The Logic of Flatness

The logic I've learned is that during mixing and mastering, the monitor speakers and headphones should have a flat frequency profile. For example, I use Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro Black Edition headphones. By using SoundID Reference, I seem to achieve this flat profile.

The end result sounds flat without further processing – lacking tonal color and, in my view, not very enjoyable to listen to. Proper post-processing allows me to optimize the sound obviously.

The contradiction in my mind: I need to e.g. emphasize lows, highs, etc., because they are simply missing in the flat state. However, no one listens to music through devices or headphones that adhere to this flat logic. Doesn’t this mean that by emphasizing, for example, the bass, I end up with an excessive bass on a typical – often already bass-heavy – consumer device? In a negative way, that is.

Isn't that therefore a contradiction in itself?


Thanks

 

No, they can hype whatever they want on their own devices or playback systems or headphones or speakers...

Mixing or mastering to a "flat" response, or true response is going to be better accommodated by all that.

If you hype the bass to how you like it on your personal headphones, it's gonna be a lot more on theirs and distort/be out of whack etc.

Make it sound good in the best accurate listening/monitoring environment you have, and be aware of things like laptop speaker playback and how people generally listen to what you are making, (so things like 808's aren't lost on an iPhone speaker etc) and whatnot...

and it will translate. or at least that is what you are shooting for. I know different tech has made for moving targets, but that's kinda an ancillary conversation.

 

i think it's common knowledge (and i'm sure many here will agree) that you should try your final product on as many different devices as possible. nowadays it's very easy anyway. check on your phone, on your laptop, on your speakers, on earphones and headphones, etc. etc. listening in a car is always a good idea.
i'm pretty sure many great tracks have been made on cheap speakers, just by using common sense and knowledge.

 

pick a frequency. Let's use 100hz. If my headphones have a dip at that frequency, of say -3dB. To correct it, Sonarworks, etc. will therefore add +3dB at 100hz. Now it is flat. Then I listen and do my mix, with the +3dB correction at 100hz already there; in theory, I would have added +3 dB more on top of it to fix the -3dB dip at 100hz. You have to bypass it on the master after that.

 

In addition to that, you can check your mixes on different devices using Audified Mixchecker. It quickly reveals all the bandpassing, overloading, masking, resonances & distortion needed to know how your mix performs on these devices.

 

Equalizer APO + autoeq.app

 

Use reference tracks

 

Once you get it, which you will, tune your headphones with EQ to how you like listening to music, which should be, once you understand, the same as you like mixing. Listen for hours, learn how you like it, learn how you like the different frequency ranges to react. Same principal with speakers. Combine this with reference tracks that you know really well and you will never have a problem again. If your monitoring (HP or speakers) is not EQd and calibrated to work with your taste then your great mixes will be all over the place in the real world, this means if you listen to your references and there's not enough bass then put more low end in the EQ of your headphones. The flat thing using software with a predetermined curve is all well and good, and handy as an insight, but I always found them midrange heavy to my taste, nowhere near enough sub energy or very tops which is what I like ergo I want to mix like that.

A totally flat curve on your headphones provided by something like Sonarworks et al only works if you like listening to said curve. Which is why most of those programs have additional broad EQ you can apply to bring it in line with your taste. Never rely on a totally flat monitoring experience, rely on one that is calibrated to your own personal taste, ideally without external (room treatment etc) being a factor. This is widely understood in most elite engineering circles.

 

Last edited: Jun 11, 2024

Most people forget to analyze what " sounds good" means in this context.

In my book: sounds good != sounds exciting.

 

You don't think something that sounds exciting, sounds good ;) ?

 

There's no logic in delivering a flat response with headphones anyway.

All measurements, including Sonarworks, are magnitude responses obtained by placing them on a flat surface with a hole. Your head is nothing like that, and the slightest air gap produces a filter that results in inaccuracies below 300Hz, along with a series of frequency bumps and spikes. Not to mention your outer ear resonating with the sound, and as we all have different-sized ears - they all resonate at differing frequencies.

 

Is quite the opposite, the curve correction helps me a lot to nail better the low end cause my HD650s "dry" lacks a lot on that department, for example. The correction curve is the to compensate the coloration (or lack of) for each specific pair of cans. Is a really helpful tool. You will have a mix that will translate better to a wider range of devices at the end.

 

I have no idea what Spartan said .. but it sounds right.

So, I'm going with him.

 

Not necessarily in general. But in the context of the listening environment that was created for technical reasons - in any case not.