing with monitors because of cross-bleed. Your right ear will pick up sound from the left monitor and visa versa. Hard panned signals in headphones will present the sound purely in the left or right ear with no bleed. To minimize this artificial stereo field, you might consider purchasing a headphone amp or plug-in designed to create a certain amount of cross-bleed in your headphones. Also consider that with monitors, signals that are panned to the center will sound like they are directly in front of you. With headphones, you’ll hear them in the middle of your head. You need to be aware of these differences before you dive into mixing with cans.
Consideration #2
To mitigate stereo imaging issues, it is important that you not rely on the stereo field presented by either monitors or headphones. You need to have your own vision of the stereo field you are seeking to achieve. Listen to the reference mix until you have a clear understanding of how you want it to appear in front of you. This will allow you to mentally override the stereo image the headphones are giving you.
Consideration #3
Panning choices made with headphones will not always translate when listening back on speakers. This is because on headphones, you are hearing each pan position as an isolated point in the stereo field. When you listen back on speakers, those points can become less distinct because of cross-bleed and room reflections. Placing too many signals at various points in the stereo field can result in a cluttered, bloated mix. To combat this, try and limit panning of mono signals to hard left, hard right and center as much as possible. This removes congestion and simplifies the mix. Most of the time, that is a good thing. Countless mixes that you have heard all your life were mixed using L/R/C panning.
Consideration #4
When you mix on headphones, what you are hearing is mostly mental. Nothing is physical except the sound waves passing out of the transducer and up through your ossicles and in to your brain. You are thinking about the sound but not really experiencing it at the whole body level. There comes a point where you will need to hear the song on actual speakers. These can be your studio monitors if you have them (and when everyone is out of the house) or on speakers at some external location that you know and trust. You just can’t get a realistic idea of how your mix is going to translate if you never listen to it on actual speakers. Part of the reason for this is the bass. The way you perceive bass from speakers and with headphones is very different. Low frequencies from speakers push a lot of air at you which has an effect on different parts of your body. This stimulus provides a feeling of excitement and involvement that you don’t get from headphones. You’ve most likely been to a concert where the bass is so deep and loud that you feel it in your stomach. That. You are much more likely to get goose bumps listening on a powerful set of speakers than from within a pair of headphones.
Consideration #5
Another consideration you need to make is to determine what type of headphones to get for mixing. The $15 el cheapos from Walmart are not those. You are going to need to pony up a bit and buy headphones that are built for the task. Don’t worry. These are far less expensive than a pair of studio grade monitors and they will let you get those mixes out of your head and into the ears of others. There are different types of transducers available in different headphones, but I wouldn’t worry about any of that as long as you are purchasing quality phones that provide a flat response and can handle plenty of power. The main thing you need to be concerned about is whether you prefer mixing with closed or open back headphones. Closed back phones shut out all outside sound, providing you with an silent background in which to listen to the mix. Open back phones allow some outside sound in, which many mixers prefer because the added air creates a more natural sound – provided, of course, that uncle Festus isn’t playing his banjo down the hall. The decision will be yours, which is why it is important to go to shops and check out as many different pairs as you can to experience the difference. I’ve used dozens of different headphones over the years and ultimately settled on two for my home studio. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 open back phones and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 ohm closed back phones. I lean towards the HD-650s for mixing and the DT-770s for tracking but either work really well for mixing. When you find your perfect mixing headphones, listen to songs you are familiar with on them so you can better understand how they translate from speakers to the phones.
Consideration #6
Not really a consideration, but an observation: mixing on headphones can be a lifesaver if your room sucks. Not even brilliant monitors can save a mix if your room is an acoustical nightmare. When you mix on monitors, besides cross-bleed between the speakers, you will also be hearing signals coming into your ears from other points in the room. Sound coming from your monitors bounces off walls, the ceiling, the mix desk, your head, and any other object in the room, sending audio reflections back into your ears. This mash-up is what you then need to sort out while mixing. If you have acoustically treated your space to deal with these reflections, then you are able to take advantage of the room. Your room is key to providing a unique stamp that defines your mix. A great room should translate into a great mix. A lousy room – you need headphones. They level the playing field.
Headphones can provide you with a mix that is deep, powerful and translatable to the outside world but there will always be extras steps you’ll need to take. You will always need to play the mix back on real speakers to hear and feel what it sounds like in a real world setting. You will always need to be conscious of the difference between the stereo field of headphones versus real speakers and be critically aware of your panning decisions. When you are able to account for all of these considerations, then go for it! Don’t let the confines and barriers of your space keep you from delivering a kick ass mix. And let your kid sleep!