OfficeSteppers '13 (aka the offtopic but still prod. thread)

[Lucifa]

I'm on to my second pair of AKG 240s (last lot got distorted, but im genuinely terrible at taking care of expensive things)

For producing they're fine, but they do lack bass presence for just general home listening IMO.

[bennyfroobs]

Saw Oblivion last night. Not the best film, but soundtrack and sound design was quality. Lots of orchestral sweeps and rumbling noises going on.

Watch Another Earth if you can, its a good movie and the soundtrack is quite interesting. Swear sci-fi movies have the best soundtracks

Nice one

The sound design in Sunshine always impressed the fuck out of me;



Beautiful.

yes, Sunshine has a great soundtrack! it was weird cos a lot of those melodies and chord progressions are the kinda things you hear in so many movies, yet in this one it sounded fresh and original

Moon is another sci-fi that comes to mind in terms of soundtrack

always said to people that Sunshine was the movie that stuck in my head for icnredible sound. i remember seeing it in the cinema when it came out and feeling completely overwhelmed by the amazing use of sound. great mix of silence / extreme noise n shit. i cant explain it well, but it was amazing.

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headphone question: Audio Technica ATH M50 or Sennheiser HD280 or AKG K240??? decisions decisions...

I really like the AKG 240s, helped my mixes, don't fatigue my ears quickly like most headphones.

I know its a silly question to ask since they are supposed to be flat response, but hows the bass response on the 240s?

There is a difference between being "flat" and the frequency response for speakers and headphones FYI. Really, really not trying to be an asshat with that comment : ) You should be able to look up what the response is.

It's fine for me, most of the time I don't feel like I'm missing anything, though surely I'm not hearing everything. I can throw on some DMZ stuff and hear everything that's there. But as you point out, they aren't Beats by Dre.

My only bitch is that the cord is way too long for me and I end up getting tangled in it, running it over with my office chair or getting it caught on shit. You can unplug it from the headphones though ( I dunno if that's standard in higher end headphones, only ever owned these) so at least it's replaceable.

I have two larger piecerings on each ear and sometimes if I'm working for hours my ears get a bit sore from the headphones pushing on them, but I imagine any headphones would do that.

I had about a dozen people on IDMf recommend them to me. As I said, I really believe they improved my mixes. And at 99USD they are quite nice!

thanks for the advice mane, didnt know about that frequency response difference tbh; I'm far from technically knowledgeable haha.

its gonna be either akg or audio technica i think

another thing thats drawing me to the AKG's is the price tag, well cheaper than the other 2 headphones. Are the parts replaceable on them? Also, how are they for dj'ing?

I only know that you can get a new cord and honestly I haven't owned two turntables since I sold my gear in graduate school. I imagine they'd be decent. I used really shitty cans to DJ on when I did. I didn't even listen to music on them at home or whatever, they were just loud.

[Jizz]

I really like the AKG 240s, helped my mixes, don't fatigue my ears quickly like most headphones.

I know its a silly question to ask since they are supposed to be flat response, but hows the bass response on the 240s?

There is a difference between being "flat" and the frequency response for speakers and headphones FYI. Really, really not trying to be an asshat with that comment : ) You should be able to look up what the response is.

It's fine for me, most of the time I don't feel like I'm missing anything, though surely I'm not hearing everything. I can throw on some DMZ stuff and hear everything that's there. But as you point out, they aren't Beats by Dre.

My only bitch is that the cord is way too long for me and I end up getting tangled in it, running it over with my office chair or getting it caught on shit. You can unplug it from the headphones though ( I dunno if that's standard in higher end headphones, only ever owned these) so at least it's replaceable.

I have two larger piecerings on each ear and sometimes if I'm working for hours my ears get a bit sore from the headphones pushing on them, but I imagine any headphones would do that.

I had about a dozen people on IDMf recommend them to me. As I said, I really believe they improved my mixes. And at 99USD they are quite nice!

thanks for the advice mane, didnt know about that frequency response difference tbh; I'm far from technically knowledgeable haha.

its gonna be either akg or audio technica i think

another thing thats drawing me to the AKG's is the price tag, well cheaper than the other 2 headphones. Are the parts replaceable on them? Also, how are they for dj'ing?

I only know that you can get a new cord and honestly I haven't owned two turntables since I sold my gear in graduate school. I imagine they'd be decent. I used really shitty cans to DJ on when I did. I didn't even listen to music on them at home or whatever, they were just loud.

I see... cheers for the advice guys!

[wub]

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Brilliant wub.

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So what has anyone veen doing production wise? My turntable hasnt been hooked up in a while so Ive been going mad sampling but accidently saved it all as 32 bit floating point so a modest sample packs is 20 gigs...lol

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It also occurs to me this morning that being able to save your mixer and eq settings and mix multiple songs at once with a computer is something we dont appriciate enough. Try doing an EP or LP using an analog mixing board. Totally different experience.

[wub]

Production wise, sketching out a redesign of my studio

Drastic departure from how I work at the moment, so will see if it works out or sinks my creativity

[SunkLo]

What do you have planned?


I've also been looking at the Audio Technica vs AKG headphones. I'm pretty unconvinced that my room will be any good with monitors, even with treatment. It's a square with like 6.5 foot ceilings. So investing more in headphones might actually be better for me. Still gonna pick up an interface and monitors and hopefully make some of my own bass traps and broadband panels. But I dunno, I can't even listen on monitors a lot of the time since I have to be fairly quiet. I've been a headphone guy for so long. I just want accuracy, clarity and an even frequency response. Cans might be my best shot at achieving that right now.


Production wise, I haven't really done shit lately. I'm waiting to get an MPK61 at a good price, but the 2 people I've lined up so far have both dicked me around. I don't even wanna bother trying to produce until I get the keyboard. It's like trying to build a house with a swiss army knife knowing you've got a set of tools coming soon. I might just have to bite the bullet and buy an MPK new. The money I save could go towards an interface or better headphones though.

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@ wub and SunkLo:

I can kill two birds with one stone here: I've been sampling like crazy because I'm planning on working with just Maschine, DSI Mopho (sequenced by Maschine), a small mixer, few pedals and a DAT deck to record some live dubs. I've been bullshitting about doing doing some kind of live dubs King Tubby style for...at least a year...I hope I find the workflow change a good thing as well.

Also, I'm taking this setup outside so I can work in the beautiful weather instead of being stuffed up in my room. Probably use my field recorder to get more samples beyond my vinyl and freesound.org digging.

I love the AKG 240s. Using them this morning

[ehbes]

Production wise I've got two compilation releases lined up. Both tracks are finished so I'm taking a break and enjoying the nice weather

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Production wise I've got two compilation releases lined up. Both tracks are finished so I'm taking a break and enjoying the nice weather

Nice one, did some yard work this morning while jamming some bob marley and

Then realized I totally fucked up about two weeks worth of sampling sessions and had to start chopping from scratch : (

[Jizz]

I can't even listen on monitors a lot of the time since I have to be fairly quiet. I've been a headphone guy for so long. I just want accuracy, clarity and an even frequency response. Cans might be my best shot at achieving that right now.

going through the same thing as me man... im also thinking of getting an mpk, although i'll probably go mpk49. or maybe just an mpd32 with a little cheap midi keyboard that i could buy after

still not decided on the akg vs technica haha, i am heavily leaning towards the technicas though. I mean check this review, its hilarious how he is so convinced about these headphones that i dont even think he got paid to do this:


only thing bugging me is apparently quite a few people have problems with the cable apparently, and once its broke it seems that its quite hard to fix; whereas with akg you could just buy a new cable. i'm usually really careful with these sort of things though...

[wub]

@ wub and SunkLo:

I can kill two birds with one stone here: I've been sampling like crazy because I'm planning on working with just Maschine, DSI Mopho (sequenced by Maschine), a small mixer, few pedals and a DAT deck to record some live dubs. I've been bullshitting about doing doing some kind of live dubs King Tubby style for...at least a year...I hope I find the workflow change a good thing as well.

Also, I'm taking this setup outside so I can work in the beautiful weather instead of being stuffed up in my room. Probably use my field recorder to get more samples beyond my vinyl and freesound.org digging.

We should really collab some time

[fragments]

@ wub and SunkLo:

I can kill two birds with one stone here: I've been sampling like crazy because I'm planning on working with just Maschine, DSI Mopho (sequenced by Maschine), a small mixer, few pedals and a DAT deck to record some live dubs. I've been bullshitting about doing doing some kind of live dubs King Tubby style for...at least a year...I hope I find the workflow change a good thing as well.

Also, I'm taking this setup outside so I can work in the beautiful weather instead of being stuffed up in my room. Probably use my field recorder to get more samples beyond my vinyl and freesound.org digging.

We should really collab some time

Sounds like a winner.

[SunkLo]

I can't even listen on monitors a lot of the time since I have to be fairly quiet. I've been a headphone guy for so long. I just want accuracy, clarity and an even frequency response. Cans might be my best shot at achieving that right now.

going through the same thing as me man... im also thinking of getting an mpk, although i'll probably go mpk49. or maybe just an mpd32 with a little cheap midi keyboard that i could buy after

still not decided on the akg vs technica haha, i am heavily leaning towards the technicas though. I mean check this review, its hilarious how he is so convinced about these headphones that i dont even think he got paid to do this:


only thing bugging me is apparently quite a few people have problems with the cable apparently, and once its broke it seems that its quite hard to fix; whereas with akg you could just buy a new cable. i'm usually really careful with these sort of things though...

Yeah he's high as fuck and in love with headphones. He's critiquing them from a listening standpoint whereas I'm more interested from a monitoring standpoint. They've gotten good reviews on Gearslutz though, as have the AKG cans.

So far I've looked at those Audio Technicas and another cheaper pair that had spherical cups, forget the name. And then AKG 701s or 702s. I wish I could afford to blaze some Sennheiser HD800s, but they're excessive. I think the AKGs will sound clearer since they're semi-open, but the ATs will have better bass. Rough decision since I also want to use them for listening on the go.

[Artie_Fufkin]

"but! you could turn these up and block everyone else out" lmao
I've been considering getting the M50's myself. I'm going to go try out a bunch of headphones at Guitar Center sometime. What would you guys suggest doing to compare monitors/monitor headphones? I was thinking of bringing a couple songs I've listened to extensively and know very well and maybe a sine sweep.

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"but! you could turn these up and block everyone else out" lmao
I've been considering getting the M50's myself. I'm going to go try out a bunch of headphones at Guitar Center sometime. What would you guys suggest doing to compare monitors/monitor headphones? I was thinking of bringing a couple songs I've listened to extensively and know very well and maybe a sine sweep.

I always just bring music I know.

[Lye_Form]

@ wub and SunkLo:

I can kill two birds with one stone here: I've been sampling like crazy because I'm planning on working with just Maschine, DSI Mopho (sequenced by Maschine), a small mixer, few pedals and a DAT deck to record some live dubs. I've been bullshitting about doing doing some kind of live dubs King Tubby style for...at least a year...I hope I find the workflow change a good thing as well.

Also, I'm taking this setup outside so I can work in the beautiful weather instead of being stuffed up in my room. Probably use my field recorder to get more samples beyond my vinyl and freesound.org digging.

just came across this thread....

I have just started doing this, i wasnt using maschine enough as find it quicker to mouse everything in, so i'm currently using maschine (as a vst in ableton) with my midi controller and ableton launchpad to loop things, its hard work at first.