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Can you make mixing with headphones exclusive?
by Will Jackson
It can be really hard being away from your studio/mixing setup for more than a few days.
The need to create and produce can build to an unrelenting degree at times!
Although mixing in front of your studio monitors in a treated space is the most preferable way to mix in my opinion, and probably the best way overall, you can most definitely get great-sounding mixes from a good pair of headphones.
All it takes is a bit of practice, and understanding of how mixing with headphones works + implementing a few important things…
The head gear...
Firstly… You need a good pair of headphones. Kinda goes without saying, but you really want to stay away from commercial headphones with the ‘smile’ EQ built in, as this can badly affect your mixing decisions.
I would recommend doing a good bit of research on these to find the best option for the money you’re willing to spend. Pay close attention to the flatness of the overall frequency curve, but also to how much bass representation the headphones have. The last thing you want is to be mixing on headphones that don’t represent the breadth of your sub range.
It can be quite misleading at times when looking at prices on headphones, as there are a fair few headphones in the expensive bracket that would be an awful choice to mix on. They’re great to enjoy listening to music on, but not to craft it!
Going back to the term I mentioned earlier, this is because of the ‘smile’ EQ companies will employ, which makes music sound sweeter in the highs and deeper in the lows.
You don’t have to spend the earth on a good pair of mixing headphones, just be sure to check they’re geared towards music professionals, and open-back. Closed-back is best reserved for tracking or FOH monitoring.
Get listening!
The next step to learning how to master mixing with headphones is to listen to lots of music that you know and trust on the headphones.
This way you can learn the quirks and response of your headphones, and hear how well-produced records sound through them.
Perhaps the cans have a slight boost in the upper mid range, or dip in the lower mids? This knowledge can help you make more informed decisions when you’re mixing, as you’ll make the conscious decision not to over compensate in your EQ decisions or levelling.
A great trick I use to familiarise myself with a new pair of headphones is to either do an A/B between my main speaker monitors, or an old well-known pair of headphones, and the new headphones.
I might loop a small section of full-spectrum, well-produced music, and quickly switch back and forth.
I’m listening out for the subtle differences in the EQ curves. If you have an old, trusted pair of headphones that maybe you’re upgrading from or adding to, I would recommend doing this procedure with them, as speaker to ear ratio from room monitors compared to headphone cups can slightly complicate the analysis.
References
Using references when mixing is a highly recommendable practice, but when it comes to exclusively mixing with headphones, I would say it’s crucial.
When I’ve got a mix to a good place on headphones, I like to A/B very often with similar sounding records. This allows me to make informed EQ and compression decisions that I know will stand up in the majority – if not all, listening situations.
Levels
Watch your levels on headphones! It’s very easy to crank your cans up too much without realising, and before you know it, you’ve got hearing fatigue, and will need to have a break earlier than planned.
Even worse, you might be running the risk of temporary hearing damage! And we know that that’s a slippery road to eventual permanent hearing damage…
Anyway, assuming you’re not daft enough to be nearing that calamity, monitering too loud in general is a bad practice, as the highs and lows get accentuated at louder volumes. That’s part of the reason music sounds so much better louder.
Practice
Other than what I’ve mentioned, the general practice of checking your mix in multiple places (car, portable speaker, phone etc…) is essential when mixing with headphones exclusively.
You might be a bit dejected at the results of your efforts at first but… Practice!
Exclusive headphone mixing takes practice to get it right just like mixing itself, and just about any other skill there is.
In time, you can be making mixes that match the quality of your studio mixes. All done from the comfort of a hut overlooking a sunny beach somewhere tropical!!
So I personally think the answer is yes to the articles question, but don’t skimp on the process when trying to tread this path!
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