Final mix -speakers vs headphones

[Gary Atkinson]

I don't hear so well out of my right ear anymore.What is the best method to get everything blended and panned?If we use speakers how far apart should they be? I would really like to hear some opinions on this. Gary A.

[David Doggett]

The rule of thumb I have always heard is that the speakers should be as far apart from each other as you are from them. In other words you and the two speakers should be at the corners of an equilateral traingle.

As for your unbalanced hearing, I would think you could crank up the speaker on your weak side until the sound seems centered to you. Semi-theoretically that should sound the same to you as a properly centered balance does to a person with normal hearing. Just be sure you are panning only the monitors, not the way the final mix is recorded.

[Glenn Austin]

Hi Gary, I wouldn't crank up one side more than the other, for the simple reason that when you're sitting in front of speakers, both ears are hearing both speakers. Balancing the instruments has nothing to do with your left or right ear. You could set up a great balance with the speakers in the next room. I used to mix alot of stuff using a single 2 inch speaker on a Studer 1/4 inch tape machine, which was in the back of the room.

If you have recorded drums with stereo overheads and individual mics for all the drums, then just solo the drums,to pan the drums to match their placement with the overhead tracks. Again a floor tom which is panned to the right will still be heard by your left ear. I don't think that there are two people on this earth that have exactly the same hearing in both ears, plus hearing and listening are two very different things.

[Tony Prior]

Have someone sit with you or maybe don't worry about it all that much. If the workstation settings can be viewed for panning and EQ's then just go with the levels and it will most likely sound fine. Unless of course you are mastering for a 1,000,000 copy distribution !

The great thing about being able to do all this stuff at home is that we can mix down, master, burn a CD and listen for a week or two. If we don't like it we can go back and do it again and the most you will be out is a little time and a $.50 CD.

[Gary Atkinson]

Thanks for the info guys.One reason I'm interested in this is because the friend I'm doing this project with likes to use headphones.I'm wondering if most people use headphones or speakers for mixing.What are the good and bad sides of each.I've been in some of the big studios and I know they use speakers,but they have a million dollars worth of equipment.I know what I want to hear,but I don't know how to get it.That's bad ain't it?Once again thanks. Gary A.

[David L. Donald]

Turn your good ear to the speakers and switch back and forth between each speaker slowly.

If the parts seem balanced, then they are likely ok,
even if you can't hear them at the same volume
through the bad ear.

Same for EQ etc.

The basic equalateral triangle works with the exception of
seating yourself where the bass response in the room is smoothest.
if that means a bit farther or closer to the speakers so be it.

If you DO change your position from perfect triangle.
Just make sure the speakers are aimed at you directly.

[Jeremy Steele]

I mix using headphones for two reasons. Most of my mixing is done late at night and I can't blast the speakers without incurring the wrath of She Who Must Be Obeyed...the other reason is that I do most of my music listening on an ipod...I have learned that if I make the mix in the phones a bit more "bright" than I would through speakers it seems to sound pretty flat when played thru my monitors...YMMV.

[David Doggett]

I don't hear so well out of my right ear anymore.What is the best method to get everything blended and panned? Gary A.

Gary, what it sounds like you need is some way to separate the monitor or headphone circuit so that it can be panned right without the actual mix being panned. Suppose the actual mix comes out the A channel speakers. Then you take the B channel and run it through a device that allows that channel alone to be panned. You listen through that channel and pan it until something in the center of the mix sounds to you like it is in the center. The actual mix is not affected by that pan. But now you are hearing through channel B what a person with normal hearing hears through channel A. Now while you are mixing, you cut channel A and listen only through your personally balanced channel B. You then pan the individual mixing tracks or the whole mix to sound the way you want it to. When something sounds centered to you listening through your B channel, it should also sound centered to someone listening through the normally balanced A channel, that is the main mix. If you want to play it for someone else, give them channel A. If your system doesn't allow individual panning of the A and B speaker channels, then you will have to get some device that makes that happen. A separate small mixer or separate headphone box would do that. It might introduce some noise, but that would only be in your headphones, not in the mix itself.