How to calibrate your headphones for mixing and mastering

Подписаться 591

Просмотров 23 тыс.

50% 1

It would be wonderful if we all had perfectly treated rooms for our mixing and mastering needs. However, most of us don't have that luxury. In this video, I go through the journey of getting my headphones to a state where I could trust the sound so that I could mix and master with them.
You can follow Synaptic Schism in
Facebook: / synapticschism
Twitter: / synapticschism
Instagram: / synapticschism

Видеоклипы

Опубликовано:

30 июн 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 50

@No-to4kd 3 года назад

open back + sonarworks’ reference plugin = perfection

@YoungBlaze Год назад

I got the Yamaha hph 7 and they are really good for mixing

@JorgeEgrejasFrancisco Год назад

I believe this emphasizes that one can get used to specific ways (EQ shapes) of sound presentation and go into mixing&mastering on that basis. That’s because the EQ curve of DT990 Pro (which I also own) and most reviews refer that those headphones have too much lows and highs along with some mids missing, which is quite the opposite of the customized EQ curve we see in the video to “correct”/adjust the monitoring in that context. It is always good to have several and different perspectives, being true that the majority of technical experts advocate to use rather flat curves for the purpose at stake (e.g. based on Sonarworks Reference adjustments and also some cross-feed supplied by Goodhertz CanOpener or other option in this field).

@anouargmusic 2 года назад

Hello Vlad! Thank you very much for your awesome video and your really useful idea! My trial of sonarworks expired shortly after my last project and the new version I was hoping to use is not working. I was trying to get a "flat curve" with EQ presets, but it seems more complicated than I anticipated. I could try to find another software, but I really wouldn't mind a long-term solution and I will try to do what you did as soon as I get home from work today.

@georgev3256 11 месяцев назад

We need your part 2! Any software that is actually good ? I don’t know any reference tracks i know well enough for eqing the headphones bus.

@ramzeywinder2554 2 года назад

thank you so much

@zuckmedic Год назад

Try the hearing test on peace skinf or equalizer apo. Then you can use the eq there as a reference for what neutral sounds like.

@SteveWatsonMusic 3 года назад

Thanks for posting this... wondering how you arrived at those specific frequencies for your calibration? Are you saying it was basically making manual adjustments while listening based on your ears and preference, or was there some kind of evaluation reference similar to the Sonarworks profile they provided for your headphones?

@synapticschism 3 года назад

You are welcome. It was based on my subjective evaluation of the reference tracks. I got this idea from a video where a known professional mixer (I don't recall the name, sorry, but I can search for his channel if you want) said that every mixing room he visited sounded different and all of them had multiple speakers to test the mix on different outputs. His take on it was that each of the rooms sounded perfect for the mixing engineer that mixes in them, given the speakers they had. At the time I had tried all that software and I was very frustrated with the sound of my headphones because no matter what I did, the mixes didn't translate, especially the low end. So I took the idea of my headphones sounding perfect to me like the mixing rooms sound perfect to their engineers. I loaded a handful of references into Reaper (with special attention to Main on End) and in a couple of hours, I got to those two small adjustments. Mixing is quick and easy now, only need small EQ adjustments while mastering. If you look at the frequency response of my headphones, I should be cutting 3dB in the lows instead of boosting 1dB, that means that I expect to hear a certain amount of low end. But now I can trust what I'm listening to and to me that was the biggest win. Keep in mind that none of my calibration EQ goes into the actual mix, it's just ear magic. :)

@SteveWatsonMusic 3 года назад

@@synapticschism Great info!

@davidpereira4455 Год назад

É sempre bom encontrar portugueses a responder às nossas questões, mesmo que seja em inglês. ✌️ obrigado

@victorbotas5637 Год назад

@tomassofianopoulos9367 3 года назад

Thanks for the video nice information whats your theme you use in reaper?

@synapticschism 3 года назад

Hi Tomas, thank you for your kind words. The theme is Concept Six Basic if I recall correctly.

@NoQualmsTheArtist Год назад

Toneboosters Morphit is the only headphone calibration that sounds right. I use Sonarworks for monitors but for headphones it sounds phasy. Morphit has a correction curve for the DT990 it sounds great.

@synapticschism Год назад

I have used a couple of different products sinde I did this video, including Morphit and I really enjoyed it. Maybe it is time to make a part 2.

@erkamau9629 2 года назад

If it don't solve the crossfeed and ambience point I don't trust working only with eq calibration by ears (harman curve is a good eq option to correct..) to mix and master only with headphones...

@amdenis 3 года назад

I have mixed and mastered since the mid-80’s- starting on AKG headphones, then to Yamaha monitors, and over the past q5 years to fairly high-end equipment as my business has grown (Barefoot, Focal, Hedd, etc). I have mixed a few thousand days on headphones, but still a lot less than on monitors. My question is that I still cannot mix non-cinema orchestral music well on headphones. I currently use Focal Stellia, ATH MH70X, Hedd Heddphones and Beyerdynamic DT 1990’s. I have a lot of problem making the dimensions and relative dynamics of a large, well-mic’d orchestra translate well from headphones to monitors. Any suggestions?

@synapticschism 3 года назад

Andrew, to be quite honest, given your experience, I think you are way ahead of me on this. :) Some ideas that come to mind are: is your room killing your mixes (mine is, that's why I default to headphones) and have you tried some kind of room emulation, Waves as a couple of them. I personally don't feel that it translates well but you can try.

@ethansroom1013 2 года назад

nice to see someone who has been in the business so long to still be learning today :) VERY NICE TO SEE!

@dumbnisse Год назад

Excellent video! The idea popped in my mind to use eq to correct for my hearing so searched and found your video and you just confirmed the idea. I tend to always mix bass to high volume and less in the higher frequency maybe it's hearing problems or the headsett not sure but my dt770 pro seems so flat. I think I will start producing with 5 dB gain in the low frequencies and maybe -1 dB in the higher spectrum and see how it turns out when translating to other monitors/headsett/car etc. If you don't have a monitor bus you can always just switch off eq before exporting master or To bus. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! 🤓

@synapticschism Год назад

Thank you. The point of this video is to show that there are alternatives that seat better in your ear than just flat-out the frequencies. It is not standard for sure and I've checked other software that I really need to review and put on the channel.

@davidasher22 3 года назад

You don’t use anything to simulate crosstalk? Curious how you get by without true stereo imaging. I’m pretty much doing exactly what you’re doing but need to reference my monitors to check stereo image/wideness.

@agondistortion 3 года назад

I don't use crosstalk calibration nothing works great for me you just have to understand the stereo field on headphones i occasionally check on monitors but thats about it

@RADERFPV 3 года назад

Great information, very much appreciated. I was really surprised to see that you didn't cut out any of the highs really. I have the dt 770 pros, the closed back version of your headphones, and the treble really gets to me. I've only had them for a short time, so I"m hoping I can adjust to them. Do you have any tips for mellowing out the highs just a little, without having to run all this EQ stuff? I really like the detail the headphones provide, but the sound is almost painful to me at times, even at low volumes. I guess one good thing is the little bass bump at around 100-200hz along with the treble spike forces me to keep the volume down. My first thought is to possibly consider a pad swap, but I'm new to all of this and am unsure if that would make a big difference. Any tips you have would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

@synapticschism 3 года назад

Usually, harsh sounds occur at the very top of the frequency, so I would try to do a high cut, adjusting it to where you still keep the clarity but attenuate the harshness. Try that and let me know.

@RADERFPV 3 года назад

@@synapticschism - I'll give it a try, thank you so much.

@rvladimiro 3 года назад

@@RADERFPV my pleasure, hope it helps.

@CRASS2047 3 года назад

They are pretty accurate in my experience, so if you have harsh highs, the headphones are doing their job. That means you need to cut the high frequencies.

@CRASS2047 3 года назад

Which ohm version do you have?

@agraciotti Год назад

I've just bought the same Beyerdynamics 990T pro headphones, and I was surprised I found it with too much LOW end, unlike most comments I read complaining about the highs. I love the mids and the highs, but the lows sounded a little too "mmmpf" for my taste, so I wanted some calibration and unfortunately, Sonaworks ID price is way too high for me who lives outside the US, so I found a cheaper alternative, the Toneboosters Morphit plugin, which is 40 dollars but the demo version is fully functional (with only a popup window every time you open it) and there is a preset for this headphone, so, voila.

@synapticschism Год назад

I need to do an update on this video because I've found that we should be looking at this differently.

@agraciotti Год назад

@@synapticschism how so?

@synapticschism Год назад

@@agraciotti I found Sienna, a brilliant and free correction software. I installed it and used it for a year. Did the best mixes of my life! Then I noticed it was bypassed the whole time. Seriously I need to do a new video, I'm convinced that if you know your headphones, this is all FOMO.

@nelsondjordjemijic1533 Год назад

i can make parallel master bus (and call it monitor buss) in ableton and send all tracks in but i can put calibration tools on master buss an then just bypass it when rendering,it is difrent from daw to daw but bypass should be easy one to do.

@synapticschism Год назад

All major DAWs support what you are saying. That is not the point. The point is actually not having to bypass thus making the whole process easier and simpler.

@leonfuturesoulmuzik875 2 года назад

I just perchased the closed back version of your headphones but they are so quiet?,do i need software to make them louder??,im new to this...

@synapticschism 2 года назад

It's possible that your soundcard doesn't have enough output for your phones. What soundcard do you have?

@leonfuturesoulmuzik875 2 года назад

@@synapticschism Thank you so much for a quick reply,nothing flashy, im using a behringer uca202 usb,i have everything on full volume and only hear sound at a below average volume.

@leonfuturesoulmuzik875 2 года назад

would you surgest i use an Audio inteface?

@synapticschism 2 года назад

@@leonfuturesoulmuzik875 either an audio interface with enough output or an headphone amplifier. I have never used and headphone amplifier so I really have no experience to offer. I'd advise to compare your soundcard headphone specs against audio interfaces. For instance, I have an entry level Komplete Audio and it does the job really well.