Closed headphones + off the ear spill.....

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studiosonic

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Well, the time has come for me to invest in some new headphones. I've been tracking on some really cheapo ones for years and half of it is starting to give up the ghost.

So, I was reading about closed and open headphones - closed good for tracking and open for checking mixes. However, I can only get the one. Obviously closed are good for tracking because they reduce spill.....but, what i don't get is that when you record vocals, people often find it helps (including me) to have only one side of your headphones on your ear, and the other resting on your head. Does this not produce spill in itself, and therefore not produce a huge difference compared to open headphones?

I was looking at getting some cordless ones for tracking, but i can only get open ones. Otherwise i could just get some normal closed ones. However, if having one ear off means i'll get spill anyway, i'd go for the wireless open ones, 'cause i like the idea of them, but i don't want to get them if they will produce a bit of weak link in recording.

Thanks guys!
 
I would still recommend getting the closed ear ones if you can only get one kind. If you find it helps to sing with one can off your head, you should pan/balance the monitor mix so that it only plays in that one side...stuff bleeding into your vocal track can be a real bummer when you are trying to mix things

OB
 
A bit of spill wont really matter as all the other instruments will be loud enough you wont hear it.

Also if you have to take one earphone off that means that you dont have a balanced mixed and the singer cant hear themselves clearly or loud enough.

I would get closed headphones as they are very good for isolation which is useful not only for vocal recording but also if you record drums, the drummer needs to hear himself and the other instruments loud and clear.

Tukkis
 
In my experience when using a one-ear approach, you still keep the other cup against your head. That should keep the spillage about the same as wearing them normal.

If you can only get one, go for the closed type. The open type are more comfortable to wear for long periods of time, but other than that provide no particular advantage that I can think of.
 
TexRoadkill said:
Not when your tracking acoustic guitar with a loud click track ;)
Click to expand...
:D I have that exact problem on a song I'm currently doing. I used closed headphones, but forgot there was another pair plugged in hanging from an unused mic in the corner.

Anybody own a click track remover plugin.
 
"Anybody own a click track remover plugin."

yeah, and you do too: stick the original click track in out of phase with the bleeding one, should help a LOT
 
Just went through exactly what you're doing.

Get the closed ones. The open ones will bleed and make you crazy.

foo
 
pipelineaudio said:
yeah, and you do too: stick the original click track in out of phase with the bleeding one, should help a LOT
Click to expand...
Hey, great thought. I'll try that this weekend. Thanks.
 
I never thought of that - cool idea. Seems tricky though, to work perfectly wouldn't you'd have to re-record the out of phase click back through headphones at the same volume and in the same relative position to the mic as in the original track?
 
well its wont give you 100% its more for attenuation. Even the clean original click will cancel a LOT of the bled click...itll go up and down as the percon moves their headphones but its usually enough to ditch most of it
 
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