Are "neutral" headphones and monitoring speakers a scam? (*)

Gear
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Yesterday I read a raving review about the IK Multimedia ARC ON-EAR Software.

It has a library of about 250 Headphone models and “virtual rooms, to recreate how real studio monitors behave in an ideal acoustic space.”

A product like this means: there is no neutral!

The same publication does reviews of headphones, often telling me how neutral they are.
Should neutral not mean: “linear”?
And if so, how can they sound so different that there is a need for a product like IK Multimedia ARC ON-EAR Software?

For rooms & monitors I can use a software like REW to measure, analyze and adjust. It’s really great, but still it will have all kinds side effects of reflections, standing waves etc.

For headphones that is harder. And a library of headphone models means, IK Multimedia has measured all those headphones, so they can be used as a reference for whatever you have.

Now, some brands are known for bad quality control - same model headphones can sound wildly different (Hifiman, for example).
I had the problem with my own Audtrain Audio, which sounded different when I replaced the cushions. It sounds great, kind of, but is it “neutral”, when it sounds different then before? Is it neutral now? Or was it neutral before?
Applying a library setting to those kinds of headphones will have no valid result.
So, a software like IK Multimedia ARC ON-EAR Software is bullsh#t. And neutral head phones too???

If there is no neutral, how can I make sure that a mix is done properly?

Bueller? @Howard? Anyone?

PS Sorry for the rant. I just drank a very strong coffee, directly after falling out of my bed :slight_smile:

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No speaker has a perfectly flat response but monitors shoot for having as flat a response as possible (as opposed to bass and guitar cabs, party speakers, home stereo speakers, and so on, which are often optimized for a bigger bass, treble, or mids response based on application).

Then all rooms will add various resonances and changes to the speaker response.

No, flat response monitors and PAs are not a scam.

However things marketed as FRFR kind of are, as it’s basically the same as any typical monitor or PA in response, just usually for more money.

The reason this product of IK’s exists is because producers have this common belief that you should monitor a mix in as many ways as you can, with different monitors, headphones, car stereo, phone speaker, and so on to be able to optimize the mix not just to sound perfect with flat response, but also over a variety of devices. This IK thing probably is marketed at them to save them from having to buy all the actual 'phones and speakers.

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That could actually make sense (not that I’m willing to do that).

I’m not so much worried about output to my PA. I just use it to verify if it would sound great over speakers … and to reduce bass in my mix, when it’s booming.

The headphone implications worry me. There is no real reference, right?

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Headphones are different and are usually measured against the Harmann curve. This models the effect of just a flat response 'phone over a typical ear canal. But there are plenty of flatter response 'phones too; the Sony MDR-V6 line is generally held up as a standard there.

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Ah, in fact I have set any output device I own (and is capable of) to the Harman curve.

For speakers that I can measure (with REW or DIRAC) that’s easy. For some of my headphones too (they have MIMI).

But not for my f#cking monitoring headphone.

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Here’s a really cool free VST3 plugin that emulates a lot of different speakers and spaces. Put it on you master buss or the end of an audio chain (like it Gig Performer).

PlaceIt (scroll down a bit)

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It’s one of those things that people tend to say they should do, but put off til once in never. Most of the (amateur) producers I’ve followed claim the biggest bang for buck effort is with testing on the cheapest piece of **** they have or car speakers.

At least audio is more straightforward than color. Sort of… >.>

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I got rid of my wonderful Saab 900 convertible a few years ago. And that car had very very good speakers, as I put a lot of effort into that to get it perfect.
Now I only ride bikes, public transportation (or if there is no other option: rentals). So that’s no option.

But I do have some can-sized Anker SoundCore Mini Bluetooth speakers somewhere. They are truly terrible. “Piece of sh#t” would be a insult to sh#t, really.

Ah, maybe even worse: my Pringels speakers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSh5qRfkMm0

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There’s nothing attractive about Reference headphones, monitors, speakers. Like everything else it takes time to gain enough level of experience to know what sounds good.

It took me a very long time to come up with my complicated mastering ritual. I have a couple of headphones a few monitors that I usually listen through. Then it’s a couple of cars to make sure the level of mid bass and lower mid mix level. Then it’s the mix of bluetooth speakers, before I can finalize the mix.

I envy some engineers that can do this from one source/ place.

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I am pretty sure there is a plugin that simulates all those environments :sweat_smile:

This one is free!

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Think of neutral in this context as the intention of the headphones/monitors

i.e. they are designed to reproduce the sound without ‘colouring’ it vs. consumer headphones or speakers which might try to ‘improve’ the sound with extra bass sweetening eq settings built in etc

so technically they might not be perfectly neutral but they are practically useful

this leads to your second question

The key here is to add the second tool mixers use in addition to neutral headphones/monitors and that is reference tracks

this involves comparing your mix on your speakers with an ‘ideal mix’ (or mixes i.e. maybe 3 to 5 tunes that you want your particular mix to sound comparable with), with the logic being I know these songs are mixed really well and sound great on everything so if my song compares well to that I can be confident it will sound good on many devices too…easier said than done but there are tools for this which can help you compare

I use Metric AB (you can load in reference tracks and then compare with your mix across many factors while you are mixing it in the DAW) but there are plenty of others

the plugin to simulate a car stereo that @Paul mentions above is another tool people use too to get an idea of how their mix will sound in the ‘real world’ on various crappo speakers, but I prefer just referencing to great mixes

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@g13dip - that was actually very useful, der Groschen ist gefallen, or so I hope.

So, monitoring head phones can should be as neutral (linear) as possible, so it reveals everything in a mix without to much colouring. Which rules out bass heavy head phones or so called HIFI head phones.
You don’t have to have the perfect linear head phones - which is not possible anyway, I guess.

You use it for the basic mix. Using those headphones you can (optionally) compare it to tracks you find similar in targeted tone. Maybe use software for it.

If you are satisfied, you run it through diferent scenarios (speakers/rooms) and adjust, so you know that your track works for a wide range of potential listeners and situations.

Like that?

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:+1: you got it

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I wish I knew this about three hours ago. My first remix ever just got uploaded to DistroKids :slight_smile:

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Yeah IIRC this is the idea behind Steven Slate’s VSX headphones - they have basically a built-in model of something similar to that IK plugin referenced above and allow simulating a lot of these different speaker environments with the 'phones.

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Harmon isn’t neutral and it’s curveS as there are more than one of them; they’re just a reference of what people prefer to listen to. There are several reference curves now, a lot of the testing sites like sound guys and rtings have their own curves.

Since humans are not finely tuned measuring devices, what we hear depends from depends a lot on our physiology eg pinna gain and hmtf. Making a headphone or speaker neutral/flat does not mean that we’ll hear it that way. Also, psychoacoustics has a significant effect, if you go listen to headphones that lack bass and then put on “neutral” headphones, they’ll sound like they have significantly more bass. What’s commonly called “burn in” is mostly just your brain getting used to things.

Neutral isn’t required for mixing/mastering, only something that’s predictable. Some studio monitors are actually terrible speakers for listening but they accentuate frequencies that you might want to minimize and they’re commonly used so people know what the final mix will sound like for most listeners.

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You need to know your target audience. It would be nice to mix on a nice and neutral Can but if your audiences are using a bass canon your mix will blow their ears.

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This is why you need to reference your mix to other tracks you want to sound like…if you do that correctly your mix will sound the same as any other well mixed track (of your target style) played through the bass canon

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^^^ :100: , and a lot of mixing and mastering tools will load reference tracks to target if you like.

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That would be people who are so high that they click on the wrong link and end up on my track :slight_smile:

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