Loopy Pro: Create music, your way.
What is Loopy Pro? — Loopy Pro is a powerful, flexible, and intuitive live looper, sampler, clip launcher and DAW for iPhone and iPad. At its core, it allows you to record and layer sounds in real-time to create complex musical arrangements. But it doesn’t stop there—Loopy Pro offers advanced tools to customize your workflow, build dynamic performance setups, and create a seamless connection between instruments, effects, and external gear.
Use it for live looping, sequencing, arranging, mixing, and much more. Whether you're a live performer, a producer, or just experimenting with sound, Loopy Pro helps you take control of your creative process.
Download on the App StoreLoopy Pro is your all-in-one musical toolkit. Try it for free today.
mixing headphones on the not quite pro level?
I have some nice Monster brand headphones that sound awesome, but when I mix with them my mixing come out heavy on bass and muddy. I think I need some flat frequency headphones. any recommendations? trying to stay around $100. any suggestions?
Comments
Here's a Sound on Sound article on the topic with headphone recommendations as well.
Mixing in headphones—rather, mixing accurately in headphones can be a challenge even with high-end headphones. For $100 you might be best served to look for a gently / slightly used pair. Ideally you want something with an open back design. That will help mitigate frequency buildup, and will be particularly helpful in making decisions regarding the lower frequencies of your mix. But keep in mind, open back headphones do very little in terms of isolation, and if you're trying to mix around other people or in a public place people around you will certainly hear what's going on inside those headphones. Open backs might be out of your budget, but like I said, you might be able to find a used pair in nice condition. As far as brands to look at within your budget, check out the lower-end Audio Technica, AKG, Sony and Sennheiser models on Sweetwater.com, where you'll find a bunch of reviews. Hope that helps!
I use sonarworks headphone correction but you need the plugin on your master so not possible on the iPad. I then have my room corrected using the same plugin and the supplied microphone. This means you can transition between monitors and headphones and the mix is the same.
Another thought if you're not ready to spend is to learn the headphones you have, so knowing that they have excessive bass you'd mix with less bass, etc.
As for headphones, I have sony 7506, and I have had that pair for 13 years now. I know them pretty well. There's a bunch of headphones in that same $100 price range and honestly, they're all good and everyone will have what they like and don't like. I hate the akg 240 for instance, yet know people who love them. The audio technica pair at that price are also supposed to be quite good.
At another price point, the focal spirit pro are supposed to be amazing for mixing, but they're $350, so not in my life at the moment.
yeah, I just bought the new waves nx plugin I use on my master for mixing. it's awesome. that's why I want some nice headphones to use with these.
Fair post.
yeah, I've been looking at akg as well
How do you feel about Sonarworks? Impressed? Recommendable? I've been on the fence about it.
This. 100 times this.
I have the Focal Spirit Pros. If they are possibly on your list, here is my personal experience with them. Excellent isolation, extremely detailed high-end, slightly scooped mids, and completely vacant low-end. However, none of that really matters because they are complete pieces of shit in terms of build quality. Mine broke 1 month after I purchased them new, and I take very good care of my equipment. They are terribly built, cheaply designed, and nowhere remotely close to a $350 product. Yeah, I'm still bitter about that purchase
Focal makes some of the best monitors around, but steer clear of those cans until they've got their shit together.
Grado SR80s.
Open-backed, very neutral, natural sound. Maybe shades a little analog/warm. HUGE bargain at $99. And made in Brooklyn.
http://www.gradolabs.com/headphones/prestige-series/item/1-sr80e
I enjoy using my Samson SR950s. Closed back, but they have an amazingly flat frequency response. Retail at $100, they're a steal at 50 bucks on Amazon:
https://smile.amazon.com/Samson-SR950-Professional-Reference-Headphones/dp/B00CBPJLFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468035377&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+sr950
I love my Sony MDR7510's, only just over $100 but is worth it. Bare in mind that it takes your ears/brain a while to adjust to new headphones if you have used same ones a long time
7506 are almost industry standard.
I like these, thanks for the length
link
I don't have the ability to play music out loud and have had to focus on mixing with headphones for a while now. After a few different pairs I arrived at the Sennheisser HD 380 Pro a few years ago and will stick with them.
The reason I went with them is it became clear that learning what you are hearing is huge, so getting to know your headphones is super important. SO I commited to one pair I can take everywhere to listen with. they are collapsible and come with a super sturdy case so I use them at work, on the train, at home, walking etc, constantly constantly. i am always stuffing the case in and out of a backpack jammed with sharp stuff. this case is hardy and the cans hold up to lots of opening and closing. plus they sound awesome for the price. really for 150$ i was super super impressed. I listen to a wide wide range of music styles which helps to get a sense for how these things really sound.
https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-380-Pro-Collapsible-Professional/dp/B001UE6I0G
I actualy own a really good pair of AKG K702 open back headphones which cost $380 but never use them. Mostly because they are big, bulky, awkward to transport, and being open back the sound spills out so I can't wear them in public and thus I have no time to get to know them.
cool thanks those sound pretty nice
I'm using an Akg K240 Mk II and I'm pretty happy with them. Although I have paired them with a Subpac S2.... The combination is sublime
I have the Sennheiser 280 Pros, which are right about your price. They have a nice clean sound, and are relatively flat, but I had to learn to compensate for their lack of bass. (I preferred my previous Audio-Technica ATH-M50's that unfortunately died an early death: the most comfortable pair of headphones I've ever used that sound fantastic). Also, another shout-out for Waves NX on the desktop. I'm in a situation where I can't use my monitors, but I've been very pleased with how well my mixes are transferring using the virtual mix room.
At approx $125 I personally prefer Audio Technica ATH-M50x. Sound On Sound review:
http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/audio-technica-ath-m50x
Whichever cans you end up choosing, I find that a good physical fit is just as important (if not more so) as sound, so I hghly recommend customising your final choices by replacing their original ear pads with better ones, e.g. Brainwavz (which I like):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MFDT894/
Cans can be such a personal choice, I hope you find ones which work out for you.
Maybe consider some in ear options as well. I find that in general the low end with cheaper in ears is better than with cheaper cans.
Sony mdr-7506
I read it is important to have open backed headphones for mixing. I got some semi open Audio Technicas for around $100. They don't color the sound.
And in summer they don't make your ears hot and sweating under the cups...
Regarding the Focal Spirit Pros, I'm happy with mine, the frequency response is very similar to the open-backed Sennheiser 650s that I also own, and I most certainly would not define the bottom end as vacant. But the main thing is that my mixes improved once I got them - checking my mixes on speakers always used to reveal problems before I got them, but now when I check on speakers the sound is much closer to what I hear in the cans.
I've tried mixing on a variety of headphones, and these are the ones that worked the best for me. Next closest are the Sennheiser HD25s that I use for casual walking-the-dog listening, again because I trust the frequency response (which is pretty similar to the Focal Spirit Pros and the higher end Sennheisers). Personally I could never mix on AKG headphones, they're just not my cup of tea.
Ultimately though, everyone has different preferences, the main thing is to get to know your headphones and to learn to work around their limitations. Everyone has different tastes and I really don't believe that there is any one "neutral" pair of cans or monitors, it's more a case of going with what works for you. Some people might prefer brighter cans because of their transient response, others warmer cans for their bass. YMMV.
The biggest problem I find with headphone mixing is that the immediacy of the sound is very flattering: things pumped into your ears sound pretty sweet. Mixing on speakers makes you work a bit harder, because it takes a little more work to get things to sound as good. And really "neutral" monitors are going to make you work even harder
Maybe that's why some people like to mix on the thin sounding AKG cans, because you have to work hard to make the music sound good, and that can translate well when played on other systems. The other thing I find difficult with headphone mixing is judging reverb tails, they always sound different on speakers.
I have Focal Spirit Pros too and think they're excellent cans for the money. I know a few people who've had issues with them breaking, but I haven't experienced that with mine either. I used to use 7506s for years, good cans for the price, but I always found the low end was hit or miss.
Personally I never really like open-backed cans, I miss that sense of external noise suppression, and often times they're still loud enough that they'd bother anyone working around me. Horses for courses though.
How accurate is this really? Always been interested in this setup but worried it won't really be accurate
the 2nd sentence gives the reason: experience
once to the cans and how they reproduce your personal reference tracks mixing works rather well
I'm on classic AKGs - K501, K601, K701(1st version) have a similiar sound character
they have a very precise and tight bass, but not much boom
if you have a fat bass while mixing a club tarck, it WILL burst the woofers... 100% certain
(in that domain they are not exactly fun, but you get the idea pretty fast what's ok)
it's less stress for ears and I use them constantly for bass playing - for their tight image
as these models aren't produced anymore, I get them via eBay and replace the sideparts
(which are a regular store item and interchangeable, 601 earpads fit on 501 cans)
cheers, Tom