Basic suggestions for EQ on talking heads of various quality

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Denez McAdoo

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Ok, lastly, any suggestions for good mixing headphone. The 7506's I'm happy with because they are industry stander (perhaps as field monitor, that's fine) and they only cost $100 or so, and I like Sony. Any good studio monitor phones in about the same price range?

There are NO good mixing headphones, period. Phones are fine for evaluation and editing but mixing should be done on properly calibrated monitor speakers. Headphones introduce their own coloration, particularly bass emphasis, as they interact with the wearer's head and mixes done using them don't often translate well to the normal loudspeaker environment in which the audience will usually be listening. For mixing you really need a decent pair of studio monitor speakers, calibrated for proper levels, and a work environment that has had some attention paid to acoustic conditioning. You don't have to go overboard but a workspace where some attention has been paid to the acoustics is essential.

[Rick Reineke]

I saw HPs in Mix (or other pro audio mag) that were supposed to 'accurately' simulate a speaker/room environment. My main recollection was they were extremely expensive.

[Greg Miller]

When I'm recording music, I don't even like Sonys as field monitor phones. My favorite in the low-price/rugged/good-sounding range is the Sennheiser HD280 Pro. They don't have the screechy mids that the Sonys have... much smoother and gentler.

[Seth Bloombaum]

I also like the Senn HD280, I use them for music recording all the time, and sometimes for dialog. They are about the same price as the 7506. The Sonys still come out for dialog.

Do your edits on headphones, sure, there's a lot you can do in your cubicle with phones. Rick and Steve are 200% correct that headphones do not match most playback environments where your work will be heard.

Headphones mis-state EQ. They mis-state stereo image. The mis-state dynamics. This means that when you're mixing a couple simultaneous sources, you really have no guidance on relative loudness. As you start to work with compression, limiting, and dynamics, headphone monitoring is even worse!

We have this problem at my college - computer labs (not even cubicles!). When you have 24 students in a room, they've got to be on headphones. I can tell you from listening to hundreds of student projects that mixing on headphones is totally hit or miss. Simple tasks like VO over music or other background are totally inconsistent.

If you want to make your audio better, you have to hear what the audience is hearing. No ifs, ands, or buts. Do your final compression, eq & mixing after hours. Tell your boss you *must* book outside studio time for audio finishing. Send it to someone. Until your mixes are done on reference monitors you are working in the dark, your headphones are lying to you left and right!

This is basic to consistent quality in media production: You must see what your audience sees and hear what your audience hears.

[Jon Fairhurst]

You can "kind of" learn how to mix on headphones. One trick is to mix quiet things a bit too loud. If you try to be subtle, you will find that those sounds will disappear when played back on TV speakers.

I recommend listening to mixes on many systems (monitors, high-end stereo, TV, headphones, whatever) before settling on the final mix. Listen for problems like boomy or missing bass, an obnoxious instrument, or hard to understand dialog. Then come back to your system and make relative adjustments. Rather than have it sound great in your studio, make it sound acceptable everywhere. Most audience members don't have a clue about great audio - but they're audiophiles when it comes to hearing mistakes. :)