Mixing With Headphones? Use This One Trick For Better Translation
Got a question about mixing with headphones the other day.
Coincidentally, that weekend the question was brought up on a panel at the Potluck Audio Conference.
Michael Romanowski, a seasoned veteran of the audio industry chimed in with an interesting approach.
Headphones Lie
He said that whenever you mix with headphones you run the risk of pushing things too far back. Because all the tracks are right there around your ears, they automatically sound louder and more present.
Which in turn makes you add more reverb to push things back. Or you lower the volume of the vocal because it’s too present in your mix.
But the thing is, when you play it back on speakers, you might end up with a wishy-washy mix. Things that were present before might be drowned out by other instruments. The vocal might sound super present on your headphones, but once you play your mix through the monitors it’ll be crowded out by all the other instruments.
I thought it was a good tip, so I thought I’d pass it on. It’s easier to start your mix on monitors and then tweak them with headphones. But if headphones is all you got, then make sure you check out your mix on as many speaker systems as possible. You don’t want that vocal to be drowned out just because you were lazy.
Translation is Important
Making your mixes translate to different systems is important, especially when you’re translating from headphones to speakers.
Headphone mixing is quite common, and it does adhere to all the same guidelines as mixing on monitors. It’s just a little more time consuming during the “perfection phase.”
And if you’re looking for some good guidelines for “that whole mixing thing….” I guarantee that Mixing Strategies will show you a completely new way to approach your tracks.
Check it out here:
Music Mixing
LEAVE A COMMENT