German audio equipment maker Beyerdynamic has released a free software plugin designed to turn its DT-series headphones into virtual studio monitors, offering music producers a calibrated reference for mixing outside traditional control rooms.
The Headphone Lab plugin is compatible with major digital audio workstations that support VST3, AU or AAX formats, including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live and FL Studio, running on Windows 10 or macOS 14 and above. Beyerdynamic said the tool is intended to help users achieve consistent results when working on the move.
See also: Brandenburg Labs Launches Okeanos Pro for Immersive Audio Production
The plugin adjusts headphone playback to what the company calls the Beyerdynamic sound profile, a target curve similar to the widely used Harman reference but tailored for professional production. “This provides a calibrated, neutral sound reference for accurate sound mixing on-the-go,” the company said in its release.
To recreate the experience of listening to studio speakers, the software uses head-related transfer functions, along with interaural time and level differences, to simulate sound arriving from monitors in front of the listener. This approach is designed to improve stereo imaging, depth and panning compared with standard headphone monitoring.
See also: Jabra Launches Evolve3 75 and 85 for Premium Office Users
Users can configure virtual speaker angles of 40, 60 or 80 degrees and choose between dry environments with no reflections or more realistic room settings that include simulated reverberation. The plugin also allows users to enter details about head shape and ear size for more precise personalisation, while certain DT-series models can take advantage of factory calibration data to compensate for unit-to-unit variations.
Source: Beyerdynamic