Part 5 of 5 in Music Production for Beginners

Even in a simple home recording setup, you’re going to need a decent quality pair of studio headphones and general speakers. You’ll need to be able to hear your mix “close up” through the headphones, and you’ll want to hear the “overall” mix on speakers, to get a general feel of what it sounds like in the real world.

This might be obvious, but headphones are also necessary for recording vocals and live instruments so that the overall mix blaring through the speakers doesn’t “bleed” through to the main mix. A regular pair of ear buds or standard walkman headphones aren’t going to be enough to hear the mix properly.

A good pair of studio headphones doesn’t necessarily have to be extremely expensive. I recommend the standard ear “suction cups” that cover the entire ear and drown outside noise. It’s very helpful if the earphones swivel to give more flexibility (it’s common for vocalists to hold only one ear phone up and the swivel makes it less awkward).

It’s good for the headphones to give you a broad dimension of your mix. As you start experimenting with spatial positioning (left and right balance) and other digital effects you want to be able to hear all of your adjustments clearly. Most headphones use a standard 1/4″ or 1/8″ audio cable, and if you’re using a computer, the 1/8″ is going to be the more common input.

Good speakers are important if you want a good idea of what the mix generally sounds like in the real world. Again, it’s not necessarily a place to spend a ton of money here, but super cheap basic speakers may not be enough. Professional studio monitors (speakers) require a more intricate setup. If you’re only using your home computer for recording,  a high quality pair of stereo computer speakers should be adequate.

When mixing, headphones are a good idea close up, but you’ll notice that the mix sounds way different once you listen to it on open speakers. It’s sometimes a little tricky to find the balance that sounds good through both the headphones and the speakers (but with enough tinkering it’ll happen). You have to keep in mind that the mix needs to sound pleasing whether someone’s listening to it on their mp3 player, home audio system, laptop or their car stereo.

Studio Headphones Under $100

Here is a list of studio headphones that are under $100 that also have high customer ratings through Musicians Friend:

Choosing the right gear for your simple home recording setup can really help you produce a higher quality product, even on the amateur level. It’s good to invest a little more than the cheapest consumer level monitors and headphones, to help you listen to your mixes with far more clarity.

Peace,

Bret J. Piontek

p.s. Music Producer Pro offers comprehensive basic instruction in recording and producing music. Click here for more information.

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Related links:

Pro Audio Speakers – Studio Monitors – Getting the right position … - With all but the best equipped studios, positioning of monitors has to be a compromise between the theoretical optimum and a practical compromise with your environment. Do a quick search and you’ll read intructions about how you should position your monitors a third of the way across your studio space. This is great if you have a fairly small studio which is rectangular, but what if your space isn’t rectangular or is very large? And getting it inch perfect is fairly pointless if you have other problems in your environment like a very large window or an unusual ceiling.

Studio Headphones - Here are the five best ipod studio headphones, ranked by majority of users. A home theater can make your headphones into an amazing pair of studio headphones by the way the sounds are processed. This is just a mere sampling of some of …

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