Why You Should Never Buy Beats For Music Production

Beats are, without a doubt, one of the largest headphone brands in the world. As a result, many people default to them when it comes to purchasing headphones. After all, a big name and a big price, can’t go far wrong, right? Well, yes, you can. You see, Beats are a brand. When you buy their headphones, you are buying their brand. You are paying far more for them than you would have been paying for similar quality from another manufacturer. On this page, we are going to take a little look at why you should never use these headphones for music production.

But first, take a look at this hilarious but true infographic about beats

As I mentioned previously, Beats are really overpriced if you’re into practicality. Many people would compare them to garbage. The only reason that you would want to go for a Beats headphone is if you’re a brand chaser and to show off how much a producer you are.

Here are why not to buy Beats, in my observation.

1. They Break Easily

Beats are known to break fairly easily. I wouldn’t be surprised if they broke within few months of use. If you are producing music on a long term basis, you are going to be sitting in your studio for hours and hours on end and probably have these headphones on.

The reason why they break is due to its band build. With the plastic build, it’ll break fairly easily without much effort.

Do a simple Google search on ‘broken Beats headphones’ and you’ll see many unhappy users with their broken Beats headphones. Great headphones are those that are meant to last and is reliable, so I’d rather look for one with better build quality if I’m to some serious headphone monitoring.

2. Average Sound Quality

If you want to know how they sound for yourself, take a listening test at your local store. I took the time to go listening at the store and to be honest the sound quality isn’t really all that bad. However when considering the price you are paying for it, I would assume better sounding monitoring.

Beats sounds bass heavy with very little detail on the midrange and trebles. Here’s how I usually monitor and judge if the quality of the monitors are good or not.

I have a CD with music that I am really familiar with. If you don’t have the luxury of using a CD when going on a listening test, save MP3s with at least 320kbps on your phone at bare minimum. Ill listen to the same piece of music on different headphones and really listen to its detail. Does the bass start to become too boomy and undefined as you push the volume up? Can you hear all the instruments and musical elements from the music piece or are some of them missing now? I usually have a few music pieces in my playlist that covers a few genres for testing.

I changed my mind when I did my usual test for a Beats Studio headphone. It lacked detail and clarity.

When producing music, you’d want to hear everything that is present in your mix. With headphones I can usually zoom down to the problem parts I have in my mix. Unfortnately, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that with the Beats Studio.

3. Spend Your Money Elsewhere

Listen up. As a budding music producer, you probably need a little bit of time before you are able to earn yourself a steady stream of income. You don’t receive a monthly paycheck as an independent music producer.

And then there are literally so many hardware, software, VSTs and plugins that are available on the market.

Now as someone who have been running my own studio business for a while, I’d kid you not when I say you really have to be very careful where you put your money at. Rather then spending your money on a pair of overpriced headphones like Beats, I’d rather use that same amount of money to buy a few studio gears.

The Beats Studio cost $199. If I had that budget for headphones, I rather buy 4 units of Audio Technica ATH-M20x headphones at the price of one Beats headphone. You’ll be wondering, why you’d do that Reuben?

You see, there will be times when your gears decides to break down  or fail during an important studio session. Instead of panicking because you have no backup, it’s always better to have a spare microphone or headphones lying around to save the day. So I usually buy gears which cost a little cheaper and have a backup ready.

Besides, you won’t be impressing your clients with expensive gear. Think about it. All your client wants from you is great-sounding music. They wouldn’t care about how you do it. I can say this because I run a small studio that doesn’t look that too impressive. However, I still find myself filled with music scoring gigs and recording sessions, despite the outlook of my studio. See, my clients came to me not because my studio looked great but because they believed I could do a good job for them.

Stop worrying about trying to impress your client (or the world) with expensive brands and gears. At the end of the day, it’s your skills that matter.

Conclusion

Having tried the Beats headphone, I don’t think I’ll be using them in the studio or anywhere for music production. If you’re looking for a fashion statement, Beats might appeal to you. For the rest who wants great sounding & accurate headphones to get work done, I’d suggest you look for different alternatives.

You’ll do your budget and career path a huge favor.

If you’re starting a new studio or is new in the studio, you absolutely must get my new Udemy course on the studio music business.