I apologize if this is not in the correct sub-forum, or appropriate site to begin with, but I wanted to learn what you guys used for mixing in terms of headphones?

I live in a very tight-spaced apartment/house. Neighbors below, above, and next to me...so open air studio monitors would not be my first choice out of respect.

Do you guys use...or know of a recommendation for a good pair of headphones that I can actually MIX with? I've heard good headphones, with good bass response, good clarity, but a flat frequency response is what I'm aiming for, just like you'd get with studio monitors?

What do you use?

Thanks,
DKR

You asked this at a good time, I have been researching this for about a month now for myself.

To make a long story short I would go with Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's, or move up or down on the ladder of their stuff depending on your budget. You're going to pay a little more for Senheiser, but they're one of the oldest and most established brands of headphones. They are known for their superior sound quality.

You're not going to be able to afford the pair or senheisers that I've seen in most of the studio's around Nashville, but something like the 280's is a great option for at home mixing.

and don't get some BS beats by Dre headphones

If you need flat studio headphone monitors, here are my choices after extensive research on price and quality:

SHURE SRH440
(This headphone blocks outside sound amazingly good, the bass on these are a little thin however but I think if you are gona mix with headphones on for a period of time, the bass will mess up your ears if it's too strong so this is the reason i got these, just add a little more bass than you hear on the headphone and it will make up for it on the track. Also, it's a bit heavy and your ears will sweat after a short bit of mixing but you can't have your cake and eat it too cause that's whats blocking outside sounds.)

SONY MDR7506
(Industry standards, I will be getting these next, I didn't buy these first because I was able to hear outside sounds when I put them on.)

Both of these are in the price range of 100 -130 dollars but they're worthy investments. Hope that helped

I have the beats by dre headphone and im not really happy with it.
But it is the best headphone i never had because i didnt had any ''quality'' headphones.
But i use it for listening on my blackberry too when im on the move.
So if you going to use it for the studio only dont get beats by dre.

Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate the feedback.

Sky, I was lookin at the Sony MDR 7509HD, I suppose thats a step above what you suggested? I'll consider the model you threw at me.

Big T, yea I've heard great things about those headphones...and some mixed reviews, but overall good reviews..... for listening to music. Not monitoring and mixing. I want them so bad though. HAH! A tad pricey don't you think?...compared to others anyway

@DKR NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don't buy the Sony MDR 7509HD. Also don't by Beats by Dr. Dre. Great for listening, not as great for mixing.

You can get the AKG 240s for $99 on Amazon, some ATH M-50s for around $110, the Sony MDR-7506 for $84, the Sony MDR-V6 (which is pretty much the EXACT same headphone as the MDR-7506) for $70...there's a lot out there I haven't tried them all but those should all do the job.

As always, I would recommend the AKG's 240 are semi open the 270 are the same cans put closed. And as you move upward on the ladder you will get even nicer stuff. Still the 240mkII is a very good headphone.

Even if I understand your situation, I do recommend that you check your mixes on speakers too.

@Mr. Whitfield -
OK OK OKAY!!! i won't buy them! haha. You seem to...um, have some bad luck or experience with them? Thanks for other models you listed. I didn't even THINK about checking amazon. Good lookin' out man.

@Sab

Thanks for the recommendation for the 240s and 270s. I'll look at the 270s tonight along with a couple Whitfield suggested. I like my cans closed, and my legs open. I mean her legs...ur, nevermind.

I do understand purchasing monitors will benefit me in terms of mixing, but I'm a little shy to invest. If I fart my neighbor below, above, and next to me can hear me. Even the SBD ones. I will consider it more and shop around for them. At the moment phones are a necessity. Thanks for the advice Sab

@DKR No, I'm not an expert at all...Sab definitely knows a lot more than me. I just went through this exact process a while ago and read reviews/listened at J&R and Guitar Center until I was blue in the face. Anyway, based on reviews, Beats by Dr. Dre and 7509 aren't good for mixing. I don't remember where I read up on all this...but yea.

The ones in my price range ($100 and under) were the ATH-M50s, AKG 240s, the Sony MDR-V6s. There were a couple others that got great reviews, and I'm sure there's better at a little higher price ranges, but I remember the decision came down to those 3 for me. So don't trust me, I'm not speaking from experience, I just did the reading reviews/forums, etc. thing a while ago and that's what I came across so I'm passing those along as cans to consider. I also found the cheapest prices on Amazon (I swear, they have the best price on pretty much EVERYTHING)...I don't know if that's still the best place to go, but it was a lot cheaper than Guitar Center, etc. last time I checked.

I would check out some Grado headphones. I had one of the cheaper models "sr60's" which cost like 80 dollars but they sound great. They have higher more expensive models and the people that I know who have them say they sound amazing. My music recording teacher recommended it to me. Not that many people know about them though but I think you should take a look into them, all the reviews for them are good

Cool guys. Consider this post ANSWERED. You guys rock.

Take care,
DKR

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to say. TRY THEM ON FIRST!

Bring your own music that you know well and go to a store and listen to your options. Even if a pair of phones gets great reviews and sounds great, it will be useless if it doesn't fit right on your head. You are getting these to be wearing them for long stretches of time. Make sure they are comfy

hey i mix in akg 271mr 3 and produce on steel serie v2

Got it. Try'em on. I'd be pissed if I had bought a pair of cans and they didn't feel good. Thanks

@Obiwan

Steel series v2 ??

never heard of them. I'll check them out on google or something.

Thanks

Good thread, good thread.
Commenting so I can go back to it.

Steel Series is a gamer headphone, i.e. suspect to hyped bass etc. The home cinema effect you know.

What do you guys think of the Bose quiet comfort 3 around ear models? I own a pair and personally think they're awesome, but I've also never experienced any of the headphones that anyone else recommended. Any thoughts?

Anyone at all?

^^ Bose headphones are awesome. At least the demo in the store where the noise canceling blocks out the engine noise simulation. Anyone? Well, it's a really cool demo.

Anyway (from what I understand) the problem with Bose headphones is they're made to make music sound as good as possible. To do this they EQ them to sound nice and sweet. I believe it's called a "smile EQ" or something. For producing and mixing, however, you want a headphone that is an flat as possible (there's no such thing as completely flat, but the "flatter" the better). You want headphones your going to mix in to give you the truest possible representation on your music on a wide variety of speakers/headphones/car stereos, etc. which will all have their own colorations.

That's why some of the headphones that make music sound the best aren't best for mixing....you want to go for "truest representation" rather than "best sounding" headphones/speakers when mixing.  Of course you can get pretty good mixes once you get used to their sound.  I've gotten pretty good mixes out some pretty shitty/colored headphones....and Bose are def. at least quality.

Hmm thats interesting. Thanks for the info, good stuff. I do love my Bose's for listening to music. While I could probably be using better ones to mix, I guess since they're all I have I'll have to make do. Thanks for the reply