I use my pair of Grado sr80e's when making music on AT. I bought them with the intention of using them as mixing headphones, but I now realize that these headphones have a noticeable drop off around 100 Hz and a rather turbuent high end, according to my own ears and some frequency response graphs that I found online. However, I really like the mid-range on the Grados.
Some frequecy graphs: (link is only visible to registered users) (link is only visible to registered users)
I'm concerned that my mixes are going to suffer due to the Grado's limited bass range, since I mainly produce techno. I'm also self taught and haven't recieved much feedback regarding my mixes. I would love to recieve feedback regarding the mix quality of the tracks on my profile page and/or advice from more experienced AT users who have used headphones with similar frequency responses.
Thank you very much!
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This just made my day awesome! My basses were very lacking, and my trebles had a few sharp peaks. I used a low shelf to boost my bass and used a few notch filters to calm down the larger peaks in the treble. I found a 9dB peak at 2000 HZ, a 7 dB peak at 7000 Hz, and a 10 dB boost at 9000 Hz. I was constantly comparing a few frequency response graphs and did some A/B audio tests by listening to a variety of songs. I can't thank you enough. :D
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I agree that using professionally mixed reference tracks (be sure to match levels) is the best way to make sure that your mixes are good when monitoring with sub-optimal equipment. I just wanted to add that there's a related principle that some mixing engineers use to make sure that their mixes sound good everywhere: mixing in mono and monitor through the cheapest, crappiest monitors you can find. Some engineers use this only as a check at the end of their work, but others advocate using this throughout your mixing work. See an explanation here: (link is only visible to registered users)
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Thank you all for your informative responses.
I would like to clarify some things I said in my original post. When I said "I bought them with the intention of using them as mixing headphones, but I now realize that these headphones have a noticeable drop off around 100 Hz and a rather turbuent high end" I did not mean that I was completely disssapointed with my headphones and haven't found use for them. Quite the opposite. I use them all the time, however, they just don't have as much of a neutral frequency response as I has initially hoped for.
After doing some research, I have learned that open-backed headphones like mine tend to have less emphasized bass than earbuds or closed-back headphones. I'm glad to learn that this uneven response isn't going to prevent me from creating great sounding mixes. I suppose I've become jaded after seeing some negative reviews online.
I definitely agree that using reference tracks and developing good mixing habits are just as important as the gear that I use to mix on. By no means do I consider myself a seasoned mastering engineer and I am always accepting of constructive criticism thrown my way. :)
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I'm definitely not an expert at mixing, but when I need to mix I personally end up using very treble-heavy headphones (sivga sv007's, if you're wondering). Eventually you'll get used to the balance, but it takes lots of listening. Start by simply listening to some of your favorite albums and songs and try to adjust your ears to the sound signature of your headphones. Then, listen to some refference tracks while you're actually mixing. Hopefully this helps.
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I've started doing basically the same thing recently. I typically listen to tracks similar to the one I'm making so that I have the best reference. You could also apply this to really any headphone that has at least 20 - 20k frequency response. Any less, and some frequencies might slip through and go undetected.
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I have one other thing to add:
if your headphones are making the process of mixing especially difficult, you might consider EQing them. I don't know what kind of computer you have, but if you're running windows you can simply get APO equalizer: (link is only visible to registered users)
Of course, EQing headphones can become complicated. The easiest way to do it is with a frequency response curve: (link is only visible to registered users)
however, it is worth noting that individual pairs of headphones of the same kind can have different frequency responses. In other words, you probably won't ever get your headphones to be totally flat, but you may be able to get them closer to the ballpark. Of course, as always, use your ears while tweaking your headphones, and if something you did creates more problems than it solves, just undo it. If you want to try doing this, I would highly recommend getting an interface for the EQ I linked, because it's text-based in its raw form: (link is only visible to registered users)