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I'm looking for some recommendations for recording and mixing headphones for under $400...probably something in an open or semi-open design that doesn't need an external headphone amp. They should be fairly flat but I know I'm not I'm going to get super high-end, professional headphones for under a few grand but that's fine with me. My recordings are mainly for demos and screwing around but I'd like to be continually improving what I can do.

I use the Audio-Technica M45's but the M50's are a bit better and have great reviews! Here's the product link on Amazon with lots of good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT ... B000ULAP4U I think they have a pretty good flat frequency response and they're really comfortable to wear. They don't have enough isolation for recording live drums but for guitar (acoustic/electric), bass, and vocals, and a bunch of other stuff they're great. I just got done recently taking a class called Composing Music for Video Games and I mixed all my school projects on them and always got decent mixes by using them. Hope that helps your decision a bit, oh and they're only $150 so you could use the leftover money for some more fuzz, if that's your thing.

louderthangod wrote:I'm looking for some recommendations for recording and mixing headphones for under $400...probably something in an open or semi-open design that doesn't need an external headphone amp. They should be fairly flat but I know I'm not I'm going to get super high-end, professional headphones for under a few grand but that's fine with me. My recordings are mainly for demos and screwing around but I'd like to be continually improving what I can do.

Funny that I'm also looking for the same thing within the same price range on the other thread. For a really great sound quality, flat and best bang for your money the AKG Q701 is a really good set of headphones, but the comfort level could be better (subjective), at least for my weird head.

Here's what I found really promising without the use of any amp:
http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SRH1440-Professional-Headphones-Black/dp/B0073P4ESO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373618059&sr=1-1&keywords=shure+1440

The impedance is fairly low (37 ohm) so you can just plug in to whatever without a problem, whereas the HD600/650 is rated at 300 ohm.. requires plenty of juice to power it correctly and make it worth its price tag.

Hopefully it helps, and believe me.. I've been researching for this crap for weeks, and after I returned the HD25 1-II and soon this Q701.. I'm now just clueless

I have a pair of sennheiser HD650 that are regarded as a top contender. I love how they sound, and can be had in your price range
I did buy an external headphone amp for them (& for a while I even owned a balanced tube amp for them too) but the out on my motu sound card gives them plenty of juice. plugging into my macbook/ipod does leave a bit to be desired though.

that said, you should avoid mixing on headphones.

I always hear that but I've never really heard a satisfactory answer, especially when it seems like people listen to music more often through headphones than through speakers (especially younger people). My recordings are just demo quality right now anyways so I'm not really worried about it and programming drums while my wife is doing something else in the room is worth it. It's also been my experience that if I can get something to sound interesting and clean on headphones, it'll sound great through speakers.

In the professional world you tend to avoid mixing on headphones mostly because of spatial information and bass response. When mixing for a wide range of platforms getting an accurate perception of how your low end is can be difficult on headphones because they are typically not very flat, and the proximity of the speakers to your ear (bass frequencies take longer to develop and are not really directional - which is why you don't really need your subwoofer in the center of the room). And the bigger reason is spatial information (aka imaging), and making sure your panning and everything is sitting where it should be can be misleading on your headphone. This more typically comes into play when you are using multiple mic arrays to capture stereo (or surround) sound such as mic'ing a choir in stereo or mic'ing a drum kit (usually done with overheads mic'd in stereo and spot mics on individual drums).

All that being said you mentioned drum loops, so in a rock type mix that's usually the biggest thing to worry about imaging in, and that will probably be already pre-mixed in your drum software, so you're probably just dealing with one stereo (drum) track and several mono tracks. So you have a lot less to worry about for spatial information. However, it will be a good idea to check your work on speakers after you've done all the legwork on your headphones. The same way it's good to check your work on headphones after doing your work on speakers, and to listen to your stuff on a mono source to check for mono-compatibility, especially if you are using stereo mic'ing techniques that involve some trickery like Mid-side.

In the studio headphones are typically closed over-the ear headphones like Sony (often MDR-7506) or several AKG headphones, but that's because it's easy for talent to hear everything on them and more importantly they're very closed and don't allow bleed into the mic, and help protect ears when talent is in a loud studio. You may not like them for mixing though. Honestly I wouldn't worry about trying to find something with a "flat" response as I would try to find something you can get familiar with. If you are familiar with your headphones (or speakers for that matter) then it will be easier to mix on them, regardless of how "flat" they are. I'd say find speakers/headphones you like the sound of and then just get familiar with them by listening to other music and things on them, especially bands that you like the mix for. Checking your mix on different speakers/environments goes a lot further than one "flat" system in getting a good mix that sounds good on more systems.

For headphones I like the big over the ear Sony studio headphones for comfort. However even within Sony they can be hit or miss sound-wise, some have way too much bass. The best headphones that I've personally heard was a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones ($300ish), they're "on ear" so lose comfort points, but man they sounded good to me.

Shure SRH 940s or Beyerdynamic DT770s are what I've used.
both under 300$ (most places anyways)

MannequinRaces wrote:I use the Audio-Technica M45's but the M50's are a bit better and have great reviews! Here's the product link on Amazon with lots of good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT ... B000ULAP4U I think they have a pretty good flat frequency response and they're really comfortable to wear. They don't have enough isolation for recording live drums but for guitar (acoustic/electric), bass, and vocals, and a bunch of other stuff they're great. I just got done recently taking a class called Composing Music for Video Games and I mixed all my school projects on them and always got decent mixes by using them. Hope that helps your decision a bit, oh and they're only $150 so you could use the leftover money for some more fuzz, if that's your thing.

The ath-m50s are excellent. Everything said here is true.

Spam: im selling M50s in BST. Only selling because I got new headphones.

Pretty tough to beat the AKG K702 in terms of neutrality and being flat. They are not unpleasant to listen to music with, its just they are so neutral and flat. Did I mention that already? However they perform best with an amp. Its worth it.

I used to have regular access to a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-770 cans that I loved. Not fatiguing, and I def. did a couple mixes on them that translated pretty well. Great for just casual listening too.

Uncle Grandfather wrote:Pretty tough to beat the AKG K702 in terms of neutrality and being flat. They are not unpleasant to listen to music with, its just they are so neutral and flat. Did I mention that already? However they perform best with an amp. Its worth it.

Neutral and flat is why AKG cans have been studio standard for decades.

rustywire wrote::thumb: Neutral and flat is why AKG cans have been studio standard for decades.

listen to rusty, he knows....he knows, man.