Free Beyerdynamic Headphone Lab software simulates studio monitors for professional sound production and mixing

Beyerdynamic has released the free Headphone Lab plugin to simulate professional sound monitors with the company's current DT-series studio headphones and in-ear earphones. This provides a calibrated, neutral sound reference for accurate sound mixing on-the-go.

The plugin is compatible with modern digital audio workstations (DAWs) that support VST3, AU, or AAX plugins, including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, and FL Studio, running on Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher.

Headphone Lab adjusts headphone sound reproduction to the Beyerdynamic sound profile, a target similar to Harman Target Curve, but tuned for professional production use. The sound profile aims to provide a neutral sound reproduction that allows for accurate mixing.

The software also uses HRTFs (Head-Related Transfer Functions), interaural time differences (ITD), and level differences (ILD) in its crossfeed model to simulate sound eminating from studio monitors. This allows users to hear stereo sound with realistic depth, pans, and imaging, similar to being in a professional sound studio.

The virtual speaker placement can be set to 40°, 60°, or 80°, the virtual room can be set to a dry setting that is free of sound reflections or more realistic room or wet settings that include simulated room reflections, and the user's individual head shape and ear size can be entered and used to more accurately simulate the virtual studio.

While all DT-series headphones are calibrated to reference headphones, the DT 700 PRO X, DT 900 PRO X, DT 1770 PRO MKII, and DT 1990 PRO MKII headphones also have factory calibration data recorded for each unit. The Headphone Lab plugin can use the factory calibration data to compensate for individual headphone differences for even more accurate performance.