Or at least know the limitations of your monitoring system. Choosing a pair can be a nightmare as consistency in tonal balance is rarely found even within the stable of the same manufacturer! Compare the Sennheiser HD600 (red) to HD800 (turquoise) which come from the same designer… for some reason the higher end headphone has a massive treble spike.
The “trick” of creating an illusion of a listening environment on headphones is undoubtedly exciting to behold, however the pro audio community would do wise to remember that unlike speakers, headphones aren’t a mature technology.
The problem is that frequency response of professional headphones (if there is such a thing) is all over the place… Naturally the effectiveness depends on how close the headphones are to the implied target curve of the HRTF emulation solution. All HRTF emulation relies on tonal precision to deliver the right kind of tonal alteration to the original signal, which is why it usually works on some headphones and misses the mark on others. In all feature pitches for HRTF emulation one stage of the process is conveniently left out – the headphones themselves. So, it sounds like we have this HRTF thing in the bag? Not quite. Products like Waves NX add the final touch – continuous head tracking, which is essential for sound source elevation perception. The Finns promise to calculate one’s head related transfer function (HRTF) from a 3D model which in turn is created from a series of 2D image the engineer takes on their own with a smartphone. Genelec has gone even further with their new Aural ID tech. What these numbers should be can be calculated from real world measurements of a person’s head. The next level is achieved by adjusting the timing of crossfed signals, after all – if a sound hits you from the left side, it takes some time for it to wrap around your head and get into your right ear.
There’s the simple option of offering a frequency dependent channel bleed, called crossfeed. Taking care of the specific imaging a headphone offers is less straightforward.
Some of our clients have actually learned how to mix bass on them.
Still, the two Achilles heels of headphones remain – the in-your-head sonic image and the lack of a physical full body sound experience.Ĭombating the lack of visceral impact in headphones can be attempted with bass shakers like the one from Subpac. In the last 30 or so years headphone listening has taken off, as has headphone use for critical audio monitoring previously relegated exclusively to speakers. A necessary peripheral to be used when speaker listen is impossible or unfeasible. better for mixing, yes, but the better your headphones going in, the better they will sound after correction.Traditionally headphones have been thought of as an audio accessory.
this software isn't going to make your ATX-20's sound like $450 Senheisers. no personal calibration to my sets here either.Īnother misconception people may have. I just use the default curve for my headphone models too. Isn't Waves NX supposed to work so that your headphones will sound different depending on your head's physical position, just like if you were sitting listening through the monitors and turned your head, or back away a little or moved a little closer, etc? That's an interesting view on Waves NX vs Sonarworks. I was simply saying there are some room issues it won't (and can't) do anything with. I didn't mean to imply that it won't help a completely untreated room. But, here's the rub I also have Waves NX, which also has a generic correction curve for the same headphones but sounds quite different from Sonarworks! So, which should I trust? The Sonarworks speaker calibration made a big positive difference to my untreated studio space which had troublesome resonant frequencies and I've since added some room treatment, which I'm still experimenting with but from my viewpoint I'd definitely recommend.Īs for the headphone treatment with Sonarworks I'm utilising a generic correction curve (not the send away for calibration). Steve Carter wroteI have the Sonarworks speaker with calibration mic and headphone package.