Over the years, we’ve reviewed a number of systems that are designed to measure the frequency response in your control room, and apply corrective equalisation to flatten out a loudspeaker system. This is where Latvian start-up Sonarworks come into the frame. Treble boost can easily mask problems in the mid-range, and most closed-back designs also suffer to a greater or lesser extent from a boxiness in the low mids, which can make it really difficult to know whether a ‘tubby’ bass sound is a real problem, or whether overhang from the kick drum is really masking something else. Even when I know this is the case, I find it undermines my confidence in making decisions about the bottom end, and in evaluating potential mix problems such as excessive sibilance or cymbal wash. And while it’s true that familiarity with any monitoring system enables you to learn its quirks and compensate for them, I often feel that there are ‘blind spots’ to which you never fully acclimatise.įor instance, quite a few of the studio ’phones I’ve tried have a noticeably ‘scooped’ frequency response, which exaggerates the high and low frequencies at the expense of the mid range. I’ve used quite a few pairs of ‘phones over the years, and am often surprised at quite how different from one another two supposedly ‘flat’ headphones can sound. Having said that, mixing on headphones is simply a fact of life for many SOS readers, whether it’s because we don’t have the space and budget for a control room, or because we’re mixing on the road. 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.

Sonarworks reference 3 kickass