My first post : Headphones vs. Monitors...

[Mandachuva]

Hello, this is my first post on this forum, (been lurking for a while, though ) so take it easy on me.

Some info on myself :
I'm 20 years old Romanian computers university student in the city of Timisoara, in Romania (so, pls excuse my spelling mistakes). I've been drumming for 4-odd years, and got interested in computer recording/mixing/"mastering" 2 or so years ago. I've also been playing on keyboards for half a year.

Now, for my question :
Me & my band are very short on cash, and we're doing our own recording & mixing, and we would like to buy some "accurate" sound reproduction gear (what's the word I should've used instead of "sound reproduction gear"??? I've got memory shortages ). I would like to know what are the advantages/disadvantages of using monitors vs. using headphones. Reasonably good studio headphones look a whole lot cheaper then the bare minimum quality monitors.

Any help appreciated...

[Sword9]

Headphones will never be able to give you the same image that speakers will. However, a good engineer can make a good mix on any set of speakers/headphones once they learn how to compensate for any shortcomings of the system. It's sort of like shooting moving objects with a gun.

If you have to go with headphones, check out the Ultrasone brand. They have some revolutionary technology that makes things sound more like you're listening to speakers, and gives you better imaging.

Your best bet is to treat mixing on headphones like mixing on any monitor system. Listen to the mixes in multiple places and see how they do and correct until it's right.

[Mandachuva]

Is imaging the only disadvantage? And if so, wouldn't be a OK to purchase some good headphones for mixing, and the very weak monitors I've got used to, just for the stereo imaging? Or do the bad monitors also provide a bad stereo image?