How do I make the Kemper sound better with headphones using EQ?

    So I (kinda) recently made a thread asking for headphone recommendations, and after a lot of great suggestions decided to go with the Beyerdynamic 770 Pro. It was just mentioned a lot so I figured "hey, why not?". Just for reference here, normally I'll plug the Kemper into an interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2) in stereo into two ESI Unik 05 Plus, which sound amazing. I'm sitting about an arm's reach away from them when I play in a moderately sized but tall room, and my guitars of choice are two Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci models. I got the headphones for mainly, you guessed it, silent practice.


    Now the Beyers definitely sound way better than the cheaper Focusrite headphones I was using before. The first thing I noticed is that the sound is very "flat", like the sound is literally on top of my ear, so I researched and found out about the "Space" setting, which has definitely improved the experience, but there's still something...off, I guess? The headphones really seem to 'boost' the high end. I tried reading into EQ - and Tone Junkie has a really good video about how to EQ profiles - so I go in to pretty much every profile I use and cut the highs. My problem is that I don't really know what I'm doing.


    I don't even know if this is the right question and I'm confusing myself even more as I write it. I have a desirable sound, which I can get with a profile, unmodified, with my monitors but can't get with headphones. I know they won't sound exactly the same, obviously, but the problem is they aren't even close.


    I'm really, really enjoying the unit and I'm trying to get the most out of it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.


    EDIT: Forgot to mention this, the Beyers are 250 ohms.

    You could check out the frequency curve of your headphones.

    i.e. on this (german) page :

    https://www.kopfhoerer.de/test…770-pro-250-ohm-softskin/


    From a first glance, I would say yours have a reduced 4-5 khz area and a slight boost at 10 khz.

    The cut at 4-5 khz could make these headphones nice for overdriven tones, because a lot of nasty stuff is going on there.

    The boost in the 6.5 khz and 10 hz area gives some air to the sound, but this could just be a little bit too much and pierces your ear?


    Throw the studio eq into the signal chain, and try something like -5 decibel, Q=4-5 and check out if the nasty frequencies sit at ~6.5 or 10 khz.

    I think there are 2 things to consider here:


    1. Headphones just won't ever sound the same as listing through studio monitors, or playing through a cabinet in the room. (at least my experience, I don't have super expensive mega professional headphones). You lose room ambience, which has a huge effect on many things. So knowing that, adding Space to taste, and adjusting low and high cut until it sounds as good as possible is your best bet. The best way to learn how the different frequencies work is to just start adjusting things and listening to the difference. You can always revert the profile preset.


    2. Adjust your expectations for headphones. Know that they won't ever sound as satisfying as playing through your monitors, or through a real cab. If they are a "silent practice" tool, then get 'em sounding the best they can, but don't beat yourself up trying to make them sound as good as your monitors because it just won't happen. It's kinda like having the expectation that your live profiles and recording profiles should sound the same - they shouldn't, at all. But after a while, you get used to how a good recorded tone should sound, and then you're good and happy.

    I'm using Marantz MP4s connected to my interface for mixing and playback at pretty high volumes and they sound superb. And when connected to my computer to listen to youtube videos or mp3's they are fantastic. I find them better than monitors because my hearing is more isolated.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.