Studio Headphones Guide – If you’re anything like me you’ve probably invested a lot of time at Guitar Center (or whatever music store you live by) and local recording studio’s testing out different audio production workstations. I know I’ve spent a few months deciding what setup I wanted for my production studio. I figured if I’m going to spend the money it needs to be something that will
A. Be good enough to produce quality music (so it pays for it self)
B. has to be a setup that I could use without upgrading but still leave enough room to upgrade (if i wanted to).
What I’m trying to say is it has to be somewhat future proofed. I spend all this time choosing the right: Soundcard,monitors,midi controller,production hardware and software etc and when it came to the headphones I just picked something that looked good. I thought to myself “they’re just cans, I’ll use them to test the music in no need spending more than I need to. Big Mistake! Headphones are very valuable tools and should be evaluated thoroughly just like the rest of your studio gear.
About a week ago a close friend called me and asked if I’d help setup his vocal booth in his new home. The man just purchased a new house and finally had the room to place a vocal booth within the production studio. Long story short I drove over to help. I mean he’s my good friend I can’t just leave him hanging. The vocal booth took a lot of time to setup, mostly because he wasn’t certain where he wanted it, he had a lot of room to work with and we were trying to find a good location and keep the cable management as neat as possible. It took nearly 4 hours to build this booth and afterward we tested it out (gotta test it).
We set everything up for a test recording then I asked “where are your headphones” he goes ” just talk into the mic” then i said “no you gotta have the whole experience. So the man goes into another room.. comes back and slides a box towards my feed and said “pick one!” There were over 15 different headphones in this box and the cables were all tangled up (GRRRR).
I just had to open my mouth with “Omg what is this mess?”
He says “Just pick one and go in the booth man”
I couldn’t help but notice that headphones in the box were all crap cans so I asked him “what’s with all these cheap headphones you’re wasting money”
He told me ” they are cheap headphones I use them when I’m on the road and they break so i end up getting news ones”
Studio Headphones Guide – DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEADPHONES
I was amazed by how much money my Steven (my friend) had spent on these headphones. There were about 15 headphones they could have been around… oh… $20-$40 each…THAT’S $300 -$600 DOLLARS! He could saved $300-$400 buying just one pair of good headphones. Good headphones are great to have. They can really help you perfect a mix, they allow you to really zone in on things that monitors don’t allow you to. With that said let’s talk about some of the different kinds of headphones there are on the market and how they can help you.
As I’ve stated, there are many different kinds of headphones such as: closed back,semi closed black,noise canceling,around the ear and so on. For most studio/recording applications you’d want to use the around and or closed back type of headphones.
Open back headphones – These give the user the most natural sound possible. The only problem with that is the fact that open back allows background noise to leak in which is not good for mixing nor is it good for recording because they will allow sound to bleed into the mic.
Closed back headphones – These tend to be used more by: artists, music producers, engineers,gamers and Dj’s as well. One problem with the closed back headphones is the increase in bass frequencies. I’m not 100% sure why this happens but I’m guessing it’s because with open back headphones part of the bass escapes where as with close back ones they don’t. I’ll update this article once I get a better understanding/answer to this mystery.
Studio Headphones Guide – WHAT’S GOOD, WHAT’S BAD
Know that when shopping for good studio headphones there are 5 different factors that play a huge role when purchasing and those factors are
Low Entry – most of these headphones range between $20 and $100
Mid Entry – These are headphones that range between $100 and $300
Semi Pro – Range anywhere from $300 to $500 in price
Pro – These can range between $500 and $1000 (yea it get’s pricey)
High End Professional – Priced well over $1000. I know you’re wondering “who spends that kind of money?”
Please keep in mind this is only a rough outline. There are plenty of good headphones in the $100-$300 range as well as some pretty horrible sounding headphones in the $600.00 range. I won’t go into detail with brands and model numbers. Just use the guideline I’ve supplied as dirty way to filter out headphones. If you are near a music store I also suggest you go test the headphones out when possible.
Studio Headphones Guide – WHY USE HEADPHONES ….I HAVE MONITORS
Well, headphones are really beneficial for mixing the little nuances in a track, things that are hard to really pin point using monitors (panning is a great example). It’s also good to check your mix on different mediums not just your expensive monitors. You want your mix to be transparent across all mediums. If you are recording you need good headphones that don’t: Cause ear fatigue,sound bad,bleed into the condenser mic. I know for me personally, I’m not always at my home studio. There are times when I’m out and about and I get inspired or I get called to complete a project so it’s vital that I have a good pair of headphones that i can trust a mix in.
Before purchasing a pair of headphones you must 1st know what you’ll be using the headphones for. There are specific headphones for:Mixing,recording,listening enjoyment etc. I personally like getting a pair of headphones that cover all areas but that’s just me
Let’s just say for an example you were on a budget and had limited space or you’d just rather have a condensed and or mobile setup (that’s most producers today). I’d recommend getting some good mixing headphone along with a software application that can emulate different mixing environments. This is good if your on the move and still need to get a precise mix. I remember last year I was heading out to Texas and all I had was my laptop a small midi controller and some Beyer dynamic Headphones (DT880 to be exact). I was able to get a good mix because I understand the headphones and I have experience mixing.
My manager told me about room emulation software and said it would make the job a lot easier and he’d been telling me about this solution for years I just never got into it. What I personally do is take presets (other tracks) with me on the road so that way I can be in the same dynamic space with the new tracks/project as i was with the last one. This time I didn’t have any projects with me (and I should have) and was having trouble. My manager told me to purchase this software and he would send me the settings for his room. I thought this was amazing because I never have an issue mixing in his studio.
So I installed ARC System onto my computer (the emulation software) and he sent me his rooms settings. The music production and mixing process from there was a piece of cake, it was like i was sitting in his recording studio mixing.
I’ve Used 2 Emulation Products & Both Were Great – They Got The Job Done
1. Is the VRM Box from Focusrite. This little box is amazing you can get it cheap here at Amazon
2. ARC System, this software is a little more expensive but worth it (IMO) you can buy it at amazon for $199. I like this system more because you can customize your own rooms. Whenever I go into a high in studio I mimic their surrounding and save the preset!
Studio Headphones Guide – MY CONCLUSION
I’m not saying you have to go out and purchase the most expensive pair of headphones on the market but I am saying put as much time and research into them as you do with the rest of your gear. Purchase a pair of headphones that will give you options not just some cheap BS cans. Seriously 1 good pair of headphones will cost 200-300 dollars and will last years (if you take care of them) cheap headphones you can spend 500 on these in 2 years or less.
Key points to keep in mind when looking to buy need headphones
Type of response – Flat response, this is what you want
Comfortable – The headphones must feel good and be able to be worn for long periods of time with causing ear fatigue or hurting the ear
Cord Build – Make sure the cord isn’t curly (this will drive you nuts) as so make sure the cord is long enough for you to move around but not too long. You don’t want to get it caught on anything or trip yourself (I’ve done this many times).
Design – Color, the way the cans look. You want to find some that appeal to you. I will warn that there are some headphones that don’t look good but sound great. So, don’t go solely on the look of the headphones.
Well, I hope this Studio Headphones Guide has enlightened you and encouraged you seek out good studio headphones.
