Recently I finally got around finishing the mixes for John B’s Hair and the Trumpet Song. I was pretty surprised at the way they came out. I did the mixes a bit different this time. I mixed them using headphones. I always hear and do subscribe to the idea that you should avoid mixing with headphones. The key word here is avoid.
So what made this experience different from my other mixing experiences? Simple answer is I used a pair of AKG 240s headphones. Picked them up last month at Miki Gakki. They were on sale cause the new versions are out. Only set me back about a little over $100 or ¥12,000. I find that I really like the way they sound. I did compare them to the AKG 271s but found that that the 271 was weak on the low end and a little harsh in the highs. Also the 271 are closed back headphones. Over all I really liked the way they sound and they are so comfortable.
Due to my current living situation, I no longer have the luxury of having my Yamaha HS50 monitors setup all the time. Because of that I was forced to use the headphones. I was worried that they would translate terrible to the Yamaha monitors, but I was wrong. I was quite surprised that I had to make very little adjustments to the mixes when I did listen on the monitors.
The things that needed to be adjusted were in the mid hi range in both songs and the bass in Trumpet Song. The adjustments were very small. When I mixed using the AKG’s I was very conscious of keeping the listening levels at nice volume, in fact I even found that at times I would actually turn the volume down some. The only problem seems to be that these headphones are just a little bit bright in the mid hi range. I mean just a little bit. The problem with the bass in the Trumpet Song is more of a using an effect badly. I tried something that I thought might give the bass more presence on small speakers, but it turned out to sound awful when I heard it on the monitors. This problem is because I was in love with the idea I had and didn’t evaluate it thorough enough to determine if it was bad idea.
After I made the final adjustments using the monitors, I burned a cd and started to listen to the test mixes on different headphones and speakers. I have to say that it sounds good. I am really happy with it. The only concern I really have at the moment is the ride cymbal in the Trumpet Song. I’m never sure how I should mix the ride. I think because I am a drummer and have a background in jazz, I like to have a good dominant ride sound.
Here’s a couple of good articles on mixing with headphones and ways to compensate.
Also check out http://www.headphone.com/ for frequency analysis of many popular headphones.