Mixing for crappy little earbuds

[fadrian]

More and more, people are listening to mixes on portable listening devices which are connected to their ears using crappy little earbuds (CLEs). When doing my mixes, I reference them in a variety of locations, including auto, my own monitor, home stereo, etc. I also have started referencing them via CLEs. On my own portable listening device, I hear many mixes that seem to have a reasonable low end (not overwhelming, and certainly not as present as with actual speakers or large-scale headphones, but reasonable, nevertheless). However, listening through LCEs, my own mixes always seem to be much thinner in LF than some of the other mixes I hear on my portable listening device. My question:

What do you do to a mix so that low frequencies still seem to be present on CLEs without overpowering the mix with LF on actual speakers? Is it possible to do this, or are my ears playing some sort of cruel psycho-acoustic trick on me?

[wayne kerr]

More and more, people are listening to mixes on portable listening devices which are connected to their ears using crappy little earbuds (CLEs). When doing my mixes, I reference them in a variety of locations, including auto, my own monitor, home stereo, etc. I also have started referencing them via CLEs. On my own portable listening device, I hear many mixes that seem to have a reasonable low end (not overwhelming, and certainly not as present as with actual speakers or large-scale headphones, but reasonable, nevertheless). However, listening through LCEs, my own mixes always seem to be much thinner in LF than some of the other mixes I hear on my portable listening device. My question:

What do you do to a mix so that low frequencies still seem to be present on CLEs without overpowering the mix with LF on actual speakers? Is it possible to do this, or are my ears playing some sort of cruel psycho-acoustic trick on me?

If your mix sounds thin on CLEs compared to mastered, commercially-released material--I think this is what you're saying--my guess is that your mix environment could be the culprit. Not knowing anything about your control room or signal path, this is only a guess. And I'm probably wrong so I'll shut up now. What you probably need is a vintage Neve and and silver 1176 with the blue stripe. Oh, and a couple of 251s--real ones not those knockoffs they're building today. heh.

Wait, wait. No I think it's the room. Maybe say a little more about your mix environment? Could help the nice tapeoppers help you.

[suppositron]

Yes, could be your room. Maybe you are compensating for low mid build up. That's what those other recordings have that give you the perception of lows in the buds.

[farview]

Also, if you are comparing your raw mixes with commercially realease product, the mastering process has a lot to do with how things tend to translate. Any time you take dynamic range away, it will sound 'thicker'.

[suppositron]

That is true. You could be missing some sexy stereo compression.

[Gregg Juke]

Hey,

* Have you tried some simple mastering/pre-mastering of your mixes (compression/loudness maximization)?

* Have you tried including CLE's in your control room monitoring menu?

* Have you tried bass traps, or any room treatment or compensating EQ?

As the other guys mentioned, it's probably the room. Good mixes usually translate pretty well from device to device and place to place...

GJ

[thethingwiththestuff]

i never understood the idea of "mixing for X medium." make a good mix on the best speakers you have in the best room you can, and let the listener choose their playback system.

[fadrian]

Thanks for the responses. I've thought that my room was pretty good up 'til now because I've had fairly good translation between different kinds of speaker systems, but now I'm starting to doubt that. I'll check more formally/try bass traps/etc. As far as mastering goes, I've always done a bit of self mastering post-mix to make sure that nothing was wildly off, but I may just suck at that. Anyhow, you've all given me some good ideas to check out.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

make a good mix on the best speakers you have in the best room you can.

the only way to go.

import a bunch of your favorite tunes, vaguely level match them with your mix and compare. see what sort of differences in low end turn up. adjust mix. repeat.