Help me buy headphones for my studio!

general questions, comments and ideas about recording, audio, music, etc.
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hearnoevil
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Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by hearnoevil » Tue Dec 28, 2004 1:58 pm

I think I managed to convince one of the higher powers at my studio that we need some new cables, mics, cans, etc. I know what to do as far as cables & mics go, but I need some headphone suggestions. We currently have a couple decent pairs of old Fostex headphones of some sort (which I actually really like) and several pairs of beat up AKG K240 Monitor headphones- They would probably be ok if they weren't overused, abused, and re-soldered 20 times, but, alas......
In any case, I need to find something under or around $100, good isolation, as little bleed as possible (I have a few drum recordings that have painfully loud click in the background!), and a generally good sound. They'll be used for monitoring by musicians & sometimes engineers and occasionally mixing.

So, any suggestions?
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Kilroy
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by Kilroy » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:01 pm

USTFSF


only kidding, there have been a lot of threads like this tho, but i got a set of sony mdr-7506's they are pretty cool, sound decent to my ears, are comfortable, and are pretty isolated. They are around a 100 bucks.

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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by Kilroy » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:04 pm


chetatkinsdiet
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by chetatkinsdiet » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:13 pm

I've got the AKG240's, the Sony 7406 (?) and the Sennheiser MD280 and can say that the Sennheiser's are the go to pair for drum tracking. They've got the best isolation and don't sound bad.
$99 most places.

later,
m

My next step for even more attenuation is going to be a little pair of the in ear headphones with a pair of something over the top...those things that guys wear that direct planes? Shooters? Something like that. Then, you're cutting so much outside noise, you can track at lower volumes.

Am I dreaming that it would work?

later,
m
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by hearnoevil » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:26 pm

only kidding, there have been a lot of threads like this tho, but i got a set of sony mdr-7506's they are pretty cool, sound decent to my ears, are comfortable, and are pretty isolated. They are around a 100 bucks.

Believe it or not, I actually did wade through a ton of posts to get some ideas, but it was a pain in the ass looking for posts that matched what I needed! I figured if I posted what I needed, I could collect a nice little list that would make my life easier- I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, so things that make my life easier are in short supply! ;-) Thanks for the advice- I'll check them out!
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by b3groover » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:30 pm

I second the Sennheisers. Nice cans for small bread.
Last edited by b3groover on Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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hearnoevil
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by hearnoevil » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:34 pm

chetatkinsdiet wrote:I've got the AKG240's, the Sony 7406 (?) and the Sennheiser MD280 and can say that the Sennheiser's are the go to pair for drum tracking.
Really? Man, I don't know what they did to the AKG240's before I started working here, but they SUCK! It's mostly the fact that they're falling apart, but the clicktrack problem that everyone has is just weird- that's usually not a hard thing to avoid. Maybe I should try some newer ones before I knock 'em! Yeah, the MD280s are good- I keep forgetting about stuff I already like- messageboards are good for keeping track of stuff like that!
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by 8th_note » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:37 pm

It's going to be hard to find one headphone that is really comfortable and has good isolation. Here's a suggestion that will get you two sets of phones for about a hundred bucks.

Audio-Technica ATH-M30. Very comfortable and sounds excellent. Only modest isolation. About $50 from ebay.

Vic Firth Isolation Headphones. $50 from Guitar Center. Excellent isolation but not so comfortable.

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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by gabriel » Tue Dec 28, 2004 10:43 pm

I use the Audio Technica ATH-M40fs headphones - no idea if those are still made but they sound pretty great. They certainly don't have extreme isolation but neither do the Sonys and at least these don't sound all tinny. Anyway, bleedthrough rocks...
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by gillentine » Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:03 am

Sony MDR 7506's are my fav's. All around they are comfortable for long use and they sound great. The click can always be a problem no matter what phones you use so the cure would be headphone volume and such. I'm sure you know that, but the 7506's are the way to go.
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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by ctmsound » Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:45 am

Equation RP-20. About $100 and I A/B'ed them with the Aud. Tech ATHM40, Sony MDR 7506, and the AKG 240M and it won by quite a bit. The AKG was close, but these were non fatiguing with a flat response. Great lows, mids, and highs. My new headphones.

They sounded similar to the 240S and the Sennheiser HD265s. Oh ya, good sound isolation too!

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Re: Help me buy headphones for my studio!

Post by hearnoevil » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:05 am

gillentine wrote: The click can always be a problem no matter what phones you use so the cure would be headphone volume and such.
Yeah, like I said- it's usually an easy problem to fix, but we've had major issues with that! Part of the problem is that between the crappy headphones and cue boxes that are probably on their way out as well, the level in the phones was either all or nothing. I started using a less percussive click for everything but really loud drummers. I record a lot of strings & accordions & flugelhorns & weird crap like that, though, so the less percussive click is a good band-aid for now.
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