Headphones

[Acsii]

It's still good to have headphones for reference specific tracks

[Nine Volt]

I'm getting headphones because I live in a place where I can't use monitors.

[cplbradley]

I personally don't see why people need to spend so much money on their headphones. It's not like the more you spend, the better your mixing quality or something. I currently am using a pair Sony MDR-XB600's that I got as a christmas present from my dad. They were like $90 or something, not that much. While it's true that having some quality headphones can help you get more specific and hear a wider variety of frequencies and stuff while mixing, 90% of it comes from the user's skill and talent, not their gear.

So basically my advice is not to spend too much time and money on your headphones. Use some of that money to buy some new controllers or toys or something. A while ago, I was saving up a shitload of money for a pair of headphones as well. I had about 300 bucks saved up. I was about to spend that much on a pair of headphones, but then after a conversation with my dad (who used to work in a recording studio) I decided to go with a 70 dollar pair of headphones, and used the rest of the money to buy a set of turntables and a new MIDI controller.
Best decision I've ever made. I still use that controller and those turntables every single day and have never been happier with a purchase

[S.P.P]

cplbradley is best advice.

Get a pair of Sennheiser HD205's for £49.99 (~100USD?) and use your knowledge to mix well. If your track sounds good though the Sennheisers, your PC/laptop speakers and a pair of crappy Apple earbuds, then you're in business!

[itroitnyah]

Advice

As much as I agree with you (I too, use $100 headphones), it is important to have good quality equipment. Now, I'm not going to preach on and on about how "it'll make your mixing a whole ton better" and everything, because as you've said, that all depends on the user's ability to mix and master well. However, having good audio equipment will help with allowing the user to notice more flaws and imperfections within his mix, as well as hear the tiny changes he's making to his mix. For example, when you started out making music and discovered the compressor, you most likely couldn't tell what it did unless you really cranked it up, but as you used the compressor more and more, you slowly began to hear what the compressor did without applying so much compression. It's comparable to that. To add on, I've heard time and time again from reviews on audio equipment and other people that when they get a good upgrade to their audio equipment, they're amazed at how much more they can hear in their mix.

So to sum it up:

Benefits of getting better audio equipment: (headphones in this case)
> Allows you to hear things in better quality
> Makes flaws and mistakes in mixing, mastering, and even composition easier to hear
> You can hear more in the mix and better listen to what's going on
> Better hear changes that you're making in your mix

Benefits of getting other studio equipment: (turntables, synths, mic, etc)
> Unlocks new possibilities in live recording, live dj sets, sound design, composition, etc...

Both are really good and have great benefits, so both would be very worthwhile to invest in. However, it's 9V's buying decision, so what he goes with is what he wants, and everything else will have to wait until he gets some more money.

[the4thImpulse]

Its not a bad idea to buy focus on skills and saving your money for the future or multiple cheaper devices and equipment.

BUT

There will be a time (sooner than later) when you will buy those $300 headphones and then your $100 headphones will be a waste. Get the best you can and grow into them, it takes time to learn and adapt the sound of headphones and monitors and its one thing you shouldn't upgrade every year. There will always be more money, more sales, more opportunities for everything else.

[vladnuke]

Shure SRH840
These cans have served me well for a year, these are quality goddamn headphones.
44 ohms of impedence
5 Hz - 25 kHz frequency response
Comfy

Best of all?

$200

Yeah these things are fucking great. They aren't extreme highschool-level audiophile super pooper $1000 things (what has changed by that point?), but they're great and shit on some pricier gear.

Go get these.

[Freewave]

You guys ever hear the suggestion that you should try to listen to your music from different equiptment to truly get it to sound best? What this means is that 9v really need THREE pairs of $300 headphones to make good music. Otherwise he'll have a $300 pair of headphones that MAY have a blindspot for a particular frequency. Hopefully he has enough suggestions if here by now to pick those out.

[itroitnyah]

Which is why having studio monitors as well as headphones is nice. I mean, cmon. 3 pairs of headphones? You may want 2 at the most, since two pairs of headphones won't have the same blindspot frequencies unless they're made from the same company

[Freewave]

Clearly he needs at least 3 if he wants to truly be seen as a professional. My audience all use different branded $300 headphones to listen to my music and its only fair that i own all those same headphones to meet their eq'ing demands.

[itroitnyah]

Hm. Ok, I guess I better go out and buy every mainstream brand of headphones an every popular price increment so that I can meet the demands of all my listeners

[Freewave]

Hm. Ok, I guess I better go out and buy every mainstream brand of headphones an every popular price increment so that I can meet the demands of all my listeners

It's really the only way IF you're serious about music.

I'm sorry if I'm overloading the sarcasm but there have been plenty of good recommendations in this thread by now. It all comes down to a personal preference for 9V once he's narrowed down his options and can likely take a few of the recommended for a test drive. Just a bit of humor on how this can become overkill and how you can go down the road of throwing your wallet at something that 99.5% of your audience aren't using themselves.

[itroitnyah]

Well, you can really get by with just buying a good expensive pair of headphones and either a set of studio monitors or another set of expensive headphones (although those are just for luxury, you don't even need them if you can't afford them. Better one set of $300 headphones than two sets of $150), and then a cheap every-day-consumer-grade style of speakers or headphones/earbuds. If you went ahead and bought every mainstream brand of headphones, speakers and earbuds at every popular price increment or so, that'd just be way overkill, and completely unnecessary. More a waste of time and money than anything, because in reality you'd only end up using maybe one set of heaphones and one set of earbuds and one set of speakers to test out the track on.

[Freewave]

Sorry there was a level of sarcasm involved with my response itroitnyah, thought you got that.

[Wisp]

Hehe, all you fancy people. I usually just use some 25$ sony earbuds. I have some 60$ headphones that I use when I do serious music work (since they are pretty high quality), but nothing special. This thread makes me feel like I should go buy some better headphones xD

[Nine Volt]

Ohgodearbudsforproductionwhy

[Bronies Are Cool]

I use $20 Nakamichi headphones. They are actually good (considering the price). They don't reduce noise, but the low end noises are pretty clear and they get pretty dang loud withou sounding fuzzy. I like them for the price, and I can take them to work and get them dirty and care less about if they are dirty or not because thy are so dang cheap.

[itroitnyah]

I use $20 Nakamichi headphones. They are actually good (considering the price). They don't reduce noise, but the low end noises are pretty clear and they get pretty dang loud withou sounding fuzzy. I like them for the price, and I can take them to work and get them dirty and care less about if they are dirty or not because thy are so dang cheap.

I haven't been able to use cheap headphones or earbuds for a very long time. The high end sounds more and more like clashing white noise as there isn't much of a bass. I wonder how long it's going to be after I get my studio monitors (ordering at my next paycheck) that I start to try not to use my $100 sennheisers because I don't like their lower sound quality anymore, lol.

[Freewave]

Hehe, all you fancy people. I usually just use some 25$ sony earbuds. I have some 60$ headphones that I use when I do serious music work (since they are pretty high quality), but nothing special. This thread makes me feel like I should go buy some better headphones xD

Despite any jests, I think it's important not to dismiss the importance of good heaphones for mixing. They aren't the ones you'd want to take out on the go walking the dog or riding the bus (and those will be still beneficial listening to your music to compare if it sounds different on different equiptment). Whether you have to spend $300 (or up) on them to make music i'm not sure i agree with as there's quite likely cheaper alternatives to where the improvements don't justify the price. I will say that when you improve your headphones they should likely make the sound on your prior ones sound inferior. Just keep in mind that if you're sending your tracks into rainbow & rooted the judges MAY be listening to them with $300 headphones and see things you might not, while the eventual listeners (your real audience) will be listening to them on $20 ear buds and not care about half the criticisms that they might have. That's just how it is....

[GCKrastin]

I've been using Sennheiser HD 429's since Christmas.

They're about $80 on Amazon and they're great. Prior to that I was using my Logitech G330 gaming headset which doesn't play anything lower than about 50 or 60 Hz, but these go down to 20 I believe. They are designed for portable media, especially iPods and whatnot, so they aren't terribly loud or powerful due to their low power requirement, but they work fine for me. In a couple years it's possible I'll need something better, but for now, these are great.

[Nine Volt]

I've been using Sennheiser HD 429's since Christmas.

They're about $80 on Amazon and they're great. Prior to that I was using my Logitech G330 gaming headset which doesn't play anything lower than about 50 or 60 Hz, but these go down to 20 I believe. They are designed for portable media, especially iPods and whatnot, so they aren't terribly loud or powerful due to their low power requirement, but they work fine for me. In a couple years it's possible I'll need something better, but for now, these are great.

Thanks for the info, but as has been said I'm not looking for casual listening headphones. I'm looking for high quality (for bedroom production) headphones with a budget of around 300-350

[Dabrenn]

You could use this article for reference, I think its primarily geared towards music listening rather than production, but It has quite a few pairs in that price range that you can consider and I think its overall a respectable source.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide

[Fimbulin]

http://www.audiotechnicashop.com/index. ... b2Fz_mkphk

k heres the best a bit expensiv but cheap if you kno how to torrint it.

On a more serious note consider these:
http://www.audiotechnicashop.com/index. ... b2G2vmkphk

[Nine Volt]

Not yet. I'm debating between getting one of two things (headphones and something else, that is)

[Alycs]

Hey, Nine Volt, I don't know if you have Amazon Prime, but I just wanted to tell you that the Quincy Jones AKG Q701's are on a GIANT sale. (Normally $480, currently $248)

http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Signature-Ref ... 863&sr=1-4

I was reading the reviews on head-fi and they were saying that these are seriously the perfect studio headphones