Ultimate Guide to Mixing with Headphones

🎧 Headphones in this Video

*For a more accurate headphone level measurement, place the meter mic centered in between your headphone ear pads. Press them together to create a "seal" and start your measurement. This is not meant to be scientifically exact, it's intended to help you stay within a safe range. I recommend monitoring WELL BELOW the suggested max level!

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult a health care professional with hearing related questions or concerns.

Many thanks to Beyerdynamic for sponsoring this video! All opinions expressed are honest and based on my actual experiences mixing with headphones professionally for over 15 years.

🔈 My Studio Gear

💬 Let's Connect

[SeanDivine]

*NOTE: For a more accurate headphone level measurement, place the meter mic centered in between your headphone ear pads. Press them together to create a "seal" and start your measurement. This is not meant to be scientifically exact, it's intended to help you stay within a safe range. I recommend monitoring WELL BELOW the suggested max level!

[AaronOwenSmith]

I've mixed on headphones for once 20 years. My tips are use both open and closed, it's night and day that way.
Always check levels on speakers at the end.
Use mono a lot. And high end speaker IRs also help give a different perspective.

[DreErdna]

I always appreciate the presentation & delivery of your videos: Smooth & professional while also being cool & intriguing

[djthamlas_tbs]

The last statement is true man, at the end of the day using the same gear makes you very familiar and makes it much easier to mix

[mattbantle]

Great video! It would be awesome to see a follow-up video diving into more hands-on techniques (e.g. levels and panning) now that the 'hardware' side of things has been covered. Thanks again for the great content!

[beyerdynamic]

Great video Sean, very informative! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Have fun with your new headphones 🔥

[SteeleMusic]

Very informative! Definitely save a lot of heartache and avoid losing your ability to hear the mix and everyday task!

[mystikrebel]

Sean thanks for the app as downloaded it while watching your video again and it was measuring the sound levels as you spoke so all safe lol

[Swiftopher]

EQ'ing your headphones is also a good practice, o stopped using sonarworks as it makes everything to dull for me, i researched EQ'ing mine to the harman curve and i love the resulys, i recommend people to research it and try sonarworks/harman curve eq to see what best suits you

[GloveBunniesVideos]

Great video, Sean! This helps so much.

[michaelorourke]

Great video Sean, Thank you and Happy Christmas!

[maxxfield]

Ive found a noticeable sound difference between my apollo headphone output and adding a topping l30 mark 2. They arent that much money and it adds details to every single headphone i have from m50x to ndh30 to lcdx. I strongly recommend the small investment

[AVDRE]

This is a very important video for sure. Thanks Sean!

[erickpo]

Open backs imo beneficially are in the low acoustic impedance that means if you have broken seal or move your headphones a bit, its not gonna change the frequency response so much.. For an amp i think its better to match the output impedance to your headphones especially if you use dynamic driver headphones.. for budget amp the sweet spot is between 80-150 ohm i think.

[asimgeekhan]

came her efor the guide to mixing, distracted by your desk setup and rack mounts. Did you build that?

[Ccjk]

I was waiting for a breakthrough with my headphones in mixing. Thank you Sean!

[ELMCinc]

Thanks Sean that was some good information

[richertz]

I measured my hearing recently thinking I was in for a shock. Maybe Iucky by I was 93% at 44 years old. Not bad really. I think having lots of breaks, shor bursts of loud are fine but don't listen to loud volumes for long periods. I also mix at low volumes 95% of the time which is much better for good mixes.

[BlueJavaTN]

Nice info - especially on protecting hearing as I wish I had someone talk more about that when I was younger. How are you liking the gen2 Apollo? Also, awesome camera work on the video!

[Mixedbyquadeyg]

Welcome to the apollo x gen 2 club I love the new apollos 🔥🔥🔥