# Headphones for live musicians...



## Tim Clarke (Jun 29, 2018)

hi all - I’m at the point where I need to invest in headphones for my humble project studio. These would be exclusively for instrumentalists / vocalists to monitor themselves while recording.

As a performer (brass) myself, I’ve had issues in some studios hearing myself (regardless of how much gain the engineer feeds me), or what I do hear sounds terrible (both my mix and the track), yet in other studios the sound is wonderful.

I’ve been told the AKG 240 mkII is the most popular headphone in studios. Is that a reasonable choice, or are there other makes/models that you all are happy with?


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## studiostuff (Jun 29, 2018)

I've used the Foster T20RP headphones for 30 years or so. They're not terribly spendy. They sound fine to me. I like headphones that permit replacement of the cable.

I have to disclaim my recommendation by saying I come from a studio environment where you showed up for the session, put your headphones on, and performed the chart without bitching about the cue mix. 

If you could hear the click or the backing track, you did your gig and moved on. 

Some days the mix was great, some days shit. It was sort of a game of chicken... the first musician to complain about the headphone mix was never seen in the studio again! 

I've been in studios where the headphone box was more complex than the desk in the control room. I've talked to musicians who swear that they perform infinitely better when the cue mix is better... My secret opinion of those folks is they haven't had a chance to do very many sessions at a variety of studios. Perhaps my performances are equally bad no matter how great the cue. 

I'm not criticizing anyone. Whatever works best for you.


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## Nao Gam (Jun 29, 2018)

Just get sth closed back that's sturdy and not too expensive. Even better if the frequency response is not too crazy so no boomy bass to cover the stuff that matters, no shrill highs that fatigue the ears.
Oh and absolutely get sth that's comfortable to wear for hours.
Lots of options out there.


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## SchnookyPants (Jun 29, 2018)

The AKG's are hear-thru. I'm not sure that's what you want. I have 'em & I like them, but again - you really want hear-thru?
Also, a lot less $ are the non-MKII. The standard 240 are only around $60 or so.

As far as 'most popular' - again, I'm pretty sure this refers to the standard AKG 240, NOT the MKII.


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## steveo42 (Jun 29, 2018)

Sony 7506, Sennheiser 280 Pro are popular. You want a closed back headphone so the audio doesn't bleed into the mic recording the talent. AKG 240 are semi-open so will not bleed as much as a true open back. They are rugged and in my experience you have to turn them up really loud to get any appreciable bleed into the mic. Very popular as well.


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## WindcryMusic (Jun 29, 2018)

steveo42 said:


> Sony 7506, Sennheiser 280 Pro are popular. You want a closed back headphone so the audio doesn't bleed into the mic recording the talent. AKG 240 are semi-open so will not bleed as much as a true open back. They are rugged and in my experience you have to turn them up really loud to get any appreciable bleed into the mic. Very popular as well.



AKG K240 phones may only be semi-open, but that's still too open in my experience. I used a pair of them while recorded an album about five years ago that included a number of tracks that were focused around fingerstyle acoustic guitar, and only after I'd released the album did I notice that one of my favorite tracks, one with a rather sparse guitar part in the opening verse, had a bleed of the click track from the headphones into the final recording that was easily audible during every pause when listening to the album on headphones. What a kick in the gut that was! Shortly thereafter I got a pair of Sony 7506's for monitoring while recording, and did my best to never look back.


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## Tim Clarke (Jun 29, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> AKG K240 phones may only be semi-open, but that's still too open in my experience. I used a pair of them while recorded an album about five years ago that included a number of tracks that were focused around fingerstyle acoustic guitar, and only after I'd released the album did I notice that one of my favorite tracks, one with a rather sparse guitar part in the opening verse, had a bleed of the click track from the headphones into the final recording that was easily audible during every pause when listening to the album on headphones. What a kick in the gut that was! Shortly thereafter I got a pair of Sony 7506's for monitoring while recording, and did my best to never look back.


Hmmm...that’s a great point. As a brass player it’s not much of an issue but if I’m recording delicate folk instruments the bleed would be a problem


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## thesteelydane (Jun 29, 2018)

Recording with headphones on is a pain in the butt, no matter how good the cans - but a necessary evil. Us string players will almost always remove the left phone more or less, as hearing yourself only through the cans, even with zero latency monitoring, makes intonation very difficult. Click bleed therefore is always an issue, but can be remedied somewhat with closed back headphones. My personal all round favourite for almost everything, including tracking, is the Beyerdynamic DT 770. It's comfortable, doesn't hurt my ear when I slide the left earpiece backwards, and contains click bleed very well. For further click bleed control I pan the click right, but I am beginning to get small tinitus episodes in my right ear, so I suspect that's not a good idea.


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## WindcryMusic (Jun 29, 2018)

thesteelydane said:


> Recording with headphones on is a pain in the butt, no matter how good the cans - but a necessary evil. Us string players will almost always remove the left phone more or less, as hearing yourself only through the cans, even with zero latency monitoring, makes intonation very difficult. Click bleed therefore is always an issue, but can be remedied somewhat with closed back headphones. My personal all round favourite for almost everything, including tracking, is the Beyerdynamic DT 770. It's comfortable, doesn't hurt my ear when I slide the left earpiece backwards, and contains click bleed very well. For further click bleed control I pan the click right, but I am beginning to get small tinitus episodes in my right ear, so I suspect that's not a good idea.



I do the same thing with sliding one of the phones partially off my ear in order to hear my instrument(s) better, but it’s funny that I never thought of panning the click before. Thanks for the idea … I wonder if Logic will let me do that with the built-in click?


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## SchnookyPants (Jun 29, 2018)

*"Headphones for live musicians..."*

The _real_ trick is finding headphones for _dead_ musicians.


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## thesteelydane (Jun 29, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> I do the same thing with sliding one of the phones partially off my ear in order to hear my instrument(s) better, but it’s funny that I never thought of panning the click before. Thanks for the idea … I wonder if Logic will let me do that with the built-in click?


It will. I use logic too....often I replace the built in click with a urei sample in exs24 though. Easier to hear and less bleed.


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## steveo42 (Jun 30, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> AKG K240 phones may only be semi-open, but that's still too open in my experience. I used a pair of them while recorded an album about five years ago that included a number of tracks that were focused around fingerstyle acoustic guitar, and only after I'd released the album did I notice that one of my favorite tracks, one with a rather sparse guitar part in the opening verse, had a bleed of the click track from the headphones into the final recording that was easily audible during every pause when listening to the album on headphones. What a kick in the gut that was! Shortly thereafter I got a pair of Sony 7506's for monitoring while recording, and did my best to never look back.



Yes. It will definitely depend upon what you are recording and monitoring in addition to how loud the talent has the phones turned up. 

Good point!


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