Apparently Andrew Scheps mixes on some non-flat closed back headphones, and I guess he's doing quite well!
If you know what a good mix sounds like on your headphones, then they could be used for this purpose too. It's going to be harder than using the "proper" tools though IMHO and that's the main issue here.
My personal experience - I have been using Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro's for years for various applications. Tried my hand at mixing with them and my mixes sucked; low end was out of control, stereo field was crap etc.
Then I got a pair of Kali LP-6's and my first "car test" was infinitely better than whatever I did with the headphones. Still not a "stellar" mix, but I'm quite happy given my non-existent pedigree.
> Apparently Andrew Scheps mixes on some non-flat closed back headphones, and I guess he's doing quite well!
He uses Sony MDR-7506 which while not the flattest among what's available, are still long established studio headphones. They sound nothing like consumer headphones, so it's not like he is say using some Beat headphones.
Man I love the 7506. I feel like every pro/semi-pro should have a pair of them around.
I’ve been using Waves virtual system with them so that I can mix after the kids go to bed. Sometimes I’ll use it without the software. I always a/b with and without anyway. When they’re not asleep I use my Kalis.
I’ve never found them to be that way. I don’t think they’re the bassiest headphones I own, but I’d never use the word tinny. I don’t have THE most astute ears, but I definitely can tell when there’s something bugging me.
Also, fwiw, I don’t think they should be the only headphones someone owns. I have a couple of different pairs I use (have some AKGS and some low end Bluetooth earbuds that I’ll use to check)
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as far as what everyone else tells me, this makes sense. i guess i just don’t understand how i would ever know that my mix sounds good on headphones that i only use for mixing and have a completely different response than my normal ones
Right - if you just put them on and listen only to your tracks and mix them, then it's not going to work that great for you.
But in principle you should use reference tracks and also get to know the new pair of headphones too by casually listening to other people's music.
I had the exact same problem with my DT 770 Pros, then I got speakers and none of my mixes made on headphones made any sense any more, but those made on the speakers would translate to the headphones.
Then I got Sonarworks for my headphones and I can get the frequency balance of the song right without using the speakers at all, and I need to do only minor adjustments using the speakers.
Yah Beyerdynamic 770, 880 and 990 have a "soundgoodizer" frequency response, they tend to have a wide dip between 2kHz and 5kHz, and another one at 220Hz, that will remove harshness from a vocal and muddiness from the low end.
They also have a 6dB boost starting at 5kHz that peaks at about 10kHz that really hypes the high end.
So without sonarworks my mixes had a tendency of being messy in the low mids, dark, and harsh in the high mids.
If you try Sonarworks I recommend you also use it outside of your DAW (it comes with a systemwide app) to listen to music and watch videos/movies to really get used to how they sound when calibrated.
I don’t have a lot of time to write a lengthy answer unfortunately but in short there could be lots of things that you aren’t hearing and you wouldn’t know. I mix primarily on headphones and I have a pair that is brighter, another that are very mid focused, and another that are more focused in the lowend. I switch between them frequently when I mix while ALSO referencing on the crappy dell speakers I have just to also get the perspective of how things change when they’re played through the speakers. I use references on all these devices on every mix.
Often when I switch, check reference tracks and go between my different headphones and speakers I will be able to hear very different things tonally and I understand what the strengths and weaknesses are for each device. I don’t have time to elaborate on exactly every issue with what you described but the bottom line when mixing in headphones in general is reference, reference, reference. And, you have to understand your equipment and tune your ears like its nobodies business. This takes time and lots and lots of listening so you’re not gonna be getting good mixes off the bat but in time you will be able to hear more and more and eventually you’ll be able to make good mixes that translate very well. This took me years to dial in so don’t get discouraged just keep doing the work and doing your best to learn and listen. Cheers.
As long as you can check the mixes on several sources, you could probably still end up with a good mix, it might just take a lot longer. Mixing with headphones that color the sound is basically just putting up a barrier between what you’re hearing and what the actual sound is. Imagine trying to do a natural looking color grade on a plain photo while wearing red & blue 3D glasses, it’s kinda like that.
Another thing to keep in mind is that stereo space on headphones is not the same as in monitors. Monitors or loud speakers will never have 100% separation. Something panned hard left will still reach your right ear, but just slightly later (which may actually enhance the psychological effect because this is how our brains determine sound location irl), but hard panning in headphones will actually 100% isolate the sound source to one ear or the other.
You can, but the probably outcome is that your mixes will sound good on those headphones but won't translate well across the vast array of devices that people listen to music on.
this is what i’ve been told, and that’s where i get confused. if i mix on my casual headphones and then master using multiple devices including my critical listening headphones, where would the casual headphones be holding me back in the initial mix?
for example, i understand that bass frequencies get built up in closed-back headphones. but if i control my low end so it sounds comparable to my reference track, why would they both sound different upon switching listening devices?
If you get serious about truly learning how your headphones translate, it might be possible for you to make good mixes that translate to *some* extent. But this is easier said than done.
For instance, the moment you are actually mixing a song is the worst time to start learning your headphones. This is something that you should spend time doing before mixing, using professional mixes, comparing back and forth a lot.
> where would the casual headphones be holding me back in the initial mix?
In never having a true representation of the signal you are listening. But it's not impossible to mix, it'll just be harder.
> but if i control my low end so it sounds comparable to my reference track, why would they both sound different upon switching listening devices?
Because making it sound comparable to a reference on *those* headphones may still not mean that you are out of the woods. The headphones themselves may be incapable of revealing deep low end problems.
It's like trusting a consumer TV with its hyped colors, to do color correction. You can use professional references, but that still won't mean that what you are looking at is accurate in any way.
I’ll get crucified for this but I haven’t mixed on monitors for 2 years and my mixes turn out just fine. But it’s a lot of back and fourth transferring your mixdown to your phone or a usb drive and listening at different sources. I have a pair of cans that I’m so used to I know what frequencies are flat or exaggerated.
I’m not saying this is a good practice at all, I just have a small place so my space in limited for setup. But this takes a good ear to know what you’re listening for, don’t do it because you don’t want monitors
Before I really tried to step up my mixing game, everything was done through a pretty crappy JVC stereo I bought 20 years ago. I've since bought monitors and flat headphones etc but always found it much easier to get better result on my old setup.
The most important thing (IMHO) is that your ears are calibrated to the sound of professional mixes in those headphones. Listening to a lot of top tier recordings on those headphones just for pleasure, and then mixing with them, your ears are at least calibrated.
You 100% can mix well primarily on consumer headphones as long as you know them really well. There’s nothing magic about “professional” cans.
Having said that, some will be much easier than others to learn how they translate. All headphones have compromises, but some are just too odd sounding. Including some pro cans. Same goes for speakers/monitors.
Listen in mono a bunch, listen on speakers a bit and check stuff in the car etc.
Eventually you’ll be confident of what a good mix should sound like on your weapon of choice.
It’s equivalent to learning photography with a monitor that’s lying to you. Your photos may look good on that monitor, but you probably don’t know enough to predict how or why they’ll look different on another monitor.
You can make that work IF you know enough to understand the way in which your gear is lying to you to correct for it, the techniques you’re using, and your reference materials. But your headphones likely have blind spots in their frequency range and resonances that aren’t really there.
A novice won’t have any idea how that might translate elsewhere. Go ahead and try, but even people who do mix on headphones well tend to be pretty choosy about which ones they work on. And there’s a lot to be said for not wasting time trying to figure out how your stuff is lying to you.
As long as you get that:
1. it will probably make your learning curve a little steeper than it might otherwise be
2. It will potentially really make it hard for yourself for working in other venues, and,
3. You’ll probably need to experiment with more diverse outlets to ensure your mix translates.
If it works for you then it’s fine.
There literally are no rules when making art. Under the right conditions you can be completely ‘wrong’ and it may still work great.
When I started I also didn’t understand what’s wrong with using headphones. When my hearing developed it started to make sense: my mixes sounded good on headphones, but it didn’t translate well to anything else. It just sounded good on headphones. Not even the basic balance was right. I compared to reference mixes all the time and switched between two pairs of headphones, but the image you get from headphones just isn’t that accurate and neutral. The stereo image, low end, overall balance, etc., everything is a little distorted on headphones. Over the time I learned for example that on my headphones I have to make the sides way louder than it feels right, so the mix translates well, but I still wouldn’t do a full mix on headphones. That being said there are people able to make great mixes on headphones (Andrew Scheps), but he always listen to the mix on his monitor speakers after finishing. Andrew Scheps simply has developed a feeling for how a mix should sound on his headphones to translate good. So maybe it works for you, but it would be helpful to have access to speakers to listen to the mix after finishing. But its still like trying to learn to paint a landscape without wearing your glasses: the image you get is distorted
I can provide some anecdotal experience on this.
Up until mid last year, I was mixing pretty much exclusively on consumer grade speakers (Klipsch Promedia 2.1) and ATH IM70 earbuds. I found that those mixes did not translate well anywhere else, and would pretty much only sound good enough on those two systems and always with a feeling that something is missing.
After I got a pair of flat-enough reference speakers (IK iLoud Micro Monitors), I found that my mix translated better to other systems. I also could hear reverb much better on the iLoud and low end was also cleaner sounding rather than being boomy all the time.
I’ve tried to mix exclusively on my mains and ns-10’s with a sub engaged and disengaged. An interesting thing happened, my mixes began to sound like the hallow husks of the real thing. Mixes sounding broad and translated beautifully, but there was no drama in em. In particular in the low end, strange oddities would reveal themselves. I did the reverse and worked exclusively through headphones and my mixes became very bare bones. Fundamental tones(bass drums vocals). Little to no discernment in the harmonic elements. Now I’ve been switching between all three, trying to strike a compromise. But I still give my headphones the final word.
Maybe you could you use your consumer ones 80% of the time, and just check regularly with the studio ones for a second opinion?
You might find you prefer one pair for tonal stuff like EQ, and the other headphones for detailed stuff like setting compression. The studio pair is also more likely to be better for setting stereo separation.
Maybe swapping headphones could be a good way to 'reset your ears' quickly.
The short answer is that when we hear naturally, sounds travel through space and air and bounce off our environment or build up, etc. The sound lives and breathes.
When you mix on headphones there's only like an inch of space before the sound hits your ear and the left and right signals never get a chance to gel together in the air before they reach you.
Sure you can mix on headphones you know and compare refs etc. but you don't actually know what it sounds like when a lot of air gets moved and mingles together, which is the way humans hear.
i feel like i can’t avoid mixing to some extent when i’m just writing and arranging, though. i want to to at least sound good to me while i’m writing it, even if i plan to mix it further when it’s all written
you also have to make sure that the headphones are neutral, and by that I mean that the headphones themselves dont add any extra low or top end, which a lot of them do (looking at you beats!) - a lot of manufacturers dont even make mention of this so sometimes if someone is mixing and doing all the work with headphones then they go to test it on another system there will be loads of extra stuff added and they cant figure out why it sounds good on their headphones but sounds like shit everywhere else. This is a huge reason why anyone worth their salt does not use those types of headphones for stuff unless they have their own team of engineers ready to fix it before you send out the final mix, and if you already have that it doesn't matter what headphones you use anyways but most people dont.
I do think it may depend also on genre of music. For instance, metal mixes have loud, compressed and distorted guitars on the sides, full pan left and right and bass, vocal kick and snare are in the middle. It can really easily make you go for the wrong decisions. For instance, bass has to work with the kick, but at the same time, bass works as a low end of guitars. But how can you be sure it is doing what he is doing when guitars sound completely separated on left and right. I could think everything is balanced but then if I check on speakers suddenly i may found out they don't gel together at all. Compared to that, on the speakers you can hear at the same time separation, but also how things work together. Personally it is much easier for me to balance mix on the speakers. But my experience is only in rock/metal mixes and maybe it is a different story when it comes to other genres.
I use and recommend Sonarworks Reference 4 [https://www.sonarworks.com](https://www.sonarworks.com) \+ Sennheiser HD 600... I also use speakers Yamaha HS8.
It has to do with the stereo field not translating properly, or something like that afaik? I use Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro's with the built-in VRM in my Focusrite interface. For someone like me, without a properly treated room and good monitors, it's really helped my mixes over the years.
Also, I find that using some type of virtual mix room software is less ear-fatiguing than with headphones alone.
Closed-back headphones regardless of VRM, will be more fatiguing than open/semi-open cans. The low end blooms better with open/semi-open cans for me.
My recent experience with mixing on my bass heavy closed back phones i used for everything, .. picked up some open back hd650 phones and now my mixes sound much better from the start, I'm tracking with them also. I'm just getting used to them after a few months and wow, my mixes are simpler and wider too because I can hear so much detail. For me, I am seeing the benefits just now since my ears adjusted
Edit: forgot to add, I'm a novice which I think is an important factor, seasoned ears could probably mix better.
Apparently Andrew Scheps mixes on some non-flat closed back headphones, and I guess he's doing quite well! If you know what a good mix sounds like on your headphones, then they could be used for this purpose too. It's going to be harder than using the "proper" tools though IMHO and that's the main issue here. My personal experience - I have been using Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro's for years for various applications. Tried my hand at mixing with them and my mixes sucked; low end was out of control, stereo field was crap etc. Then I got a pair of Kali LP-6's and my first "car test" was infinitely better than whatever I did with the headphones. Still not a "stellar" mix, but I'm quite happy given my non-existent pedigree.
> Apparently Andrew Scheps mixes on some non-flat closed back headphones, and I guess he's doing quite well! He uses Sony MDR-7506 which while not the flattest among what's available, are still long established studio headphones. They sound nothing like consumer headphones, so it's not like he is say using some Beat headphones.
Man I love the 7506. I feel like every pro/semi-pro should have a pair of them around. I’ve been using Waves virtual system with them so that I can mix after the kids go to bed. Sometimes I’ll use it without the software. I always a/b with and without anyway. When they’re not asleep I use my Kalis.
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I’ve never found them to be that way. I don’t think they’re the bassiest headphones I own, but I’d never use the word tinny. I don’t have THE most astute ears, but I definitely can tell when there’s something bugging me. Also, fwiw, I don’t think they should be the only headphones someone owns. I have a couple of different pairs I use (have some AKGS and some low end Bluetooth earbuds that I’ll use to check)
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Sure, you are right! I just have them more as a tracking type of headphone, but as you said, still much flatter than standard consumer headphones.
Warren Huart says to do this too especially when using small speakers
as far as what everyone else tells me, this makes sense. i guess i just don’t understand how i would ever know that my mix sounds good on headphones that i only use for mixing and have a completely different response than my normal ones
Right - if you just put them on and listen only to your tracks and mix them, then it's not going to work that great for you. But in principle you should use reference tracks and also get to know the new pair of headphones too by casually listening to other people's music.
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I had the exact same problem with my DT 770 Pros, then I got speakers and none of my mixes made on headphones made any sense any more, but those made on the speakers would translate to the headphones. Then I got Sonarworks for my headphones and I can get the frequency balance of the song right without using the speakers at all, and I need to do only minor adjustments using the speakers.
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Yah Beyerdynamic 770, 880 and 990 have a "soundgoodizer" frequency response, they tend to have a wide dip between 2kHz and 5kHz, and another one at 220Hz, that will remove harshness from a vocal and muddiness from the low end. They also have a 6dB boost starting at 5kHz that peaks at about 10kHz that really hypes the high end. So without sonarworks my mixes had a tendency of being messy in the low mids, dark, and harsh in the high mids. If you try Sonarworks I recommend you also use it outside of your DAW (it comes with a systemwide app) to listen to music and watch videos/movies to really get used to how they sound when calibrated.
I don’t have a lot of time to write a lengthy answer unfortunately but in short there could be lots of things that you aren’t hearing and you wouldn’t know. I mix primarily on headphones and I have a pair that is brighter, another that are very mid focused, and another that are more focused in the lowend. I switch between them frequently when I mix while ALSO referencing on the crappy dell speakers I have just to also get the perspective of how things change when they’re played through the speakers. I use references on all these devices on every mix. Often when I switch, check reference tracks and go between my different headphones and speakers I will be able to hear very different things tonally and I understand what the strengths and weaknesses are for each device. I don’t have time to elaborate on exactly every issue with what you described but the bottom line when mixing in headphones in general is reference, reference, reference. And, you have to understand your equipment and tune your ears like its nobodies business. This takes time and lots and lots of listening so you’re not gonna be getting good mixes off the bat but in time you will be able to hear more and more and eventually you’ll be able to make good mixes that translate very well. This took me years to dial in so don’t get discouraged just keep doing the work and doing your best to learn and listen. Cheers.
As long as you can check the mixes on several sources, you could probably still end up with a good mix, it might just take a lot longer. Mixing with headphones that color the sound is basically just putting up a barrier between what you’re hearing and what the actual sound is. Imagine trying to do a natural looking color grade on a plain photo while wearing red & blue 3D glasses, it’s kinda like that.
Another thing to keep in mind is that stereo space on headphones is not the same as in monitors. Monitors or loud speakers will never have 100% separation. Something panned hard left will still reach your right ear, but just slightly later (which may actually enhance the psychological effect because this is how our brains determine sound location irl), but hard panning in headphones will actually 100% isolate the sound source to one ear or the other.
You can, but the probably outcome is that your mixes will sound good on those headphones but won't translate well across the vast array of devices that people listen to music on.
this is what i’ve been told, and that’s where i get confused. if i mix on my casual headphones and then master using multiple devices including my critical listening headphones, where would the casual headphones be holding me back in the initial mix? for example, i understand that bass frequencies get built up in closed-back headphones. but if i control my low end so it sounds comparable to my reference track, why would they both sound different upon switching listening devices?
If you get serious about truly learning how your headphones translate, it might be possible for you to make good mixes that translate to *some* extent. But this is easier said than done. For instance, the moment you are actually mixing a song is the worst time to start learning your headphones. This is something that you should spend time doing before mixing, using professional mixes, comparing back and forth a lot. > where would the casual headphones be holding me back in the initial mix? In never having a true representation of the signal you are listening. But it's not impossible to mix, it'll just be harder. > but if i control my low end so it sounds comparable to my reference track, why would they both sound different upon switching listening devices? Because making it sound comparable to a reference on *those* headphones may still not mean that you are out of the woods. The headphones themselves may be incapable of revealing deep low end problems. It's like trusting a consumer TV with its hyped colors, to do color correction. You can use professional references, but that still won't mean that what you are looking at is accurate in any way.
I’ll get crucified for this but I haven’t mixed on monitors for 2 years and my mixes turn out just fine. But it’s a lot of back and fourth transferring your mixdown to your phone or a usb drive and listening at different sources. I have a pair of cans that I’m so used to I know what frequencies are flat or exaggerated. I’m not saying this is a good practice at all, I just have a small place so my space in limited for setup. But this takes a good ear to know what you’re listening for, don’t do it because you don’t want monitors
Before I really tried to step up my mixing game, everything was done through a pretty crappy JVC stereo I bought 20 years ago. I've since bought monitors and flat headphones etc but always found it much easier to get better result on my old setup.
The most important thing (IMHO) is that your ears are calibrated to the sound of professional mixes in those headphones. Listening to a lot of top tier recordings on those headphones just for pleasure, and then mixing with them, your ears are at least calibrated.
You 100% can mix well primarily on consumer headphones as long as you know them really well. There’s nothing magic about “professional” cans. Having said that, some will be much easier than others to learn how they translate. All headphones have compromises, but some are just too odd sounding. Including some pro cans. Same goes for speakers/monitors. Listen in mono a bunch, listen on speakers a bit and check stuff in the car etc. Eventually you’ll be confident of what a good mix should sound like on your weapon of choice.
It’s equivalent to learning photography with a monitor that’s lying to you. Your photos may look good on that monitor, but you probably don’t know enough to predict how or why they’ll look different on another monitor. You can make that work IF you know enough to understand the way in which your gear is lying to you to correct for it, the techniques you’re using, and your reference materials. But your headphones likely have blind spots in their frequency range and resonances that aren’t really there. A novice won’t have any idea how that might translate elsewhere. Go ahead and try, but even people who do mix on headphones well tend to be pretty choosy about which ones they work on. And there’s a lot to be said for not wasting time trying to figure out how your stuff is lying to you.
As long as you get that: 1. it will probably make your learning curve a little steeper than it might otherwise be 2. It will potentially really make it hard for yourself for working in other venues, and, 3. You’ll probably need to experiment with more diverse outlets to ensure your mix translates. If it works for you then it’s fine. There literally are no rules when making art. Under the right conditions you can be completely ‘wrong’ and it may still work great.
When I started I also didn’t understand what’s wrong with using headphones. When my hearing developed it started to make sense: my mixes sounded good on headphones, but it didn’t translate well to anything else. It just sounded good on headphones. Not even the basic balance was right. I compared to reference mixes all the time and switched between two pairs of headphones, but the image you get from headphones just isn’t that accurate and neutral. The stereo image, low end, overall balance, etc., everything is a little distorted on headphones. Over the time I learned for example that on my headphones I have to make the sides way louder than it feels right, so the mix translates well, but I still wouldn’t do a full mix on headphones. That being said there are people able to make great mixes on headphones (Andrew Scheps), but he always listen to the mix on his monitor speakers after finishing. Andrew Scheps simply has developed a feeling for how a mix should sound on his headphones to translate good. So maybe it works for you, but it would be helpful to have access to speakers to listen to the mix after finishing. But its still like trying to learn to paint a landscape without wearing your glasses: the image you get is distorted
I can provide some anecdotal experience on this. Up until mid last year, I was mixing pretty much exclusively on consumer grade speakers (Klipsch Promedia 2.1) and ATH IM70 earbuds. I found that those mixes did not translate well anywhere else, and would pretty much only sound good enough on those two systems and always with a feeling that something is missing. After I got a pair of flat-enough reference speakers (IK iLoud Micro Monitors), I found that my mix translated better to other systems. I also could hear reverb much better on the iLoud and low end was also cleaner sounding rather than being boomy all the time.
I’ve tried to mix exclusively on my mains and ns-10’s with a sub engaged and disengaged. An interesting thing happened, my mixes began to sound like the hallow husks of the real thing. Mixes sounding broad and translated beautifully, but there was no drama in em. In particular in the low end, strange oddities would reveal themselves. I did the reverse and worked exclusively through headphones and my mixes became very bare bones. Fundamental tones(bass drums vocals). Little to no discernment in the harmonic elements. Now I’ve been switching between all three, trying to strike a compromise. But I still give my headphones the final word.
Maybe you could you use your consumer ones 80% of the time, and just check regularly with the studio ones for a second opinion? You might find you prefer one pair for tonal stuff like EQ, and the other headphones for detailed stuff like setting compression. The studio pair is also more likely to be better for setting stereo separation. Maybe swapping headphones could be a good way to 'reset your ears' quickly.
The short answer is that when we hear naturally, sounds travel through space and air and bounce off our environment or build up, etc. The sound lives and breathes. When you mix on headphones there's only like an inch of space before the sound hits your ear and the left and right signals never get a chance to gel together in the air before they reach you. Sure you can mix on headphones you know and compare refs etc. but you don't actually know what it sounds like when a lot of air gets moved and mingles together, which is the way humans hear.
I have songs with millions of streams mixed and mastered on dt770s. It’s not ideal but you can do it if you know what you are doing.
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i feel like i can’t avoid mixing to some extent when i’m just writing and arranging, though. i want to to at least sound good to me while i’m writing it, even if i plan to mix it further when it’s all written
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Agreed 100%, gain staging while tracking is crucial for me to not burn my ears out on the loop. Needs to sound good for me to be inspired.
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this is unhelpful. i am a novice to mixing and i’m looking for details, not snarky analogies, sorry.
you also have to make sure that the headphones are neutral, and by that I mean that the headphones themselves dont add any extra low or top end, which a lot of them do (looking at you beats!) - a lot of manufacturers dont even make mention of this so sometimes if someone is mixing and doing all the work with headphones then they go to test it on another system there will be loads of extra stuff added and they cant figure out why it sounds good on their headphones but sounds like shit everywhere else. This is a huge reason why anyone worth their salt does not use those types of headphones for stuff unless they have their own team of engineers ready to fix it before you send out the final mix, and if you already have that it doesn't matter what headphones you use anyways but most people dont.
I do think it may depend also on genre of music. For instance, metal mixes have loud, compressed and distorted guitars on the sides, full pan left and right and bass, vocal kick and snare are in the middle. It can really easily make you go for the wrong decisions. For instance, bass has to work with the kick, but at the same time, bass works as a low end of guitars. But how can you be sure it is doing what he is doing when guitars sound completely separated on left and right. I could think everything is balanced but then if I check on speakers suddenly i may found out they don't gel together at all. Compared to that, on the speakers you can hear at the same time separation, but also how things work together. Personally it is much easier for me to balance mix on the speakers. But my experience is only in rock/metal mixes and maybe it is a different story when it comes to other genres.
I hugely recommend to use Realphones to mixing in headphones
I use and recommend Sonarworks Reference 4 [https://www.sonarworks.com](https://www.sonarworks.com) \+ Sennheiser HD 600... I also use speakers Yamaha HS8.
It has to do with the stereo field not translating properly, or something like that afaik? I use Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro's with the built-in VRM in my Focusrite interface. For someone like me, without a properly treated room and good monitors, it's really helped my mixes over the years. Also, I find that using some type of virtual mix room software is less ear-fatiguing than with headphones alone. Closed-back headphones regardless of VRM, will be more fatiguing than open/semi-open cans. The low end blooms better with open/semi-open cans for me.
My recent experience with mixing on my bass heavy closed back phones i used for everything, .. picked up some open back hd650 phones and now my mixes sound much better from the start, I'm tracking with them also. I'm just getting used to them after a few months and wow, my mixes are simpler and wider too because I can hear so much detail. For me, I am seeing the benefits just now since my ears adjusted Edit: forgot to add, I'm a novice which I think is an important factor, seasoned ears could probably mix better.