![sonarworks with waves nx sonarworks with waves nx](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3hgpvZvJbso/hqdefault.jpg)
We are going to look into this thoroughly. Hopefully, after reading this you will feel much more clarity regarding using headphones for mastering or not. You are working with a mix or master in your studio until it sounds great. The bass is slamming and the whole mix sparkles.Īfter that you take it to a friend to listen and it sounds nothing like it did in the studio. What happened here?!? The concept of translation when mastering It is really like someone has thrown a blanket over the speakers. Maybe you recognize this situation or have experienced something similar. This is a sure sign that the monitoring in the studio does not translate well. A great monitoring system will let you create mixes and masters that you can listen to and recognize anywhere. In general, you will not be surprised by some aspect that you did not notice before. To get a monitoring system that has good translation and is suitable for mastering, there are some things that you need. You need to be able to hear what is going on from the lowest frequencies to the highest. SoundID Reference vs Waves NX Studio Today were taking a look at two excellent plugins to help you make better mixes on your headphonesSonarworks Sound ID. The material is presented neutrally without having some frequencies louder or quieter than others. You are able to judge the stereo width of the master. Moreover you have a proper balance between the things in the center and the things on the sides. If your headphones are properly calibrated it is quite okay and it helps make mix decisions when you room is less-than-ideal.
![sonarworks with waves nx sonarworks with waves nx](https://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Nx-Head-Tracker-for-Headphones/J45207000000000-00-1600x1600.jpg)
I ended up going with OceanWay, it seemed the most natural of all and I am quite liking it. Simply put, loud stuff should sound loud, and quiet stuff should sound quiet. I tried the OceanWay, regular NX, and Abbey Road (you can get a demo from waves) along with Sonarworks Reference for Headphones. This happens without anything getting lost or flattened. You are able to hear the music cleanly without additional coloration from the monitoring system. Dynamic range and low distortion is mostly a matter of speaker quality. There is usually a correlation between price and performance.
#Sonarworks with waves nx full#
Then there is the full and flat frequency response. We want to hear from preferably 20 Hz, but at least from 30 Hz and up. This usually means big full range speakers, or smaller speakers with subwoofers. The room will influence what the listener hears to a very large extent. This is where the elaborate and impressive room designs come from. In particular to manage reflections, resonances, bass build-up, sound isolation and many other things. #Sonarworks vs waves nx fullĪll of these things need to be addressed if we want a full and flat frequency response as well as a good stereo image. The truth is, however, that most smaller control rooms have compromises made in these areas. We are now talking about 10 dB dips and peaks in the low end, or more. The good thing is that the human brain is amazing and we can learn how a room sounds and work around many obstacles. But make no mistake, there are huge differences in cost and effort between an ok-ish and an amazing control room. Maybe you have your studio in a smaller space, maybe at home in the basement or in your bedroom. Maybe you do not have the possibilities to go all in with a fully treated control room. Then it will be almost impossible to get a great monitoring setup using speakers, especially when it comes to the low-end. It's not helping you hear "better." it's technically less accurate as far as raw audio is concerned. I could see an argument to train with NX if you mix through it, but only for the sake of getting used to the artifacts you are introducing. The changes that you are actually training your ears to react to would be relatively identical if this curve is applied throughout the whole course of the exercise.Īlso, I've never used NX but it makes sense that cross-talk and micro-delays would only narrow the stereo image, making it HARDER to do Panman and more confusing to do Delay Polanco Is your loopback function doing a round of DA/AD conversion? I'd look into that if precision monitoring is the goal because it sounds like your subjecting yourself to an immediate compromise of fidelity in order to incorporate these plug-in's for training. You're just hearing a different distribution of them as a starting point.
![sonarworks with waves nx sonarworks with waves nx](https://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Nx-Virtual-Mix-Room-and-Nx-Head-Tracker/J55910000000000-00-1600x1600.jpg)
You aren't hearing "clearer frequencies" when you use Sonarworks. The whole point is to detect the CHANGES. This stuff doesn't make a difference in the first place in regards to training.