[LAU] OT: Ultrasone 750 headphones?

Ken Restivo ken at restivo.org
Tue Apr 13 01:16:56 EDT 2010


On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 04:40:09PM -0700, Kevin Cosgrove wrote:
> 
> On 12 April 2010 at 16:25, Ken Restivo <ken at restivo.org> wrote:
> 
> > Is anyone using the Ultrasone Pro 750 headphones for mixing or
> > mastering?
> 
> Headphones, yes.  Really, really good headphones, yes.  Ultrasone
> headphones, no.  But, ...

Which models do you use and like?

> 
> > Supposedly, they have made use of a simple psychoacoustic trick
> > (off-center drivers) to make the listening experience more like
> > sitting in front of near-field monitors. Some folks I know
> > have them and have told me that they are more than good enough
> > for mixing and mastering-- even better in fact than monitors
> > if your room isn't perfectly dead, since you won't have room
> > modes on headphones. However, I want to ask on this list, since
> > there are so many here who are not only knowledgeable, but are
> > engineers and open-source enthusiasts, and thus tend to be very
> > good at debunking hype.
> 
> I've tried mixing on headphones, especially while the family
> is asleep.  I've found that to be useful to get my mix pretty
> close to good for imaging, effects, and blend.  The caution is
> that "pretty close" means that a lot can change regarding how
> the low frequency content fits into the mix.  You'll notice that
> I left out compressors in my list of things that work well in
> headphones.  For me, that's because my compression primarily goes
> on my drums, which have a lot of low end content.  If you're
> mixing violin, vocals, and piccolos, then you might find a
> headphone mix satisfactory.  I've tried for years (like 15 years)
> to approximate getting my low end mixes right.  The only time
> I've had success is when my listening environment was set up for
> something reasonably accurate at the low end.  Headphones never
> came close.
> 
> My bottom line is: watch out for being fooled by headphones if
> there are low frequencies in your mix.  Other than that, they're
> OK.
> 
> 

Yeah, that's a problem. I need to *feel* the bass, and *feel* the kick. For funk music especially, it's a full-body experience, and doesn't work in headphones.

That said, 3 years ago when I was posting all those hours and hours of made-with-Linux music, I did all my mixes on headphones-- in-ear monitors to be exact.  But I'd also check them again on my stereo during the day to make sure the bass balance was good.

-ken


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