You're Being Lied To! Headphone Calibration Is GOOD For Your Mixes

[@TheMixAcademy]

Donate ANY amount to my medical Go Fund Me campaign and I'll share instant access to a brand-new mixing course with included multitracks, start-to-finish tutorials, and more: gofund.me/ef8e8437

[@CaptainVelveeta]

Knowing your headphones and using reference tracks will always be your best bet.

[@davelordy]

I copied my Sonarworks HD650 curve to a ProQ3 curve, it actually sounded a little smoother, while making the same overall correction . . . . sorta' wonder why EQ makers don't include headphone curves in their presets.

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

fabfilter uses a different Q value you have to multiply by 1.41 if coming from autoeq for example, now i don't kjnow which sonarworks uses.

[@davelordy]

@@JohnSmith-pn2vl The Q factor is irrelevant if you are visually matching.

[@DavidDavis-FA-photog]

Being new to mixing for only a year, it took me months to figure this out to some extent. I have beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro Headphones using Nx Germano Studios New York along with TB Morphit. After discovering this method along with the new headphones I've been able to get more consistent mixes that translate a lot better.

[@TheMixAcademy]

That's awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing, David!

[@chaddonal4331]

3 letters: VSX

[@TheMixAcademy]

I have and use VSX towards the end of the mix as a reference but have you seen the frequency curve?

[@wcarballeira]

⁠@@TheMixAcademywhat you mean with frequency curve ? The vsx? I have the Sennheiser 660s m do you think buying the VSX is worth for me ?

[@komobabo]

I think using reference ID (I do sometimes) is a tool so you can check "How is this translating?". Here's the thing though... Unless you train your ears FIRST and understand how to listen objectively on mixes, it is all for naught. In the end you need to learn how to mix as is on whatever you are using before you alter it. These products are not for the novice because they don't have the training to understand what is even happening. Knowing how your monitors respond is one thing. It's a whole other beast to know YOUR ears. And the hands down most important thing; how you perceive audio.

[@Studio22mix]

Great idea to use a reference track with the filters like that, got to try that 👍🏼

[@TheMixAcademy]

It’s a big deal! I hope it helps!

[@daes5465]

One big Problem ist that your Headphones Dont mirror the Sound coming Out of your Monitors I Made a Mix on Headphones with a huge difference to my Monitors In the end i listend ob the Monitors and IT was way too Low volume Many frequencies were treated Not good IT was very muddy and one of the worst Mixes i Made I Had an hour Work to corre t IT and i was nervous If i can make IT Sound Like IT was in the Headphones So in the end on my Headphones everything IS more powerful So now i will adjust all Parameters on my Headphones to fit my Monitors as much AS possible Then i will Take a crossfade Plugin Just using the Crossfade to keep the adjustments of my audio Interface only simulating Monitors on the Headphones These Things IS Not a must have If you know the differences of your Headphones to the Monitors , but IT can make IT more easy to Mix on Headphones I want to do a Mix on the Headphones and finally i want to adjust fine Tuning on the Monitors Thats a decision you have to make one your own cause Workflow is different Setup is different and what you Like in a instrumental is different Genre is different You can also listen Back in different Locations , maybe you need to compromise your mixing on specific situations I dont know Headphones correction Plugins yet but i Hope IT will solve some issues

[@In_love_with_music]

Alright i did try use reference track along with sonarwork calibration..it sounded the 90% same mix...after i turned it off my sub was way to much but reference stayed still good

[@studiorat67]

I NOTICED THE CURVE DROPPED THE LOWS, AND LOW MIDS ARE UP HIGH END IS A LITTLE HARSH AND MIDS ARE BACK

[@afrikeyedmedia]

I mix on headphones predominantly. I think the correction works better on your hd650's because they're much closer to flat but on Samson SR850s I end up boosting the highs such that my mixes become really harsh so I just mix without SoundID now. But room emulations work well for me though like dearVR.

[@Wizardofvoz2]

None of this beautiful stuff matters in the end. The modern consumer is listening on pods, etc. We, music producers, spend so much time and effort worrying about our rooms and translation when, the average listener is not hearing anything below 100 or above 2. The hidden issue here is that the consumer is going to more and more eventually accept this lesser quality.

[@jorgefrias7889]

I use Sonarworks and Ghz Can Opener along with 660s and sometimes 6xx and they work great for me. Sometimes I bounce back to my monitors for perspective.

[@TheMixAcademy]

Nice!

[@WayneDawkinsThePartyMan]

Yes knowing your headphones is a good idea

[@SpacedOutDoonie]

So do you or anyone else recommend getting headphones/IEMs that are closely tuned to flat? And if you do recommend headphones/IEMs (for me specifically I want IEMs) which ones do you recommend/know of that have the closest flat graph? Edit: After a little research I found these are close to flat the "Etymotic" series "ER2SE, ER3SE, ER4SR" and the "ER2XR, ER3XR" has a bass boost.

[@SpacedOutDoonie]

Very nice thank you

[@Stormsurf001]

Sounds like a bunch of low mid were added with the curve. I'm using Sennheiser HD600's so this is near and dear to my heart. As of right now I don't mix using headphones due to this issue. Thanks

[@TheMixAcademy]

Thanks for watching! Have you checked the frequency response of your room? You might find that your room is lying to you more than the cans. You can still get the job done but it's important to know what your room (or cans) are giving you so you can make adjustments as necessary. Thanks again, man!

[@Stormsurf001]

@TheMixAcademy Good point. My next purchase is some room measuring software.

[@TheMixAcademy]

@@Stormsurf001 Great idea!

[@kevinakacoolbreeze]

Nice bro 😎

[@Jim-iw1yd]

Hornetplugins have a cheap but very good plugin for this called VHS (virtual headphones system)

[@TheMixAcademy]

Nice! Thanks for sharing, Jim!

[@mikerichardson2177]

If we use Something lije Seinna...do we leave it on or turn it off when mastering / doing final track???

[@TheMixAcademy]

Always turn it off. Thanks for watching!

[@Reverend11dMEOW]

Sonarworks has exactly zero Support clue!

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

i hate all corrections, but then i hate all eq's as well they all destroy the sound completely imo

[@stevenmiller9986]

Lost some high mids with the curve

[@MrAchris10]

Mids and high mids dropped

[@TheMixAcademy]

I should have shown the curve! Haha. It was a high pass/low cut filter to almost 100 hz, a low mid boost from 150-400 ish, a mid cut around 800 hz and a high mid cut around 3-5khz. Great ear!

[@MrAchris10]

@@TheMixAcademy Thanks for doing this video! I know I have come to realize how important room correction and headphone calibration is over the years.

[@JaayleeMusic]

Ok🎉

[@mikesparks3398]

I have a set of sennheiser hd 280 pro and a set of Sony 7506’s sonarworks gives me almost identical eq curve for both, and they sound nothing alike. so I just use my Yamaha hs 8s. Tried to contact sonarworks but they never responded

[@TheMixAcademy]

Man… That’s a bummer! Have you tried the Realphones demo?? 👀

[@mikesparks3398]

@@TheMixAcademy no sir

[@glyph6757]

Who knows what your audience will be listening on? If they're listening on headphones too then maybe your naive headphone mix will be perfect for them, and your mix on "neutral" monitors will sound bad for them.

[@TheMixAcademy]

The goal is to achieve a mix that translates and sounds great everywhere. I check my mixes on multiple systems and make tweaks as necessary. The most important thing is to learn what your main source is giving you which I believe can be done with headphones or monitors. Thanks for watching!

[@jorvten360]

You are wrong, that’s not how it’s working, this is missleading! We calibrate all our headphones and iems for mixing to the harman curve, this is what the pros doing and using planars only for their detailed resolution!, and a bleeding tool for left and right like can opener . This method your are telling here does not work at all, none of your mixes will translate on other systems. Try it out, thank me later!

[@DavidGlennKulpJr]

What specifically was wrong?

[@Randuski]

this is absolutely not true. the harman curve was found, by testing people's preferences when it comes to enjoying the sound of headphones. which is why a lot of headphones have a curve similar to that. which means they're boosting the lows, and the highs, to make professional mixes sound more ideal, according to general listeners preferences. if a mixer mixed their music according to that curve, then the harman curve would be baked into the mix, and then a consumer would put on headphones which also boost those freqs, which would mean it would be pushed far beyond the harman curve. a mix should be balanced with reference to a flat drew response. then each consumer can use headphones that add a color that they like to music. the idea that mixers should use the harman curve is nonsense. that's asking for problems.

[@jorvten360]

When people without any experience giving advice is hilarious! I mixed records since 35 years for a living! Mixing on headphones vs real monitors is a huge difference. The flat response makes only sense on monitors in a room! not on headphones, your listening to the pure source without the room. The harman curve on the headphone let you immediately make the right decision how mixing your low end, which is the most difficult part, in modern music! @@Randuski

[@Randuski]

@@jorvten360 just because you have 35 years of experience does not mean that no one else has experience. also, as an example: countless mix engineers currently working on records are using software that corrects the frequency response of headphones. so by your own logic, experience has nothing to do with this. at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if your headphones are flat, or youre mixing using a shitty boombox. all that matters is you know what they sound like, and can mix a great record on it

[@jorvten360]

None of my colleagues are doing this when mixing with headphones, gold, platinum records, countless awards and huge constant streams in 100 of millions are saying a different story than your weak not working approach. Don not try to discuss this further with me here, it is useless. Time is money in our realm, traveling around the globe international, with touring artist and recording in different environments around the globe, these clients do not have the time waiting for you setting up back in your mixing studio with treated room and measured speakers in. This is what we do and we have adopted this method mixing on headphones into Perfektion.If you want a fast translation on every Soundsystem, we’ll do it as I have described. Do yourself a favor and try it out, and by the way I’m talking exclusively bass heavy modern music translating first on every on huge club systems worldwide exclusively. I doubt you have ever experienced such a club system like this in reality. If you dig deeper in your Internet bubble you’ll find more pro mixers talking about my approach here. @@Randuski

[@jellybean7253]

You'll never convince me. lol