Headphones problem
- Thread starter Zorro
- Start date
somegeezer
4 Gazillion Rhodium User
What headphones are you using?
I reckon it will be down to 3 things. Your headphones are too quiet, they are open-backed, or your drumming is too loud. It could be a number of those together too.
I reckon it will be down to 3 things. Your headphones are too quiet, they are open-backed, or your drumming is too loud. It could be a number of those together too.
somegeezer
4 Gazillion Rhodium User
My suggestions would be to get ones that are "cupped" as you say. Or "closed-backed" as I would say.
They don't have to be expensive if they are only used for monitoring yourself whilst recording. But if you are going to be using them during mixing too, then I would definitely put about £100 into a pair. Even better if you get some open-back ones for mixing to account for room reverberation. So you'd have a separate pair for monitoring whilst drumming and for mixing later on.
Have a look at some of the regular names like Sennheiser and AKG and whatnot. Try out different pairs at your nearest music store and see which suit each job best.
somegeezer
4 Gazillion Rhodium User
Good doesn't means correct. All an amplifier is going to do, is amplify. It should be loud enough already, especially if the outside of the headphones is sealed off as to let very little noise in. That way, you could even have the 'phones fairly quiet as to not burst your ear drums, yet still be able to hear everything.
ranjam
New member
'Good' often means expensive, including ones sold as DJ headphones that were supposed to block out external sound. $200 later MDR-V700DJ | Studio Monitor Series DJ Headphones | Sony Canada and I was no further ahead than using $30 Apex headphones. 
I learned 1,001 things about headphones, and each point is useless. Really. I now read the specs, like a freakin' nerd. Some are rated for a higher input level before they distort, some are rated for a higher sensitivity (i.e. they are louder), some have a wider frequency response, whatever. It'll still be preference, and your budget, that determines what's best. But when I tried DJ headphones with a 3-watt
eek
input and 107dB sensitivity, I was still drumming louder than the other tracks coming into the headphones. Enter Behringer Micromon MA400 Ultra Compact Monitor Headphone Amplifier, and my troubles were over. Now most headphones work just fine.
I learned 1,001 things about headphones, and each point is useless. Really. I now read the specs, like a freakin' nerd. Some are rated for a higher input level before they distort, some are rated for a higher sensitivity (i.e. they are louder), some have a wider frequency response, whatever. It'll still be preference, and your budget, that determines what's best. But when I tried DJ headphones with a 3-watt
eek input and 107dB sensitivity, I was still drumming louder than the other tracks coming into the headphones. Enter Behringer Micromon MA400 Ultra Compact Monitor Headphone Amplifier, and my troubles were over. Now most headphones work just fine.