My own experience is that a mix that sounds good on speakers will nearly always translate well to headphone listening, but that the reverse is not a given by any means! And there are some crucial mix factors that are notoriously difficult to get right on headphones, such as vocal levels and reverb treatments. It’s easier to pick up the warning signs of excessive volume that can cause hearing damage when you’re working on speakers. Long periods spent working on speakers are less fatiguing and less isolating than prolonged headphone use. Why not simply buy a good pair of headphones, and cut the room out of the equation entirely?Īll other things being equal, there are plenty of reasons why good speakers in a good-sounding room are desirable. Can Sonarworks’ calibration plug-in help to make mixing on headphones less of a compromise?įollowing our recent cover feature on control room design, one reader took to the SOS forums to ask whether it is ever cost-effective for home studio owners to spend thousands on acoustic treatment.
