Abbey Road Studio 3 Headphone plugin...

[tothemax]

Just listened to a Bobby Owsinski talk on mixing and one the questions he got was on how to get a quality mix with headphones. He said that the Abbey Road Studio 3 was his plugin of choice, it happens to be on sale for $29.00 today (normally $50.00). Just thought I'd see what the group thought about the product. I'm going to download a trial and see how it sounds.

What was interesting was his position on monitors being dependent on the room size, and anything less than an 8" woofer having difficulty carrying the bass, hence the headphone discussion. Sub's were brought up and while that can be a solution he was saying that it is critical to match manufacturers unless you have the skillsets to match product specs.

 

[silky smoove]

I’m a daily user of Slate VSX, which is a similar idea but rather than just software for use on any set of headphones, VSX is software calibrated for specific hardware. It’s a much more complete solution, albeit one that is considerably more expensive. The hardware had some growing pains, but the current aluminum band models are solid. It’s far more effective than it has any right to be given the low price when compared to monitors and acoustic treatments, let alone adding in a Trinnov to get hyper-accurate rooms.

I’m a big fan of these solutions.

 

[tothemax]

After installing the demo, there is a significant difference in working with headphones. Really adds depth and clarity. I'm using the default webcam option to track my head movements, while it's a cool feature I don't think it's critical for getting your mix right. But being able to dial in your headphones and simulate mixing in a Pro studio kicks it up quite a bit. I'll probably drop the $30 on this software.

 

[semiprohooker]

After installing the demo, there is a significant difference in working with headphones. Really adds depth and clarity. I'm using the default webcam option to track my head movements, while it's a cool feature I don't think it's critical for getting your mix right. But being able to dial in your headphones and simulate mixing in a Pro studio kicks it up quite a bit. I'll probably drop the $30 on this software.

I would recommend trying the other NX Rooms first. Ocean way is an extremely popular room, the new germano studios (the hit factory), and CLA NX are all different flavors of the same plugin. I personally like the CLA version because of the "boombox" feature. Kinda like using some auratones to check your mix on a lofi source. So far my mixes have been translating much more consistently than straight headphone mixing. Also, taking the time to measure your head actually does make an audible difference in your soundstage.

 

[tothemax]

Thanks for the tips. Since the $29 sale was ending on March 1st, so I did purchase the Abbey Road plugin. At some point I will try a demo of the products you mentioned. Measuring my head is an easy upgrade . It took a few ear shocks to remember to turn the plugin off after a mixing session (it's a real wakeup to open a project and have it kick in with a pop).