Mixing in headphones

[Schalenberg]

Second post in the same day! BOOM! Due to neighbors and late night cravings, I've found myself mixing through my headphones. I really dig it. Can't seem to find a good position for my rokits, so the music kinda sounds off to me in my apartment. Basically what I'm trying to get at is this: is mixing within headphones a bad habit? The sound just seems to good to be true.

[DeanOakley]

Not at all. Some of the bigger DJs are starting to do this out now, I saw Shadow Child at the weekend and he uses in ear monitors, 1. to protect his hearing and 2. he says that he prefers it.

I've tried with my DJM-800 but I can't get the hang of it as I find that when I press the CUE button, the signal coming in is a lot louder than the rest of the audio so I end up deafening myself anyway.

So instead I just mix in the headphones with both CUE buttons on and not worry about the master signal...

[Schalenberg]

Not at all. Some of the bigger DJs are starting to do this out now, I saw Shadow Child at the weekend and he uses in ear monitors, 1. to protect his hearing and 2. he says that he prefers it.

I've tried with my DJM-800 but I can't get the hang of it as I find that when I press the CUE button, the signal coming in is a lot louder than the rest of the audio so I end up deafening myself anyway.

So instead I just mix in the headphones with both CUE buttons on and not worry about the master signal...

Thanks for the reply, Dean. I find myself doing the same thing. Honestly, I like controlling everything with knobs (gain, highs, mids, lows - DUH). Every now and then, I seem to cut too hard in a transition. With the headphones on, I don't make this mistake. Could be all in my head though. I use a DB2, so I wish I could hear fx/filters through the headphones. Otherwise, it's fun and gives me a chance to play more without worrying about neighbors complaining.

[DeanOakley]

Well on the DJM's you have the master cue, just below the balance knob. Once you hit that you can then select whether or not to hear the cue, mixing or master. That's what I've been trying to do but like I said, I've found once you hit the CUE button on the channel it's a lot louder than the master output through the headphones.

You can see what I mean here:

http://www.westenddj.co.uk/product.asp?mod=DJM800

I'm sure other manufacturers have this feature.

[Kwal]

Your blends will usually sound a tad bit better in your headphones

[Schalenberg]

Your blends will usually sound a tad bit better in your headphones

They definitely do. My speaker situation is driving me bananas. Need to get that expedit, but don't want to drive 2 hours to get to ikea.

[Kwal]

They definitely do. My speaker situation is driving me bananas. Need to get that expedit, but don't want to drive 2 hours to get to ikea.

What's your situation? Why can't you get your monitors setup?

[Schalenberg]

My current desk only fits my CDJs and mixer. The speakers stay on the bottom. When I play though, I take the dinner table chairs out, place them to the sides of my desk and mix like that. But the chairs only come up to about my waist. Sometimes, I'll let a track play and get on the floor to hear how nice it would sound if I had a decent spot for the speakers. Often times I drool.

[DjGil]

Thanks for the reply, Dean. I find myself doing the same thing. Honestly, I like controlling everything with knobs (gain, highs, mids, lows - DUH). Every now and then, I seem to cut too hard in a transition. With the headphones on, I don't make this mistake. Could be all in my head though. I use a DB2, so I wish I could hear fx/filters through the headphones. Otherwise, it's fun and gives me a chance to play more without worrying about neighbors complaining.

Hey man im running a 900x2 db2 setup and im 90% sure you can change the feed signal if you go under the menu under hp settings you can change the feed type to another setting other than clean with effect, ill have to check after work.

And for saying that its to loud when you cue isnt that what the cue/mix ratio knob is for?

[Schalenberg]

Hey man im running a 900x2 db2 setup and im 90% sure you can change the feed signal if you go under the menu under hp settings you can change the feed type to another setting other than clean with effect, ill have to check after work.

And for saying that its to loud when you cue isnt that what the cue/mix ratio knob is for?

Same setup here, Gil. Let me know if you figure it out. I'm at work, too.