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H2oskiphil

H2oskiphil

It needs more cowbell!
Kinda OT, I realize, and I apologize in advance if I piss off the "wrong board" police, but I figger you gotta be able to HEAR what you're putting into the microphones, so....

I'm going to pop for a new set of headphones. The ones I've got now sound NOTHING like my monitors (Tannoy's), and it's annoying to hear one thing through the cans and something completely different through the monitors. In reality, my current headphones sound like crap. Need recommendations, preferably in the $100 range.

Thanks!
 
What will be the main use of these headphones? Tracking or mixing aid? (from what i gather, most people don't trust headphones for mixing anyways)
 
Well I'd most definitely say that no matter what you get, I highly doubt you'll be able to get your headphones to sound anything remotely like your monitors! And that goes for ANY monitors and headphones you compare. Monitors the ENTIRE room no matter how far from your ears they're placed. Headphones don't use the room at all! That alone is a major difference!

With that said, you have quite a large selection for some nice, highly-quality headphones for around your $100 budget. They're great for simply hearing how a mix sounds in a headphone environment and on those particular headphones (learn them by playing CDs through them just as you do monitors). They're also very good for checking problems or checking for problems; especially when you have a loud control room (whether it be from fans or people talking obnoxiously loud and you can't throw them outside).

As for headphone brand and model recommendations, I'll let others do that.
 
I tried a lot of different headphones in an attempt to find some that are well-sealed, yet sound as if listening to monitors (I wear them while recording acoustic guitar).
After trying all the popular mofels I settled on the Beyer DT831s
They are about $175, but well worth it if you need accuracy during headphone listening.

Stay away from the AudioTechnica and Sony (all of them !). They may be OK for drummers to wear while tracking, but don't sound anything at all like the mix really sounds.

The Sennheisers sounded "good" to me, but the Beyers truly sound like you are not wearing headphones at all.
 
I would never spend much on tracking cans personally. Especially if you do work for bands etc., because they get used hard. I learned this the hard way by having my K240's trashed. Of course this is because I'm on a budget like most people and can't afford 2K in a bunch of cans.

That being said, I love the AKG K240 series cans. They sound pretty dang sweet, pretty much an industry standard (ns10's of cans) and lets get real... they are just cans.

Instead, I'd put my dough in nice accurate monitors any day of the week. Check em out. You can snag a set for under $90 everywhere.

Good luck,
SPonge Bob
 
Wireneck said:
What will be the main use of these headphones? Tracking or mixing aid? (from what i gather, most people don't trust headphones for mixing anyways)
Click to expand...

They're going to be used mainly for tracking, more by the talent than me.

I'll mix off the monitors.

The problem with my current pieces of crap is frequency response and accuracy. Low frequencies turn to mud, but when I listen on the monitors, they seem to be OK. What I want to avoid is setting up mics so that they sound good in the 'phones, but rotten on the recording. I'm recording mainly country and gospel music-lots of acoustic guitars and keyboards, some horns, plenty of vocals. I'm using electronic drums.

Since I don't have the time or the retail selection to go out and A/B a bunch of sets, I'd like to take the wisdom of the board into account and pick something up online.

Suggestions are encouraged.

Thanks.
 
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