New to the forums but been dabbling off and on with ableton for about 7 years now. Never made anything of it and always took it as another interest in the many I have. When not working with a daw I would analyze tracks I heard in my head and think how it would look on the daw, how they made sounds synthesized etc. So while not working on it production was nearly always on my mind. Fast forward to now, getting a new pc and a stable place to live I am delving back into music production.

My old studio was robbed from my storage locker along with everything I owned about 3 years back setting me back dearly, so what I have now is only a pc with no sound card and a pair of Sennheiser pc360's. Used to have a nice external soundcard and some KRK monitors etc.

Producing now only on headphones is pretty hard to deal with in terms of low frequencies. What sounded nice last night on the headphones sounded like pure dogshit once played through the car speakers.

Question here is as a rough way of producing music and hearing how it sounds through other speakers, IE car stereo, laptop, cellphone, cheaper headphones, would a lowcut filter around 40-70hz for the bass track be acceptable? Just to clear all the mud away that i cant hear through my headphones for now.

My idea was I keep the bass track with the 40-70 range cut out for now until i get monitors again within 6 months, then when I get the monitors go back and master the bass proper. Wanted to see peoples thoughts on this, sorry for the long post.


TLDR:: Headphones don't play lows, car does. Waiting on monitors in 6 months, how to I produce until then without mud appearing through the speakers that I cant hear through the headphones.

 

Listen to already mixed music and test cds. Compare both environments. Make notes. Then try to "learn" the interplay between both the headphones and car. If your phones absolutely won't give you any 1st octave, then you gotta fly by instruments and check your freq anlyizer. It can be done, and you'll improve your ear while doing it

 

Someone recommended the cheap-but-good Samson SR850s. I bought em', was less than 100 bucks on amazon so I wasn't expecting much. But the good reviews were spot on. This is a good second pair of headphones, because when you have bass problems you will immediately hear it as boom and rubble in these cans. They have a clear low end and slightly darker highs compared to the 3 times as expensive AKG K271s I also had laying around. Open back too, so not too shabby for mixing either when you're too lazy to switch up to your main pair / speakers.

The only problem is they don't "stretch" much, so if you got a big fat head, you better hope it slims down over those long SR850 mix sessions.

 

A car shouldn't be reference for a mix. Yet you like that sound, that's okay. But you also don't build a 5m3 (175 cu ft) stuffed metal studio with 300 W subwoofer and speakers facing your legs..

 

Appreciate the replies, I will give what mooger said a go and see if I can discern the differences. Also Satai I will check them headphones out but money is not something I want to spend right now as I'm saving for a Babyface and a few other things. I was not using the car for reference also, It was just out of curiosity on what it sounded like not on headphones so i through the wav on my phone and checked it out. The difference was unreal in how muddy the sounds were vs on headphones, and not muddy like distorted just over the top low end sounds coming out of the speakers and making that inaudible ruckus.

 

But a car is a very important environment. I think, especially for club/bass heavy tracks, the car is one of the most important tests

 

My logic is "Hey man listen to this" he throws it on his phone or whatever and puts it on his car, now pure shit pours out of the speakers. Its just a mastering issue on my end and when I am not so dead tired I will try my idea tomorrow about just flat cutting out anything under the 40-70 range and see how it goes, then from there make adjustments.

 

Yet this is an environment you're in every day driving to work, etc. I know how mastered tracks sound in that environment. Agreed, it's not the do all end all. Sometimes you'll have problems you can't hear depending on your vehicles sound system. But if it don't pass the truck test, it's back to the mixing board! Also a large majority of listeners will be in exactly that environment.
I think it's useful to reference mixes in several types of listening environments.

 

I think that was me. I live in my SR850's.

Just checked Amazon, They're 40 bucks on there, and trust me they are more than worth the cash, even if it does set you back a bit in time on the Babyface. To give you an idea. This was mixed using them. So those with monitors can check, and tell you the result

 

Just ordered me a pair of SR850's. $34.49 shipped on Amazon!

 

You'll like them. The pads aren't the most comfortable, well mine aren't cos there pvc, but there's options to change. Just a quick question. How does that track sound to you on monitors?

 

That's a problem I have listening to other's posted music. My Music PC (where the monitors are) has no internet connection. Out in the boonies! Happy to give it a listen if I can get a downloadable version.

 

Sent you a P.M.

 

You know that song by The Clash "I fought the lows... and lows won"?

 

Just get you a good pair of 8 inch cone monitors with good sub, and low mid frequency responses. Or invest in a sub. I've only used earbuds and headphones to reference how good my mixes sound on other devices, not to mix on. Not saying that it shouldn't or can't be done. Just that I'm unfamiliar with the process.

 

No offense, but I'm listening to this through my JBL LSR308s, and their isn't much width in the instrumentation. Almost sounds like everything was programmed dead center. Only thing I hear on the sides is the "heh heh" vocal chop. There also seems to be some phase issues with a couple synths. The beat is good though.

 

Cheers for the report. To be honest I never do go mad for width. Guess I'm a bit old skool on the width thing. That said though, it is a very bass centric track, so pretty much everything is going straight down the middle, but some percussion. There are 2 light leads are just being ping ponged, as is the vocal, and the big lead synth pulses in and out, so I left that in the centre, as I wasn't using anything else to ballance it out if I panned it to one side. Would be interested to know which synth parts have phase issues, as I don't loose anything in mono. The E2 is good for punching out a beat.

 

Appreciate the responses here, but before we divert too far down from the OP topic at hand, my question is, and correct me if I am wrong, the sub bass, non audible/semi audible tones that you feel more than hear sonically, they are in the 0-40 or 0-70hz range? From reading a few places I see varied answers. Now without me spending a dime today tomorrow or next week, because its simply not possible since we are diverting most of our spending towards my SO's new small business would me doing a rough master of cutting those hz out of my tracks be okay sonically? As it stands what my headphones play for the low end sound fine, but once it goes into my car its dogshit. So trying to figure out a mastering tip or trick to help in this situation. Appreciate everyone's time here.

**Edit** This is not for final production or release, this is just so I can work on projects for the next 6 months and not have such a clash from in my house at 6am to in the car at 3pm the next day.

 

I cut my subs group at around 36hz.