Headphone/earphone electrocuting me!

S

skim

New member
Does this happen to anyone else? I've been shocked (less than a 110v outlet, more than a mean static spark) on my ear from the headphone! This isn't right when I put them on - it's several minutes into listening.

This has happened with my Apple iPod earphones, a cheap pair of headphones I used to use for reference, and even with my Sony headphones I use for monitoring & mixing!

For those of you who are skeptical about shock therapy, let me tell you it works. It's happened only like 5 times in the past several months, but enough to make me conscious about it whenever I put them on.

Please let me know if I'm doing this to myself - that is, if there's something I can do to remedy this.

Thanks.
 
What are you plugging them into? It's probably a grounding issue with whatever is powering them but I've never heard of getting shocked by headphones.
 
With the Sony MDR-7506, they're plugged into a Mackie 1202 VLZ pro board.

With the Apple iPod headphones, they were plugged into a PC.

With the cheap reference headphones, they were plugged into a set of reference speakers (cheap Roland powered speakers).

What the heck.
 
Oh yeah did I forget to mention that I'm a human lightning rod? I've been hit by lightning 4 times, twice while I was sitting in downtown L.A.

Just kidding. I'm trading in my mackie board and MBox for a digi001. No wallwart my knee - spare me the shock any day.
 
You get shocks out of all those cans on different amps? Wow, thats pretty rare. It would seem obvious you have some grounding problems. Make sure you have all your gear plugged into 3 prong outlets and that the ground is active on the outlet. You can buy outlet testers pretty cheap at most hardware stores. If the ground is disconnected at the outlet you may have to wire up your own with some copper wire attached to your water main or electrical service box.
 
Man you registered only 3 months before I did, and you have like 3000 times the posts I do.

Anyways, thanks for the advice - I'm pretty sure things are grounded - nothing else on the circuit is complaining, just my ears :)

I'm thinking maybe it's static electricity, and my ears are the closest thing to something grounded - so... zhop! Ouch.
 
Hey Tex - wanna come out to L.A. and do my CD mix? All my sessions are in Pro Tools, though.

My voice is floating a bit too detached from the music - kinda reminds me of karaoke.

Wanna hear a sample and give me some feedback? I got it professionally mixed (though it's only a first mix) by a studio with good referrals (and a personal friend).

You're always so helpful :)
 
That's still pretty weird, I've been shocked by lots of stuff but NEVER headphones. I am online all day at work and I've spent way too much time here over the last year. I think you need 150 posts or something to get past newbie. I must have cleared that in the first week, lol.

Sure, I'll take a listen to your mix. I make it out to LA on occasion. I wouldn't mind trying to mix it at my studio if it's salvageable. I use a Radar Nyquist and Ghost board for analog mix downs. Right now my only options for importing are .wav files off of a DVD RAM disc. I'll hopefully be more flexible for import/export in a few months.
 
Oh it's totally salvageable - the recording chain has been excellently managed, in quality and preservation. Well mic'd and well tracked separate...tracks.

The studio that's mixing my stuff seems to typically do more "clean" stuff. You know, sounds like Dave Matthews more than what I'd like - a dirtier sound, if that makes sense at all.

I know recording artists are always giving engineers grief with sounds. Take it as my own dissatisfaction with my voice - I don't want to be recorded like a Celine Dion would. I told my engineer I wanted to try recording with SM58's and he balked (as you probably would too).

I'm not going for a clean signal. I'm trying for what may be more natural for me - I would figure that the human ear in a bedroom or a concert arena wouldn't pick up what an expensive Neuman would, you know? Am I relegating myself to one of those annoying vocalists? :)

Ah well, wrong area to post this, wrong topic. I'll send you links to the mix-downs. How do I get it to you?
 
Maybe at least you can listen to the mix and give me, a poor vocalist, some insight into what I'm looking for. Something more than "I didn't spend $XXX thousands of dollars for what i could have had in a karaoke drunken night"
 
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