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Do u use headphones during whole mix?

Hi,
This may seem like a weird question, but do any of you take your headphones off or turn the headphone volume off while you have two tunes going?

I use my headphones to beatmatch and cue, but a few moments after I bring the second record in, I sometimes take my headphones off to listen to the mix on the main speakers.

Of course its more accurate to mix w/headphones on throughout the mix... since you can make adjustments before the dancefloor can notice it.

But the mix sounds different when you hear one deck out the main and the other from the headphone.

How do you usually mix? Headphones over one ear all the time?

Re: Do u use headphones during whole mix?

quote:

Originally posted by erullafs I use my headphones to beatmatch and cue, but a few moments after I bring the second record in, I sometimes take my headphones off to listen to the mix on the main speakers.

this is just what I do. All the time, no matter if I'm mixing at home or at a club.

I do the same! I always mix in my headphones though. I don't know how you people can just use 1 ear with yer headphones and the other ear listening to the speaker live and beatmatch that way. I tried and it never works!

I guess I get a more accurate mix with the headphones on one ear during the mix. My problem with that is I only hear beats. Sometimes I'd like to hear the "finished" product as when you have two tunes beatmatched and phased matched.

Sot, how do you mix with just the headphones. I've tried it and the beats just gets all mixed together. Maybe its my mixer.

the problem with leaving ur headphones ON is that the mix m8 seem good to u when ur one headphone is on
but when u take it off it wont sound that good
thats why i prefer taking it off while the 2 beats are playing together
and once in a "while" take a listen to my headphones see where the track is..

Hey good question!
I tend to do my transitions listening "live". Although I think it will be more accurate when you're listening to it using your headphones as you can adjust any pitch irregularities before the crowd notices it, but you must consider the fact that some mixers will not have this pan function. If you make it a habit to listen to it using your headphones, you'll be dumbfounded when the mixer does not provide for a mixed listen on your phones.
What I do is I'll shuttle between listening to the main speakers and the phones; that's why I always only half-cup one ear during a mix and sandwich the phones between my shoulders and my ear, so that I can just drop it off when I need to listen to the speakers and lift it up from my neck and sandwich it again when I sense something is wrong.
Confused?

Personally I always take the headphones off some seconds into the mix. Then every ten seconds or so I take a listen in the phones to check if the beatmatching is perfect. But it also depends on how good the live sound system is, how loud you are playing etc.

I keep the headphones on only briefly after i throw in the new track and am sure it is properly matched. then i take off the headphones and do my transition listening to the loudspeakers or monitors. if i hear the beat go off, and i cant fix it by listening to the loudspeakers then i will quickly listen to the headphones again just to match it back up.

I tend to use them quite a bit as I scratch and fade alot...But I would say that monitors are an expense that should be used...My monitors at home and at work are always in use...Non-Stop.

I suppose I only use my phones for cueing, brief intro's and scrathing.

I beatmatch the two tunes IN my Headphones(with both ears)
and when i'm going to do the(real) mix then I take my HP off
and hear the live tune...I'm afraid to lose control over the mix when
my Headphones are on and I'm in a transition(very strange feeling).

besides: I crashed my Headphones yesterday( though they were really cheap ones!!)

Wow DJTilo I love your sig.

Beatmatching -> Headphones on both ears

Mixing -> Headphones on both ears

Why take them off?

quote:

Originally posted by sot I don't know how you people can just use 1 ear with yer headphones and the other ear listening to the speaker live and beatmatch that way. I tried and it never works!

Hey man, just check your sig and see who else does it

I have the phones on one earphone to beatmatch and cue, then after 10 secs or so after both recs./ CD spinplay I take them off to see how the final product sounds. If I hear something fishyy with the mix I ussually put the phones back on to hear either the weaker track (The incomin in the beginning of the transition or vice versa) or to hear both.

P.S. Very important
Folks, you can't perform a whole mix with one earphone cause U gotta normalize the volume and for that you need both ears free and earphone at 0 volume to reach maximum accuracy!

quote:

[i][b]What I do is I'll shuttle between listening to the main speakers and the phones; that's why I always only half-cup one ear during a mix and sandwich the phones between my shoulders and my ear, so that I can just drop it off when I need to listen to the speakers and lift it up from my neck and sandwich it again when I sense something is wrong. Confused?

Looks cool like that as well.


Has anyone had this problem where you mixing sounds quite perfect when you hear it in the speakers but if you record it and listen to it afterwards it sounds as if the next track just interrupted heaps early, like nothing like you heard when you heard it through the speakers.

Just 4 words 4 ya:

EACH N EVERY TIME

it depends on the quality of the monitors... if they are too shitty, i listen in the headphones to make sure that the records still match and which one needs to be speeded up.

quote:

Originally posted by Xavier Has anyone had this problem where you mixing sounds quite perfect when you hear it in the speakers but if you record it and listen to it afterwards it sounds as if the next track just interrupted heaps early, like nothing like you heard when you heard it through the speakers.

ya, thats cuz listening to the speakers give you much more leeway then listenin to your recording on the headphones...

oh an yea, i use the headphones when im beatmatching, and take them off when mixing and listenin to the live thingy

mixing with headphones

I do it several ways depending on the place that I'm mixing. At home when I'm recording I can't have my music too loud out of my monitors, so I'll use only my phones, and I'll switch between on and off during a live mix. I think that this also depends on what type of mixer functions you have too though. On the djm-600 I can switch between full live and full cue, which most mixers can do, but I also have a stero/mono button that I can listen to the cue in one ear and the live in the other. This is pretty neat if your monitors suck. Once I was djing live infront of the main speakers and it was so loud that I couldn't hear myself think! The mono function really came in handy there!

I try to not use headphones even when I'm beatmatching...(?) What I mean is I'd normally get the cue track to be matched as close to the one playing as much as possible .. spending around 30-60 seconds max doing that.. then i'd take out the headphones.. let the cue one continue to play while i mess around with the one playing.. then i'd occasionally listen to the headphone making sure it continues to be matched and make minor adjustment accordingly. When in the process of mixing it's recommended to take the headphones off...this way u'll be able to listen to the mix more accurately. Try it...

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