Beyerdynamics releases free room simulator for headphones

really so how would you work this with closed cup and open cup and ear buds then ? and I would love to here some mixes done with other manufactures headphones and see how simple it really wont be :wink:

Your question answers itself. This product doesn’t promise a perfect environment, just a different one. Therefore it can work with anyone’s headphone and any style. If it were tailored for Beyer headphones then they,d have to make a specific version for each model they make and they have dozens.

Aloha guys,

Ok I tried it.
Seems like what you want to do is make your mix sound as
good as it can sound in all 4 environments.

I start with the ‘Big Venue’ setting and then bounce between
the ‘Car’ and the ‘Studio’ settings until the mix sounds as good as it
can in all three settings. (I have not used the 5.1 setting yet)

No EQ’ing. Just volume mixing

Interesting.

{‘-’}

Nobody’s forcing you to use it.
The proof is in the pudding for those willing to give it a try, and if it compares favorably with the material actually played in the physical environments being simulated then it’s a good thing. If it doesn’t pass muster then it’s crap. It’s not crap just because you decide it must be.

I agree totally, only time/experience will tell as I honestly didn’t think much of it at a glance (mainly because I didn’t understand it) but I’ve been using it throughout the day now and its definitely growing on me - the modelling behind it is really interesting. I’ve been trying to put my finger on what its doing; and initially it just sounds like a convolution reverb…

…but then; through A/B comparison you begin to realize that it functions like ‘Dolby Headphone’ also in that when you turn on say ‘Stereo Studio’ - you immediately realize that it decouples the sound from each side of your head and projects it in front of you - interesting stuff! I understand that there are a few tools out there that achieve similar effects such as ‘redline monitor’:

So clearly there are a variety of things going on and I would imagine there is substantial research and hard work behind this (I mean look at the collabarotars HOFA Studios, Bauer Studios, Institute of Technical Acoustics etc). Its never good to judge something at face value, as this is shallow, I mean, on the surface if you are expecting some really snazzy looking VST interface full of intricate controls and you’re actually presented with this bland box with a few buttons - its easy to just dismiss it, but I think its got some interesting potential and I’m excited to see how it develops! :slight_smile:

Aloha, curteye! I was wondering …

How different was the end result from your previous “normal” mix … when played on your usual speakers?

Funny you should ask.

I don’t know. Yet.

I did all this last night at about 3am in headphones.
As I post this I am just about to head to the studio. (after a lil coffee).

I’ll post back in a couple of hours.
{‘-’}

+1
The very first ‘Loudness Maximizer’ was like this.

Few controls but if you used the best plug ever made (yer ears)
with it, the LM could be very useful.

{‘-’}

Sorry guys,
Had a few errands to run.

After listening to the mix (I did in the headphones) in the studio;
I am confused.

There is a part of me that likes the results. And a part that is
skeptical but I don’t know why.

For me mixes come in three flavours:
Good,bad and ‘in-between’.

‘In between’ mixes are those where you can hear each and every instrument/vox etc
perfectly all the way thru the song. And yet something is still missing.

That’s type of the mix I got from this plug. The mix sounded pretty much the same
on a boom box, my home stereo, and in the car. But still something was missing.

So you see where I am going here.
The plug is kinda sorta alright depending on what you are trying to get out of it.

Supermarket/Doctor’s office music—fine
Music to get yer lady to take off her clothes—probably not. :slight_smile:

Also I need to spend more time with it. Hard to judge with just one mix.

Anybody else?
{‘-’}

I think the best uses for this plugin, as it is, would be a alternative check for a mix that you’re satisfied with. If it came with a library of additional impluses then it would be more sophisticated and therefore more useful. I 've tried it on mixes that I liked and its given predictable results . Headphones only,of course

That’s hilarious… would never work at my place! :laughing:

You all realize you’re just listening to four crappy IR’s, right?

Sigh :unamused:

This is true.
But then my car or my living room do not conform to any standards either, but it is a well known procedure for checking out the translation of a mix.
In reality, if one knows ones studio well enough, one knows how to mix for good translation without the need for such a plugin. So a Pro is not likely to put any value into such a plugin I agree, but it could be helpful for an amateur or hobbyist who hasn’t yet developed this knack, provided of course that the simulated environments truly reflect the physical places (and this must be checked by the user). I think it could be a useful development tool, reliance on which should naturally diminish with experience.

+1 :slight_smile:

Steve,

At least it was tape, you might have had to carry out burgers and champagne , you know how some rock stars can be :smiley:

To my mind, a tool like this would be of value only if using it made a mix “better” - in this case, more portable to listening environments other than the one the mix was made in. If the label on the tin (concert hall, recording studio, car, etc.) matched the actual sound heard through the headphones that would be nice, but not necessary for the tool to be helpful.

So, for example: It’d be a good tool if … when a mix that sounded bad in the car or someone else’s speakers was then made to sound good there after tweaking it using the Beyer tool back home.

And the obvious opposite of that: a mix that currently sounds good in the car and someone else’s studio but then sounds worse there after using the tool … bad tool!

Do you guys agree this is the right way (or wrong) to decide whether it’s useful?

Hi alexis,

What you are saying sounds fair to me as a means of comparison, however I think one of the biggest dilemmas (for me) with this kind of technology is that the ‘psycho-acoustics’ employed are so highly subjective that its extremely difficult to gauge (in terms of looking for consensus/agreement) because each user can have a completely different experience with the same preset (i.e. it can sound dramatically different because of the limitations with HRTF).

If the impulses were modeling on your own head rather than a generic model - then I would imagine ‘your’ subjective experience to improve substantially; and I could then imagine it been a much more useful tool as a result - but I think its very difficult to gauge either way - for some people it could be beneficial whereas for others highly detrimental because of this.

I have to say I wish I was able to take a field recording of specific reference material being played in one of the preset locations (i.e. such as Stereo Studio) so that I could make my own analysis via an A/B comparison (i.e. ping pong between source and process in Cubase). Naturally I realize that switching between the ‘natural’ field recording and processed version (which employs an algorithm similar to Dolby Headphone to create a floating sound stage) would impact upon your perception (and ability to remain objective). However it would also be extremely valuable (to me at least) to be able to appreciate just how faithful the impulse is in recreating an impression of the actual reference material being played in the ‘real’ space.

But also:

At the same time however I wonder if there is potentially no reason to treat this tool any differently than you would a set of new monitors that you are unfamiliar with! What I mean is that until you had learned how to both trust and use them effectively (which can only come through experience and subsequent familiarity) you would make mistakes because of their individual character - but over time you would ‘learn’ to compensate for these factors and eventually be able to rely upon them to make accurate decisions.

These are only suggestion/ideas mind! :slight_smile:

Kat

Major +1
{‘-’}

But the rest of us scobbers (speaking for myself) need all the help we can get!