Is there anyone here mixing with headphones and getting placements?

[bassmothership]

Work on your writing and mixing skills. This is critical for getting placements.

Yes. Absolutely. Thanks.

[bassmothership]

First time I've heard about the AKG K-812.
They look fantastic! and the price too . They're not even in the Sonarworks list. Is that cuz they're mean to be so ultra-realistic that a correction plugin isnt even needed?

It must be something like this - after all, they are called "reference" headphones. All other headphones I have push bass much more than they do but they go insanely deep instead. I don't say they can replace a sub woofer, but it is possibly the next best thing you can do using headphones.

Tom

Ow! you reply came before I could finish editing my last post.

First - AKG K-812 is in the Sonarworks list indeed.
Second - Whats your interface? or mic pre-amp if you use it?

[bassmothership]

Second - Whats your interface? or mic pre-amp if you use it?

https://www.thomann.de/de/audient_id4.htm

The most important change using the ASIO drivers of the iD4 (but also of my Yamaha PSR-453, as I came to realize later) was that my DAW could handle much, much larger projects, that the weird crackling noises disappeared, that latency issues with MIDI tracks disappeared etc. etc. Essentially, everything suddenly started working just fine.

I bought that thing 2.5 years too late...

Tom

What made you choose this specific brand instead of others?

[cosmicdolphin]

Below is my room's plan btw, rew plot and a picture of my room.

https://ibb.co/yhrJLZc
https://ibb.co/YRp3BJg
https://ibb.co/SsTm5cV

I didn't realise you were in Japan, yes that can definitely put a crimp on DIY solutions if you can't get rockwool ?

Thanks for the pics, I can suggest a few things you can try for low / no cost.

There's a peak around 1k according to your plot , I suspect this is due to your flooring and it's such a critical frequency as well. My floor is concrete but I picked up some carpet that someone was throwing out for nothing and just cut it down to fit...makes a big difference.

You can get a professional limp mass barrier but they aren't cheap but they are a heavy impregnated rubber. In a pinch a rug will be a fair bit better than nothing , mine is about 12 in from the rear wall, the air gap makes a difference as well. It was from our old house and the wife wanted a different one when we moved here so it would only have been thrown out.

I had an Auralex room kit full of tiles and LENRDs ..they do help

I don't thing the white absorbers on your wall can be doing much , they seem way too thin to absorb anything much. I built mine from some instructions on SOS mag. If you can't get rockwool then obviously if may be diffcult but they must have studios in Japan - what do the pro studio supply companies make their products out of ?

Overall if I was dealing with your room I reckon I could get it as good as this one, so damp down all the flutter echoes with floor carpet, get some heavy thermal curtains to go across the sliding doors, get some better broadband absorbers if possible and some auralex tiles....then get Sonarworks Ref 4 to help with the low mids and possibly do the hanging rug idea if the low mid is still an issue.

The waterfall plot in REQW is a better guide to whats going on as you can see the time domain

I have put a few photos for you to see.

https://ibb.co/J7JXqNy
https://ibb.co/TqfK61b
https://ibb.co/2k1n4FG
https://ibb.co/mhcSTRf
https://ibb.co/C9KnW4Z
https://ibb.co/pj7XLjG

[cosmicdolphin]

https://www.thomann.de/de/audient_id4.htm

What made you choose this specific brand instead of others?

CosmicDolphin.

I chose it because I needed to replace a way more expensive Focusrite, but for just over £100 it has excellent low latency drivers, one well rated mic pre, direct monitoring with a dedicated knob, a front panel DI , both sizes of headphone jack on the front, phantom power, and thing called scroll control which turns the large volume knob into a controller for anything that normally used a mouse wheel and is surprisingly handy with things like Fabfilter Pro-Q2 or 3 for sweeping around eq bands.

[mojobone]

A futon makes for a fantastic bass trap; the heavier the cotton batting, the better. Mine is directly behind the mix position, in the sweet spot, so clients can hear pretty much the same mix as I. A mattress works well too. Neither are as dense, compact and convenient as corning or rockwool, but they'll do in a pinch. You may need to get creative about mounting.

That said, I think Matt VanDer Boegh used nothing but headphones, his first three years with Taxi, and he has placements, sho 'nuff.

[andygabrys]

Using $100 US headphones with solid commercial references should get you a long way. Longer if you can monitor low volume on your monitors for cross reference.

If panning is an issue and you have the funds getting a dedicated headphone amp like the SPL with the crossed https://spl.audio/professional-fidelity ... x/?lang=en can help you. There are less expensive ones than this though - this one is criminally expensive.

Room treatment is great but not as needed if you mix at low volume. If you mix loud then you activate the room and every peak and valley in your room response comes into play in a massive way.

Mark (Cosmic Dolphin) uses a lot of Auralex. His mixes sound great and balanced.

I use only OC703 4" panels. I have placements so its been working. I also don't mix loud beyond getting eq and compression on my parts. I mix as low as possible on my monitors to get levels balanced - so low that I can hear myself breath over the volume coming out. I also cross reference on headphones.

I am using Ozone advanced / Neutron and that helps get things in the proper relationship. There are other plugins which can help you in that way too.

What I do not do anymore (and I honestly consider it a waste of time) is cross reference on headphones or speakers that I either don't own or don't listen to all day. That includes white wire iPhone earbuds.

That also includes my car - my Subaru has a cutting high end which exacerbates sibilance on vocals. If I only listened to mixes in the car I would go absolutely crazy trying to get rid of the sibilance that I was hearing.

If you want another way to listen, put on your mix at a healthy volume and go to another room in your apartment or house (assuming you have that). This will give you a true acoustic mono listening experience. I also find its awesome for a cross reference for levels. I often put on a mix and go upstairs to make coffee. If I can hear everything well balanced and I am grooving and can also hear it cutting through over the espresso machine then I know I am done.

I cross reference on the speakers and headphones I use all the time with well know commercial mixes. They will give you a set parameters which you can respect.

[bassmothership]

Below is my room's plan btw, rew plot and a picture of my room.

https://ibb.co/yhrJLZc
https://ibb.co/YRp3BJg
https://ibb.co/SsTm5cV

I didn't realise you were in Japan, yes that can definitely put a crimp on DIY solutions if you can't get rockwool ?

Thanks for the pics, I can suggest a few things you can try for low / no cost.

There's a peak around 1k according to your plot , I suspect this is due to your flooring and it's such a critical frequency as well. My floor is concrete but I picked up some carpet that someone was throwing out for nothing and just cut it down to fit...makes a big difference.

You can get a professional limp mass barrier but they aren't cheap but they are a heavy impregnated rubber. In a pinch a rug will be a fair bit better than nothing , mine is about 12 in from the rear wall, the air gap makes a difference as well. It was from our old house and the wife wanted a different one when we moved here so it would only have been thrown out.

I had an Auralex room kit full of tiles and LENRDs ..they do help

I don't thing the white absorbers on your wall can be doing much , they seem way too thin to absorb anything much. I built mine from some instructions on SOS mag. If you can't get rockwool then obviously if may be diffcult but they must have studios in Japan - what do the pro studio supply companies make their products out of ?

Overall if I was dealing with your room I reckon I could get it as good as this one, so damp down all the flutter echoes with floor carpet, get some heavy thermal curtains to go across the sliding doors, get some better broadband absorbers if possible and some auralex tiles....then get Sonarworks Ref 4 to help with the low mids and possibly do the hanging rug idea if the low mid is still an issue.

The waterfall plot in REQW is a better guide to whats going on as you can see the time domain

I have put a few photos for you to see.

https://ibb.co/J7JXqNy
https://ibb.co/TqfK61b
https://ibb.co/2k1n4FG
https://ibb.co/mhcSTRf
https://ibb.co/C9KnW4Z
https://ibb.co/pj7XLjG

Thank you so much for sharing your room pics. Could I also see your sonarworks plot without correction if that's not a hassle for you.

It's the first time I've heard of Limp Mass Barrier, same as MLV right? I'll look around to see if I can find it.

So you got a thick sheet of MLV, cut them in pieces and crafted those panels?
How thick is the sheet you purchased? Would you pls share the SOS link?

As for rockwool, I can find it in Japan, but I'd rather never use that. As far as I know, the respiratory risks aren't worth it to be taken, imo gov safety standards should never be trusted. and besides... Imagine an earthquake and all the rockwool panels in my room broken and the cover fabric torn exposing and spreading all the fibers on my body and my whole apartment.

I'm looking for less harmful solutions for the low end in my room. But I dont see a home studio culture in Japan as in the rest of the world, so it's difficult All I see is either rockwool panels and/or auralex. I havent find any other companies offering alternatives here. Very low demand I guess?

So my situation would require long hours of studying acoustic books, searching for non-harmful materials available which can significantly improve my bass range, if there's any, lots of hours experimenting and trying, etc... So for now, I wont sweat that and just jump straight to headphone mixing and grab some placements here!

Appreciate you trying to help fixing my room, my friend!

[bassmothership]

In addition to that, I'll be mixing at very low volumes to don't excite the modes. That may help with bad room sound right

[bassmothership]

https://www.thomann.de/de/audient_id4.htm

What made you choose this specific brand instead of others?

CosmicDolphin.