Headphone Over Spill Problem

Z

zimbo

Member
I'm getting a spill from the already recorded tracks when over dubbing vocals. I'm using an SE2200 mic with a pop shield. When the recorded vocals are played back the backing tracks can be heard playing slightly in the background on the vocal track. This is obviously an over spill from the head phones. Anyone know a solution to this problem?
 
Generally, I wouldn't worry about it. Depending on how loud the spill is, it shouldn't cause a problem in the mix. You can always go through your vocal track and cut out everywhere that you're not singing. Hopefully, you only hear the spill when you're not singing. If the spill is a problem on the track even where there is singing, then you might want to turn down the level in your phones.
 
What Rami said ^^^

Most of the time, a bit of spill isn't going to cause problems.

However, if you want to minimize it, use closed-back headphones, and turn them down. Or turn the mike down and sing louder
 
zimbo said:
This is obviously an over spill from the head phones. Anyone know a solution to this problem?
Click to expand...

Get yourself some closed-back headphones. Sennheiser HD280s are a good choice. If money is a little tight, then get the HD202s.
 
Whenever I get somebody who needs the headphones on 11 I give them some in ear buds and shooters muffs. Solves both problems.
 
ear buds are great for this.

they have them in all price ranges.....

i use a set of sennheiser cx 300 ii's for this
 
Professional IEMs work even better than consumer earbuds. Some consumer earbuds isolate the sound better than others. Pro IEM earbuds tend to have excellent isolation and better sound.
 
Try some Koss Sparkplugs, we used to use them as inears on stage in the days I played with click tracks and samplers. I used to have a vocal send in them as well. Still have a pair for in flight movies and music at the gym LOL.

Alan.
 
I'm going to sound like a really boring old git, but...

...besides the choice of headphones, teach yourself to work with more reasonable levels. Seriously. For all sorts of acoustic reasons you can Google if you care, headphones...and particularly earbuds...can permanently damage your hearing very quickly if the levels get too high.
 
I had the same problem once and was using a borrowed mic so had to get the recording done that night, we experimented with the levels but still thought the backing track could be heard a little too much despite using closed back sennheiser headphones
Our solution?
We found an old tennis sweatband and put it on over the phones so it kinda clamped the sennheisers to the singers head, we got no backing track coming through and he looked cool like a messed up mark knoffler
 
I can co-sign the Sennheiser HD280's. I have two pairs and love'em. If you're having this problem with closed back earphones then you just need to turn them down some or sing louder, as someone else said. Using a gate with a slow attack and slow decay will "auto" silence the silent regions for you. It's going to pop out even more as you begin to add compression and what not. It shouldn't matter in the mix as a whole that much. It'll go completely unnoticed by anyone but you, only because you know to look for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top