The Art of Listening, pt. 2

The Art of Listening, pt. 2

Headphones, Monitors, and Spaces.

As I mentioned in my opening article, That One Piece of Gear, I made an argument for nice headphones being a good starting point. Some of my earliest recordings and pieces that still hold up today were done on a pair of Sony MDR EX-56’s. These weren’t even great headphones, only cost about $40, but they still gave me a better sense than my laptop speakers, my cheap desktop speakers, and whatever came with my iPod. I still keep them around for general listening and as secondary listening source.

And on this I wish to speak: Multiple listening sources in different places. I remember talking to a budding producer at Sam Ash and he told me that he was surprised at “how different his mix sounded on the radio.” And I asked him, “did you ever rip it and listen to your mix in the car before finalizing it?” The answer was as I expected; “No, I just listened to it on my monitors and my nice headphones.”

I told him that a great last step before finalizing it is taking the mix to a car audio system. CD players in cars are designed to basically EQ the music so that it will work properly on the system. You then have the ability to change it up slightly yourself, with nice systems having a three band boost system- bass, mids, and highs (or traditionally in car audio “treble”). You’ll hear what the “everyday” listener will hear. The same holds true with popping in a pair of cheap headphones.

Most studios have at least a couple sets of monitors set-up, carefully chosen to have a wide variety of characteristics. The studios will be set up to turn the sub on and off as well, to hear what becomes of the bass when no sub is present. Still, I don’t think it is quite enough. Most are still using high-end monitors of much higher quality than your average computer or car speakers, or iPod headphones. At most festivals, EA composers’ music will run on something akin to the Mackie SRM450 or 350s, nice sounding PA speakers, but not high definition like those Genelecs they just laboriously spent 8 hours a day mixing. Then they take them next door to the Dyneaudio monitors. Trust me, those Mackie speakers just don’t have the definition.

I truly think checking your mix on as many different speakers, headphones, and in as many different spaces as possible is a great idea. We don’t always remember, even as we’re in the custom listening studio with 4 pairs of speakers, that those rooms are designed for careful listening. What will happen in that concert hall? Will its designed reverb react well with the reverb I programmed?

It’s important to have a really nice set of monitors, as well as listen on headphones. The immediacy of the headphones can let you hear detail you might not catch in monitors. Listening in monitors gives you a better idea of what will happen acoustically in space. But don’t forget your audience and where the final product is going to end up. Is it a piece to be played on PA speakers in a concert hall? Check it on PA speakers, especially in a concert hall. Is it going to be an MP3 rip of a recording to post on your website? Give it a few listens on your laptop speakers and cheap headphones to possibly sweeten the sound a bit. Is it going to be pressed to CD? Take it in your car, and see if you can tweak a little bit to make the mix happier everywhere.

It’s all about finding that balance between sounding awesome on your high-end speakers, having the mix translate to the medium on which it will be played, and other areas it might be played. Some say that a great mix on great speakers, or terrible speakers in the case of Yamaha NS10s, will translate to anything. However, what does it hurt to check it out in as many places as possible? You might be surprised. I know I generally am

John Chittum

DMA Candidate, Composition, UMKC

Freelance Audio Engineer, Live and Recording.