How important are headphones for music production?

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2005
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I recently got into music production, I'm using Hyper X Clouds at the moment which sound pretty good to me
I know the M40X and M50X are recommended when it comes to music production but just how much better would they be

Also the m40x is quite a lot cheaper than the m50x, is the m50x worth it
 
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The driver in the original Hyper X Clouds wasn't bad at all for music production though I think it had a bit of a bump in the frequency response somewhere - probably would need quite a bit of experience to really make the most of something better.
 
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^ AKG K712 would be perfect for music production, far, far better than M50Xs.

You will however need a decent headphone amp to drive them but if you are producing music you should probably have one anyway.
 
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Some people swear by headphones for music production, I am one of them.

First and foremost you need an accurate sound and a gaming headset isnt going to provide that at all. I use the new Pioneer HRM-7 and they are very flat sounding. Its quite off putting at first but if you are serious then that is exactly what you want. They aren't too expensive either.
Beyerdynamic, Audio technica, AKG and KRK make dedicated headphones, I would not say a headphone amp is always needed, depending on what audio interface you use but if you go for the high impedance models like the beyer 250ohm versions then most definitely an amp would be required.

For me, having the ability to switch from monitors to headphones day to day makes a huge difference, I can monitor certain frequencies more accurately with headphones just like I prefer to monitor mid to low end with studio monitors.

Music production however is subjective, its not unheard of to find someone doing more than an adequate job using boot sale equipment because their ears are tuned into that equipment. Myself personally, I think my music took its biggest jump mixdown-wise once I had taken the plunge to buy decent gear.

To answer your question, I would take the M50x's they get great reviews and I think they are at a great boundary point between making audio sound good and keeping what you are hearing "true". But yes, they are very expensive! I would like a set maybe myself so if you buy them, send a review :)
 
I wouldn't swear by them on their own, but indeed it is good to test your mixes on a range of devices.

Depending on circumstances you could get away with it though.
 
dazzlaa said:
First and foremost you need an accurate sound and a gaming headset isnt going to provide that at all.
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The Hyper X (atleast the original ones) have a pretty decent frequency response for production use - there is a bit of an anomaly somewhere which would make it worth looking at other options for more serious use in the long run though.

EDIT: Seems a fairly accurate take on them:

and having looked at the response curve, it’s easy to understand why, having everything sub 200Hz sitting about 3dB higher than the rest of the response chart, with a vast chasm of a dip in the 5kHz region. This again reinforces the notion that these would make good ‘live room’ headphones, and would be great for monitor mixes for louder instruments (drums etc), but would not be ideal for mix/master work.”
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