Elektron-Users

I know there have been a few previous posts regarding headphones and gear, but none seems to address this specific issue -- please bear with me if I've missed that one crucial thread

A lot of the precious time I have to explore and compose, I am forced to listen to my MD through headphones rather than my studio monitors. This week, for the Nth time, I spent a few hours developing a pattern through my 'phones, fine-tuning it carefully until it sounded fantastic...only to get home and run it it through the monitors to find it utterly stale, flat, imbalanced and uninspiring.

Needless to say, this is an experience I don't want to repeat.

I have to believe there are ways of finding a set of headphones that will provide my ears with a close version of what I will hear through speakers -- in other words, what the "real" finished version will sound like.

So two questions:

-Yes, everyone has a different studio setup; not everyone uses the Yamaha HS80M's I use. But if you were once in my shoes generally, how did you approach and solve this problem?

-At the risk of starting an endless thread on "da best damn 'phones on da planet" , which ones would you recommend? I'm willing to spend a few hundred dollars if necessary, just want what I hear to be what you get

I think the Sony MDR CD900ST will give you the kind of response you're looking for.

Of course, they're a Sony product so they'll only last about a year or so...

My usual tip is allessandro ms1... use these all the time. If you need closed back I've also heard good thing about beyerdynamics dt770.

before discounting and perhaps erasing the previously fantastic patterns as not "all that", try listening thru a club sound system or at least with a quality sub-woofer. headphones (costly or cheap) often allow perception of a world of frequencies that some studio monitors don't reveal without a sub.

Yo Dubby!

I fight the headphone fight by NOT using expensive headphones.

Personally, "real" headphones throw me WAY off of track. They always sound so good & sweet upfront that I don't hear the fact I really should hit that bass drum with more 1-band EQ, little things like that. Those are the little things that add a LOT or remove a LOT from your track's overall sound.

As sad as it might seem to some of y'all here, I am very adamant about using my Samson HP10's. They are $20 headphones sold at most mass-consumer music stores. Actually, on 'black friday', Sam Ash is selling THREE PAIRS FOR $30. Darned good deal, specially if you record other people/other bands as a living....

You'll get a feel for mixing wearing the headphones you choose, and you'll compensate automatically without even knowing it. By the time you throw your mix on a friend's system or even in your car, everything is right where it should be! I can't say I strongly recommend these cans, but they work very well for me.

I fight against headphones by not giving in and buying rowdy ones.
My strategy hasn't ever effected me in a bad way (yet) so I'll keep up with it!

I used a Sennheiser HD25, and I very often or all the time had the same feeling of horror as you listen to my track on monitors. I just purchased a DT990Pro from beyerdynamic. And I'm very happy with that, although there is still something to do when I listen on monitors.

I use old K 240,and they sound good but my mixes tend to sound very different in my sound system. Though I am not using monitors but good B & W speakers. But i guess as someone here ealier mentioned that without a sub the sound that is heard differs between headphones to speaker.

RubixGroove wrote:

I fight the headphone

nice one!

i deconstructed my pair of senny hd370's.

how so?
by removing the felt and disconnecting the right headphone with scissors.
why?
seemed like a good idea at the time, and is very convenient when performing live.
(the dj who i work with reacted to this behaviour as tho it was almost sacrilege, heh.)

also, i do not work with a sub, even tho owning one. seems like a distraction.

^^

If I owned a sub I'd be in trouble... pretty sure I'd rattle the house down.

Admitted bass whore.

I've been using these for the past two years:

http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,1064,pid,1064,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html

They seem pretty transparent to me. Certainly more so than the HD25s, which colour the lows and his to a ridiculous extent. Not too pricey, either. I'd probably go for some Beyerdynamics next...