Mixing with headphones is, without any doubts, becoming more popular every day. The truth s that since music-production equipment is becoming more portable. So, it makes perfect sense that you are trying to do some mixing with headphones.
Take a look at the top headphones for 2019.
Even though mixing with headphones is possible, the reality is that it still stays well behind an acoustically treated room. Nevertheless, if you are looking to try some mixing with headphones, you should go ahead. However, make sure to read these tips first to ensure that you get the best of your mixing with headphones.
#1: Protect Your Ears:
One of the main differences between mixing with headphones and using studio monitors is that you can suffer from hearing damage in case you’re not careful. The truth is that you’ll have them much closer to your ears and we have to say that the entire mixing process can be very immersive. So, you should make sure that you make frequent breaks to ensure that you prevent hearing fatigue.
Discover the best studio recording and producing headphones.
#2: Choose The Right Gear:
As you probably already know, there is a wide variety of headphones on the market and each one of them has its own purpose. So, when you are looking to mixing with headphones, you need to ensure that you have the right set of headphones.
One of the most important aspects to consider in a set of headphones for mixing purposes is that the frequency response is as flat as possible. This way, your mixes will be different depending on the playback system that you’re using.
Another crucial aspect is related to the type of headphone. As you already know, you have open back, semi-open, and closed headphones on the market. When you are looking to mixing with headphones, you need to understand that both semi-open and open headphones tend to have a flatter frequency response. Yet, since open headphones allow bleeding, they just can’t be used as headphones for mixing.
Last but not least, you should try to buy studio monitors and headphones that are made by the same manufacturer. This ensures that they are compatible.
Looking for the best bass headphones?
#3: Learn To Use Your Gear Properly:
When you are mixing with headphones, you want to ensure that you are able to produce a good sound in different playback systems. However, this may be a bit difficult when you are using headphones.
So, to ensure that you are able to reach your goal, you should keep in hand some reference tracks that you know well.
#4: Learn To Manage Your Expectations:
When you are looking for mixing with headphones, you need to understand that using headphones has advantages but also disadvantages.
The reality is that headphones may be perfect to fix some problems such as clicks, pops, and distortions. They can also be helpful in terms of compression on individual tracks. However, when you are using headphones, you may have some problems in terms of the tone-shaping process such as reverb and equalization.
