tried mixing with new headphones

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kensuguro
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tried mixing with new headphones

Post by kensuguro »

I recently removed my gallbladder with laproscopy so had a few days to chill out at home, and tried some new things. I switched to an akg k702 as some of you may have found out, and also tried mixing in mixbus. Original tracks exported from Live with track effects, so mixbus was pretty much for leveling and some dynamics, but mostly leveling, using the tape sat on 4 buses, and also the tape sat + limiter on master. I'm not sure how mixbus's master limiter works. It's fully automated and all I can do is turn it on/off, and watch the indicator telling me how much is being applied. Not sure how useful that is, but I guess it's ok for fixing peaks on test outputs. The music content is in the style of the Intermetro series but still very much a work in progress.

K702 definitely has less bass, or different kind of bass than my old k240. It's much tighter and well defined. And the treble's pretty sensitive too, or much more sensitive than k240, so all my old mixes sounded really treble heavy. Anyway, here's the output directly from mixbus. I'm curious about mixing opinions. Less "creative choices", but more of general issues that my come from switching cans. So sad I put my genelecs in storage cuz now I literally have no reference but to switch back and forth with k240.

Generally, I think the mix sounds closer to what I'd get on speakers, or when I mix while monitoring very loudly. Slightly more bass in general, and treble not being pushed too much. I think the "body" is there, but on k240 the whole thing sounds on the muddy side, or definitely not bright. Hard to say if it's the good kind of body or just excess, but it is convenient to be able to tell very distinctly when the body is lacking. And on k702, I definitely can't crank up the high end without my ears catching on fire, so it's very chill treble wise.
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hubird

Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by hubird »

Hmm...I find it a bit dull, there's room for more highs, as turning up the highs makes it fresh (drums at least)

I dunno if it's caused by the method of headphone mixing as such or by the cans producing too much highs leading to turn down the highs.

Let's see what others may say, as one opinion says nothing :)
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kensuguro
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by kensuguro »

I think it's giving too much highs. Not so much the quantity, but I think k702 gives very high resolution even with the little treble that's there, so overall, it gives the impression that there is enough high end fidelity in the mix. Then I switch to k240 and like you said, it all just sounds dull as hell.
hubird

Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by hubird »

Can't you use the genelecs as safe guards, (very) low volumes are sufficient for a check already ?
Or is it you don't have room for them?
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kensuguro
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by kensuguro »

it's room. I have place to put the genelecs but I can't get enough distance from them. But some day man, some day I'll get the set back up.

meanwhile, I ran through on k240 for comparison though this one has sidechaining and master effects.

I'm seeing that while I can explore treble space on k240, the bass gets very disorderly when compared to the k702 mix. k702 mix really has the bass range tidied and figured out. It might be due to the master limiter, but even more so, in the k240 workflow I couldn't identify the bass issues while working.
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hubird

Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by hubird »

New York and room...

I can see the trouble part.
Immense difference indeed!

Sad to have such nice speakers not able to use them.
Yet I would consider using them, highs are less troublesome to check than basses.

Switching between both headphones is the only option then to find a balance between decent bass listening and getting the highs right.
Experience and testing the sound elsewhere could do the rest :)
Good luck.
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garyb
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by garyb »

can't play your stereo?

it needn't be louder than that. as long as you can play the stereo at hearable volumes, you must be able to mix. is it family life?


i wouldn't mix on a 240. on a 240M maybe. those phones are for tracking rooms. the 270s are for loud tracking rooms and deaf lead singers, that's why the 270 has dual drivers. to be loud in a loud room. i don't recommend it.

the 702 is made for mixing and mastering, but i'd still want speaker references at some point. still, the 702 is open, so less ear infections...
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kensuguro
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by kensuguro »

Here's another one that's been balanced back on the k702. The going back and forth is really confusing, maybe I just bust out the genelecs.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/kensuguro.com. ... longer.mp3

But ya, the problem with the speakers is the distance I need to get a good full blown sound. I think it's ok for now, since I'm not really doing composing work anymore.
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garyb
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by garyb »

mixing shouldn't be done with loud levels anyway. near feilds should be relatively close, they're super open-back headphones...
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YISH313z
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by YISH313z »

The 702 are my life savers, aside from the obvious stereo seperation these kick ass for mixing. What i hear in these translate very well on 90% of the systems i play back. It takes reasoning however when in use, the highs are uhmm high to have you back off a tab to avoid overhighs. The bass is not really pronounced as others so i tend to add a little more, but again over doing it on the low end sounds nasty coming from these, rattling even. Once you learn them though good results become easier, especially with the room out of the way.

Im in an apartment with untreated walls despite the large bundle of unused OC703 on my patio(just plain lazy) i have some cheesy cheap behringer mid fields that get hardly any use because the resonance of the room. I played back a mix i did with the 702 on some dynaudio nearfeild in a treated room and was proud of my purchase. Sounds damn good if you approach them right. IMHO of course
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YISH313z
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by YISH313z »

Im curious how you might think of the 702 mixes played back on the Genelecs!
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Ricardo
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by Ricardo »

I use the 702s and I notice the same thing on your mix that I have also had to be mindful of, that is the synth sound could be fuller in the low mids. The bass is OK and the highs are fine, but the snare is dominating the upper mids and has a slight roomy sound which to me is off setting the rest of the frequencies in the track.
The 702s are great but you must always reference to your monitors. Even if it annoys the neighbours for a brief moment. Mixing between 70 and 85 dB is fine with nearfield monitors. BTW ambient city sound is about 60dB these days.
Anyway, all the best. Just my 2 cents FWIW
R
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kensuguro
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Re: tried mixing with new headphones

Post by kensuguro »

in the end I got too frustrated of not having monitors and went and got my genelecs out of storage last Sunday. Still haven't found the time to run my mix through though.
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