Commodore Remix

Headphones INVARIABLY make everything sound better than it actually does.

Headphones alter the perspective. A very good pair can increase the sense of intimacy and clarity as well as transmit the quality. A good set of speakers give you a more correct sense of proportion and should always be the first choice.

Commie_User wrote:

Headphones INVARIABLY make everything sound better than it actually does.

Headphones alter the perspective. A very good pair can increase the sense of intimacy and clarity as well as transmit the quality. A good set of speakers give you a more correct sense of proportion and should always be the first choice.

In general it's hard to set levels and FX on headphones... instruments you feel sit JUST RIGHT, suddenly sound way too loud on a pair of speakers, or you drench everything with reverb or delay on headphones to compensate for the lack of room ambience with a pair of speakers... also, the sounds seem to originate from different places on headphones, as the speakers are located to the direct left and right... with speakers it comes from in front of you, and both speakers sound reach both left and right ear, which it does not on headphones.

One other thing that I don't like about headphones is, that it never replicate subbass the same way as speakers with a woofer added... you simply cannot get that "feel" you get with a woofer from a pair of headphones, as woofer's are partially felt rather than heard... sub-bass energy is heard with both your ears and your body I think.

But you can do some things with headphones that is a great advantage, like stereo perspective setting... often making music on speakers, and then listening afterwards on headphones will tell you instantly if you have a wide enough image, which is often not the case.

You could very well compose music on headphones, just always do yourself the favor of mixing and mastering on speakers... that way you get the best from both worlds

I usually start a tune while connected to the speakers, and then adjust to make it sound better on the 'phones.
I think that an overwhelming majority of people, at least in terms of C64/Amiga remixes, listen to music on headphones rather than speakers+woofer, though. Maybe I'm wrong?

Mordi wrote:I usually start a tune while connected to the speakers, and then adjust to make it sound better on the 'phones.
I think that an overwhelming majority of people, at least in terms of C64/Amiga remixes, listen to music on headphones rather than speakers+woofer, though. Maybe I'm wrong?

I guess most "normal" people do not have the luxury of being able to play music in speakers with woofer at high levels, so many probably HAVE TO use headphones to listen at higher levels (not because they cannot afford the speakers, but because neighbours limit their freedom )... that's the case for me as well, but I do not like the experience as much as on speakers... mainly because the very deep bass frequencies just sound "better" to my ears in speakers+woofer.

And if I make something on headphones, that I find to sound really good, then when I listen oon monitors, it just sound awful... frequency spectrum is wrong and particularly volume levels are bad... some instruments stand out a lot and vice versa. And my headphones are not the cheapest, so that's not the reason (Sennheiser HD600).

Anyways... much of my music is made with headphones on... I just mix and master on speakers, to ballance levels, EQ and FX better... also I use studio monitors with ballanced freq. spektrum, so as to really reveal anything in a neutral way, without colorisation... thus it can be hard to compare from person to person as everyone has a unique setup. On my setup mixing in headphones is just a no no.

I've had several thoughts on starting a project with music intended solely for headphones though... in that case it of course would be mastered and mixed on headphones.

Mordi wrote:I usually start a tune while connected to the speakers, and then adjust to make it sound better on the 'phones.

I do it the other way, vice versa. For sure my neighbours are thankful for that. But that's not the only reason. The "problem" is that on one side I've got high quality headphones from Denon, but on the other side I'm a lucky owner of 20 years old average speakers. Of course I have to adjust my tracks to average speakers. Almost nobody owns high end audio systems. But every tune which sounds good on average speakers also sounds good on headphones.

I sometimes slightly adjust items in a decent balance to sound sweeter on 'phones. But you can risk being a bit anal. In the end it's best to mix through speakers and leave it at that. The valve equipment I use as part of the mastering process can sweeten or enrichen a mix nice anyway.

Phones can still be valuable on the detail.