12 Apr
2010
12 Apr
'10
9:40 p.m.
On 12 April 2010 at 16:25, Ken Restivo <ken(a)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, ...
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.
--
Kevin