producing on headphones (any Audio Technica ATH M50 owners?)
I’ve been producing for around a year now, and I need some good equipment to produce on (audio-wise), and since I don’t have an acoustically treated room, I figure headphones are the best route.
I have looked around at various different pairs and obviously require a flat frequency response so that I can hear the different freqs and sounds accurately.
Everywhere has recommended the Audio Technica ATH M50s for production and mixing, does anyone have any experience with these, and have they helped your productions?
For the record, I will be purchasing M-Audio BX8 monitors for DJing, so they would provide a second form of reference, after mixing has been completed on my headphones..
m50s are great little sturdy headphones, comfy as hell, and have this immense cable that permits you to basically walk around your house without having to unplug them.
I haven’t used them for productions at my studio, but i used them in several friends’ homestudios which were not acoustically treated, so same problem as yours. They are very balanced, but i wouldn’t use them for djing since i love to have a thumping bass telling me where the kick actually is when i’m mixing
ahhh that’s quite good then, I just need a pair as balanced as possible!
I keep convincing myeslf I need headphones, but then I keep wondering if it’s worth it to use monitors in an untreated room? Some say that’s the worst idea possible, but I’ve watched “producers houses” on Youtube and there are a few pros that don’t appear to use any acoustic treatment?!
Some don’t appear because their rooms needed minimal treatment in the first place, but in almost any situation you’ll see at least some wall panels mounted on the sides to prevent first reflections.
Sure, you can go the monitor route, but
it’ll be expensive, at least more expensive than headphones
2)If you are not planning on treating the room in any way, it will be a hit-and-miss thing, might sound good, might sound like vomit
3)they will take up much space, wires will be cluttered, and to achieve the level of detail some sub300$ cans can master, you must go way up high the price scale (yeah, monitors will give you a better stereo image, but ONLY if they sound good in a room, if the room has too many nodes and phase inconsitencies freq.'s will cancel out and you will have.. crap )
Also, remember that most “pro” producers sketch their stuff up at home, then take it to a professional studio to finish it up, mix it, and in the end master it. But studios cost to rent, and as a fella home studio owner and producer i know sometimes money can be a problem.
I gotta be honest with you, i just made the switch from mixing on cans to studio monitors and after an initial feeling out process, i just cant use my headphones anymore. Its literally night and day. My room isnt acoustically treated either but its mostly the depth perception more than anything else that i was having a hard time with using headphones. Everything is “right there” next to your ears and its hard to make out details sometimes. With the monitors i get a much more accurate sense of where everything is in the mix, not to mention it saves u on ear fatigue.
That being said, you can def still do good mixes on cans. I’ve played my tracks mixed with headphones on regular speakers and they still sound fine. I would also say that saying studio monitors are a waste just because you dont have a treated room is nonsense as well. Of course we would all like to have the perfect studio set up, but i think first and foremost it comes down to a well trained pair of ears, what equipment you are using is largely fine details, if we are taking quality headphones vs. quality speakers.
Get some studio monitors that allow you to adjust the low frequency roll off and highs. This will allow you to compensate for an untreated room, although a treated room is ideal, it’s not necessary to get you started. I would take mixing on monitors over headphones any day. Although I do like to use both for mixing down.
Also think about the akg k701/2. They have by far the best soundstage in that price bracket, but are not as impactful in the low frequencies (they are detailed as fu** however, and punchy, too)
Also think about the akg k701/2. They have by far the best soundstage in that price bracket, but are not as impactful in the low frequencies (they are detailed as fu** however, and punchy, too)
Also, it’s true i may have been a little too dramatic with monitors. Fact is, that good cans will sound good pretty much everywhere, while you can buy $7000 genelecs and still end up with an uncontrolled, definitely not balanced sound.
Well guys, I will be purchasing either KRK Rokkit 5s or M-Audio BX8s for my DJ setup, so will have a secondary form of reference after/during mixing with cans, but will not focus entirely on either, rather finding a balance (then obviously testing on every other sound source possible).
You’re saying the AKG K701s are more detailed accross the board? I’m torn between those and the ATH M50s, I guess either will serve their purpose well, I’d just have to get used to them
The m50s will be definitely more prominent in the bass department.
HOWEVER
The 701s are a whole other class of headphones, that will blow the m50s out of the water in almost all aspects (of course, except bass quantity)
Worry not tho, bass extension is phenomenal on the 701/2, as is its punchiness.
Just remember you won’t be able to use them for djing, since their open back basically lets in all the sound around you.
Oh yeah, did i mention that they’re by far the comfiest cans you can buy for less than $1k?
p.s.: what’s your source of sound? what interface will you be using? Because plugging in the 701s into your integrated soundcard will not be an option, their impedence will make them quiet as hell.
My source of sound would be my laptop’s in-built Soundcard.. I wouldn’t use these for DJing in a million years, I’ll have my Sennheiser HD 25 ii for that ha.
I literally just need them for sitting in my “studio” (bedroom..) in front of my laptop and Ableton Suite haha! So I won’t be using these with ipod or phone etc!
Ok, so around what price are you willing to spend for the amp? Amplification can bring out qualities of cans or can also dull them down. for the 701s you would be looking at something that gives a little more warmth since the cans are so analytical themselves
Get them here, they even have a refurb, “b-stock” option that is around 150gbp. That would leave you with a little more headroom for the amp.
Then i’d get a reasonably cheap audio interface, such as this, instead of an amp. Mainly because you will be producing so a dedicated soundcard with asio drivers will lead to lower latency
Okay, so that’s an awesome price on the headphones, thanks..
I’m just a little confused as to what the difference between an amp and one of these audio interfaces is? I have Asio driver on my laptop if that counts for anything (nooby Q I know..)
Okay, so that’s an awesome price on the headphones, thanks..
I’m just a little confused as to what the difference between an amp and one of these audio interfaces is? I have Asio driver on my laptop if that counts for anything (nooby Q I know..)
No probs, maybe it will take a while because they ship from germany, but it’ll be not that big of a wait.
Now, these interfaces basically have amps inside them. They also have inputs and other outputs, so you can connect more professional cable connectors on them, TRS and XLR. The thing is, usually these devices have drivers that have been specifically written for the chipset/DAC inside the interface. Doing so guarantees lower latency and less crashes because the driver doesn’t have to scale and remodel itself in real time to the chipset on your integrated soundcard.
You’re probably using ASIO4ALL, which does a mighty good job at coping with various different chipset by many manufacturers (realtek, via, etc etc), and can usually keep the latency at a very low level.
Now i personally care about low latency, since i’m also a pianist and i practice on my midi keyboard, and i hate when there’s delay between when i press a key and the sound actually comes out of the speakers, but i know of many producers that don’t care about latency at all, since they don’t play live.
A dedicated soundcard will usually also improve your sound quality and signal-to-noise ratio when compared to an integrated solution
The thing is, a good amp and a good sound card in this price bracket (in this case, for example, the m-track by maudio and the fiio e12) have comparable DACs and sound quality, and comparable power outputs when it comes to headphone outs. So choosing between one and another is dictated mainly by the use you’re going to make of it.
Since you’re producing you might consider that, in a year or so, you could need to record some live voice, or samples, or an instrument, so i’d personally go the interface route.
However, if you don’t feel that way yourself, take a look around ebay with the search term “headphone amp”, you’ll find tons of chinese-made great little amps
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