Producing. Small Monitors Vs. Headphones

[jedkleb]

Yo yo,
I've been producing for a while now. I normally work in my friend's studio which is easy and cheap, but he has moved out of town and his studio is a goner. I know for sure that I am going to be taking music seriously for the next few years, and a long term investment is necessary. On the contrary, I live in a new york city apartment, with neighbors who apparently are not fans of the bass :/. I need to be able to truly hear the real mixdown as I will be sending my tunes directly from my laptop to mastering.
I produce dubstep, bigroom house, and electro.
Am i better off investing in a pair of Sennheiser Hd-25's? Or a small set of monitor's? Some small KRK's maybe?
Whatcha think?
J

[Maxted]

I have KRK RP5 G2s, i also have a neighbour that is a cunt.

During the day time and when working on parts of tracks or mixing i usually use my monitors, at quite a bit of volume they aren't too bad (if your room accoustics aren't awful), the KRKs make things sound pleasent, but not nessecarily flat.

For a proper mixdown and tweaking sounds a bit more directly i use my AIAIAI TMA-1's, again they aren't exactly flat, but i find i get a good idea of the sound referencing them against the KRKs.

When i pull stuff from home to the proper studio (Genelec 1037C's and matching subs) it tends to be quite close to what i was hearing at home through the phones.

Headphones will be fine for just getting your levels balanced enough for the M.E to be able to know what you want from the track, the fine tuning and accurate monitoring is their job.

[Xonetacular]

Your'e going to want both probably and check between the two but it doesn't sound like either will be ideal. If you need to hear the real mixdown headphones won't give you a proper stereo image. I would also look at Yamaha HS series or better monitors over the KRKs.

[Conall]

You really want to avoid doing final mixdowns through headphones

[sobi]

Trade secret - car stereos have been being used as final checks on mixes for years.

[Conall]

Trade secret - car stereos have been being used as final checks on mixes for years.

As final checks. Many mastering engineers are using Ipod headphones aswell.

[sparkbro]

As final checks. Many mastering engineers are using Ipod headphones aswell.

I heard that they just use their computer speakers?

[warrenpaul]

I have pioneer hdj 500s and there perfect for producing to be honest!

[sobi]

As final checks. Many mastering engineers are using Ipod headphones aswell.

not arguing the fact that it happens, but I still think the best way is in a car. Closest thing to a club system... which is where most of us want our music played at the end of the day.

[Xonetacular]

I'm not sure how checking mixes is relevant to OPs question- he's asking about for doing actual mixing in his apartment not final checks.