Whether you never mix on headphones, or whether you do it all the time, it's good to know what headphones can offer, and how they affect your work.
While sometimes seem inferior, headphones can be very useful in the home studio.
Today we will go over the main benefits and downsides of mixing on headphones.
Let's start with the positive qualities.
No Outside Noise When you put on your headphones, even if they aren't super isolating, you get rid of most of the outside noise. You have a quiet mixing environment, and you're able to concentrate and hear your mix better, without having to crank the volume level up.
No Room Reflections If you're working in a home studio, your room probably has some acoustic issues, even if it's treated. Mixing on headphones eliminates this problem completely, simply because the sound goes directly to your ears without any reflections from the room. It can help you get a more "transparent" view on your mixes and make them translate better outside your studio.
Detailed Sound Since headphones sit right on your ears, it's much easier to listen closely and hear the fine details of your mix. Reverb tails, mic bleed, bad editing, sibilance, etc. Headphones are great for taking care of these subtle parts of your mix.
Consistent Sound No matter where you choose to mix, if you mix on the same headphones, you'll have the same sound. This point is more important than it seems. Why? Because it means you can get to know your headphones better, wherever you may mix. And the better you know your headphones (or any mixing system), the better sounding mixes you deliver.
Mobility Obviously, headphones are much more mobile than studio monitors. Why is this relevant? Take your headphones out with you, and you can learn them anywhere, even when you're not mixing, just by listening to great music. Take your laptop with you as well, and you can mix anywhere you want, with the same sound you're familiar with.
So headphones are quiet, mobile, and have a nice consistent sound, but they have their downsides too.
Let's take a look at the negative side.
Ear Fatigue Headphones are much more ear fatiguing than monitors, since the speakers are right on your ears. This makes it hard for us to mix for a long period of time, and also makes us lose track and perspective on what sounds good and what doesn't.
Everything Sounds Good Another problem with headphones is that we can sometimes get an impression that everything in our mix sounds good, when it's not really the case. When listening on headphones, everything sounds punchy, energetic, and in your face, the stereo field is exaggerated, and you can hear every instrument clearly. But when you listen back on studio monitors, suddenly the mix lacks punch and clarity, and might even fall apart. That's why it's very important to know your headphones, so you're able to hear the problems of your mix, and know how the final mix should sound like.
Loudness Sensitivity From my experience, I've noticed that headphones are more sensitive to the false hyped sound that's perceived by our ears in high volumes. Every a slight volume change affects the amount of low and high frequencies that our ears perceive. If we don't watch our volume level and keep it consistent, we might get a false image on how our mix sounds, or how plugins affect the tracks.
Misleading Volume Balance Sometimes using headphones might make it hard for you to find the right volume balance for your tracks. The volume might be too loud, the extreme stereo field might throw you off, and when you check your mix on monitors the levels are not as balanced as you thought they were. Personally I like to set the volume balance of my mix when using studio monitors. But if you don't a pair of monitors, you can simply turn your headphones volume way down, and it will help you hear the volume balance of your mix more accurately.
Small Speakers Headphones have smaller speakers than studio monitors, along with smaller enclosures. This may create somewhat of an unnatural bass response, which might make it harder to get the bass frequencies in our mix to sound just right.
So studio headphones have some drawbacks as well, let's see how can we minimize them.
There are several things you can do to bypass the problems that might happen while mixing on headphones, and still enjoy the benefits they offer.
Mix in low volumes and take frequent short brakes to avoid ear fatigue and hyped sounds.
Mix in mono to make sure you're not being fooled by the extreme stereo field.
Use reference tracks to learn your headphones and keep a fresh perspective on your mix.
Do you mix on headphones?
Share your experience in the comments bellow!
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