Headphones for music production

[richardstringer1993]

I live in a flat and I did put acoustic foam on the walls and it definitely has an effect on the mid and high frequencies but the doors in the room are literally right in the corner so there's no way I can put bass traps in there because of the doors opening towards the wall in the corners instead of away. So i'm thinking about headphones but would like to know what the most accurate headphones would be for music production. I do have a pair of Alesis M1 Active mkII monitors in my living room which is where I make music. I use an Apogee Boom audio interface and Logic Pro DAW. I have a big L-shaped sofa so there is at least some sound absorbtion but anyway...

Does anyone know what headphones are accurate for music production? I have a pair of Sennheiser HD25 I use for dj'ing but i'm not sure how linear their frequency response is.

[Sam Spoons]

You can overcome any lack of linearity* by getting to know how your chosen 'phones sound listening to appropriate reference recordings.

Open back headphones like, say, AKG 701/702 are usually considered a better choice for mixing, the Sennheisers may not be ideal for the job but should be useable.

* Assuming they have reasonable extension.

[Wonks]

Budget is a limiting factor here. You can get very very accurate and very detailed headphones if you have thousands to spend, and very accurate and detailed headphones if you have a few hundred.

So, what's your maximum budget?

[richardstringer1993]

I guess I don't really have much to spend, maybe £200 at most. By the way I was just about to log in and saw this, lol. I thought it was quite funny so I took a screenshot, lol.

But anyway back to the topic well I don't really want to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds because I don't make any money from music production.

[Arpangel]

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD25, they sound impressive, but not in any shape or form neutral. I’ve used the HD600’s a lot, and these are fine for general monitoring, I tried the more expensive Sennheisers, but didn’t like them, too much top. The 600’s are very well balanced, and fairly neutral, you don’t need to spend more.

[ajay_m]

Not open-backed but my Rode NTH100s are very neutral and at just over £100 represent excellent value for money in my opinion. SOS gave them a very positive review when they came out. The adjustable 'fit lock' feature is marvellous; I can pick them up any time and they are already correctly adjusted, something that can be extremely annoying with other headphones.

I can say that if I match volume with the studio monitors then the sound I hear through the monitors matches the sound through the Rodes pretty closely, albeit this is an untreated room so I know the bass extension is somewhat dodgy, but of course the headphones resolve this, as you would expect. Not sure you're gonna get anything better at this price.

[The Elf]

I've found the Superlux EVO HD681 pretty good for a low budget option. I could certainly create balanced mixes on them, up to a point.

[resistorman]

Not open-backed but my Rode NTH100s are very neutral and at just over £100 represent excellent value for money in my opinion. SOS gave them a very positive review when they came out. The adjustable 'fit lock' feature is marvellous; I can pick them up any time and they are already correctly adjusted, something that can be extremely annoying with other headphones.

I can say that if I match volume with the studio monitors then the sound I hear through the monitors matches the sound through the Rodes pretty closely, albeit this is an untreated room so I know the bass extension is somewhat dodgy, but of course the headphones resolve this, as you would expect. Not sure you're gonna get anything better at this price.

I use the Rode 100's for the very reason for this post, imperfect bass treatment in my room. I use them to check the bottom octaves. I also use AKG 701's for general mix checking and working on music late at night when the better 2/3 is asleep.

[richardstringer1993]

Thanks for the replies, I was looking at some Bayerdynamic DT990 Pro because I read that they were considered the standard for music production and are still used in many studios.

[Telemaxis]

I've been really happy with my AKG K371s - they're around £135 - and got a good review in SOS a few years ago.

[Arpangel]

I've got headphones, but I can’t remember the last time I used them, I just can’t judge anything on phones, at all, I can listen on phones, but mix and record with them, no.

[Drew Stephenson]

Thanks for the replies, I was looking at some Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro because I read that they were considered the standard for music production and are still used in many studios.

I don't think there really is an industry standard on this.
A number of folks here rate the AKG 702/712 but I find them painfully uncomfortable so I use DT990s.
Find something that fits well and isn't tiring to listen to and then learn their profile.

[amanise]

I've been thinking about a pair of those myself, but still really like my Sennys. I like tracking and first pass mixing (as far as panning anything) in mono because for me it helps with instrument frequency separation. Then I take off the phones to do any panning. I find that saves some time. But I'd certainly buy some DT990 Pros. There a review of them somewhere in the mag section.

[The Elf]

OK, if we're upping the budget then AKG K702/712 would be first on my list. Then AKG K701 close behind. These are the gold standard AFAIAC.

I have Sennheiser HD650, but I don't find them as comfortable as the AKGs.

[tacitus]

I’ve been consistently impressed by my K702s which I bought under a recommendation here for a general quiet listening solution. They are very natural. No idea how the DT990s compare.

Overall, I’ve bought various ‘phones over the years and use most of then from time to time, even my old DT150s. I have the Rode NTH100, some Sony ones I can’t remember the model of, and I think changing around from time to time keeps it all real. I even use B&O H4 phones, both wired and Bluetooth, slightly laid back but accurate enough, usually.

At my age I guess I miss some nuances, but people seem happy enough with the results …

[jellyjim]

I guess I don't really have much to spend, maybe £200 at most. By the way I was just about to log in and saw this, lol. I thought it was quite funny so I took a screenshot, lol.

But anyway back to the topic well I don't really want to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds because I don't make any money from music production.

hahaha, i spotted that as well

clearly it's only you and i goofy enough to notice

[jellyjim]

Have you looked into room modeling headphones? Slate VSX etc.

Above budget but they kill many birds with one stone. I know various engineers who swear by them saying they do most their mixing on them these days.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/st ... -audio-vsx

[richardstringer1993]

I guess I don't really have much to spend, maybe £200 at most. By the way I was just about to log in and saw this, lol. I thought it was quite funny so I took a screenshot, lol.

But anyway back to the topic well I don't really want to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds because I don't make any money from music production.

hahaha, i spotted that as well

clearly it's only you and i goofy enough to notice

Not sure how you'd integrate anal into music production in fact I think trying to would probably be a bit of a bummer, lol.

[richardstringer1993]

Well overall my main problem is I have acoustic foam which definitely dampens the mid and high frequencies but no bass traps. I want some but the doors in the room are right in the corner so putting bass traps in the corners well two of the corners anyway isn't possible. I was thinking about asking my landlord if they or I could turn the door around so it opens the opposite way, then I could attach bass traps to the door so that when the doors are closed it soaks up low frequencies but I doubt my landlord would allow that. I use Alesis M1 Active mkII monitors which are pretty good but i'm really struggling with my songs levels being all over the place despite trying to hear what i'm doing.

I had acoustic foam up on the walls but took iot down because like I mentioned it dampened the mid/high frequencies but then couldn't absorb the lows so it was very boomy bass in my room. So I took the foam off the walls for now until I figure out what to do about the bass end, either use headphones to mix or adjust the door so it opens the opposite way.

[Sam Spoons]

If you can attach things to the walls you could put bass traps in the ceiling/wall boundaries? But two corners would be better than nothing, and bass traps don't have to be in corners it's just that they make more efficient use of the space used there as they need to be so deep.

Foam tiles do make a difference but, as you've discovered, they are not usually thick enough to affect the low mids and lower, Rockwool panels are better but more expensive.

[Martin Walker]

Well overall my main problem is I have acoustic foam which definitely dampens the mid and high frequencies but no bass traps. I want some but the doors in the room are right in the corner so putting bass traps in the corners well two of the corners anyway isn't possible.

Ironically, having doors (and windows) in a room can act rather like a bass trap, as they allow the sound to get out, rather than being reflected back into the room for more modal pileups.

Leaving doors shut may aggravate bass-end problems, as the door itself may resonate, but if you can leave the door open then it acts like a perfect bass trap - at least until the audio reaches the next wall in its travels and gets reflected back into the room.

[richardstringer1993]

If you can attach things to the walls you could put bass traps in the ceiling/wall boundaries? But two corners would be better than nothing, and bass traps don't have to be in corners it's just that they make more efficient use of the space used there as they need to be so deep.

Foam tiles do make a difference but, as you've discovered, they are not usually thick enough to affect the low mids and lower, Rockwool panels are better but more expensive.

Yeah but I can't be putting rockwool panels up the landlord would evict me within seconds of seeing it. With foam i'll be glueing velcro the backs and then attaching the foam to the walls that will have velcro on.

[richardstringer1993]

Well overall my main problem is I have acoustic foam which definitely dampens the mid and high frequencies but no bass traps. I want some but the doors in the room are right in the corner so putting bass traps in the corners well two of the corners anyway isn't possible.

Ironically, having doors (and windows) in a room can act rather like a bass trap, as they allow the sound to get out, rather than being reflected back into the room for more modal pileups.

Leaving doors shut may aggravate bass-end problems, as the door itself may resonate, but if you can leave the door open then it acts like a perfect bass trap - at least until the audio reaches the next wall in its travels and gets reflected back into the room.

There are two doors in the room as it's my living room and the only room I can use, the other room is my bedroom and with my bed, exercise bike, chest of drwaers and tv there is literally no space left for anything such as a a computer and midi keyboard and definitely no space for bass traps.

[Sam Spoons]

If you can attach things to the walls you could put bass traps in the ceiling/wall boundaries? But two corners would be better than nothing, and bass traps don't have to be in corners it's just that they make more efficient use of the space used there as they need to be so deep.

Foam tiles do make a difference but, as you've discovered, they are not usually thick enough to affect the low mids and lower, Rockwool panels are better but more expensive.

Yeah but I can't be putting rockwool panels up the landlord would evict me within seconds of seeing it. With foam i'll be glueing velcro the backs and then attaching the foam to the walls that will have velcro on.

It sounds as if headphones are your best option then but, if you really prefer to mix on speakers, could you put free standing bass traps in the other two corners?

Edit :- Also, can you hang pictures on the walls? If so what about these https://gikacoustics.co.uk/product-cate ... rt-panels/ a couple at the mirror points would make a useful difference.

[ajay_m]

An interesting and credible investigation of DIY active bass trapping is here

https://mapoulin.wixsite.com/audiobymar ... experiment

the author concluded that for modest SPLs the idea potentially worked quite well but was really only effective below 70Hz and that some passive bass trapping was required above that frequency. But he says that 5 inches of fibreglass with a 1 inch airgap worked well in that context (though I get this is still a challenge for the OP's scenario). So it's possible that a combination active/passive approach could be developed for problematic home studios that didn't cost the huge sums of money that the PSI products cost.

He says that you need larger absorbing speakers than the monitors that are producing the sound, which does make sense, but if your setup already had subwoofers then you'd have a challenge. However if say the studio environment was fairly small and you had 5 or 8 inch monitors, then 12 inch subwoofers ought to deal with those fairly well - the assumption based on the author's experiment is that you need two fairly close to your listening position since you are only attempting to even up the low end response at that point.

The author basically used a couple of subwoofers and a couple of measurement microphones to implement his solution.

Hugh: what a fascinating article this would make though. Couldn't you have a go with all your kit and report back on how well the idea worked for you - it'd make a great SOS article, for sure!