Agreed. I love to use my headphones in conjunction with my monitors. It's
invaluable to be able to check your work in both situations. I have been
using the open-back Sennheiser HD 580s, which I love, particularly for
classical music. Unfortunately, they are no longer in production. I haven't
had the chance to compare them to the current models, but I think the HD 600
would be the closest current model to the 580.
Best,
Melissa
On 4/8/11 4:27 PM, "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Joe:
>
> One man's opinions here ..
>
> I think headphones are very useful, but most useful when used WITH good
> monitors in a quiet
> environment. What you want is headphones that sound similar to your monitors,
> in that if a piano
> sounds "woody" or "full" on your monitors it shouldn't sound "metallic" or
> "thin" on your
> headphones. You don't want your "base reality" (your basic hearing perception)
> to have to
> drastically change when you put on the headphones.
>
> So once that's settled, I think headphones are really useful as a "sound
> microscope", especially
> with bass frequencies and with subtle things in the midrange and treble that
> you would be listening
> for (slight groove distortions, a low hum behind tape hiss, the sort of thing
> that distance and
> room-absorbtion can hide with monitors unless you listen really loud).
>
> I haven't found the perfect headphones, but for restoration work I sure like
> the Audio-Technica
> ATH-M50:
> http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/0edf909675b1be4d/index.html
> These headphones might be called a bit bass-heavy, but I consider that an
> asset because they
> properly reproduce low bass and expose rumble and other problems down there,
> and properly reproduce
> what mitigations one might do. Their response in the midrange and treble is
> pretty damn flat, to my
> ears, not hyped or harsh. They sound very much like good studio monitors next
> to the ears.
>
> For field recording work with my little M-Audio and Zoom recorders, I've
> continued to use Sony
> MDR-V600 phones:
> http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=1015
> 1&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=11037717
> My pair dates from back in the 90's and was originally used with a stereo Sony
> Pressman cassette
> recorder. I prefer these phones over the A-T because they seem to offer
> slightly better isolation
> against the ambient sounds and they are cheap and rugged so I'd feel less bad
> if they got trashed.
> Their reproduction is a bit hyped in the upper midrange and upper bass, to my
> ears, but not so much
> that I can't get a decent reality check if I'm making a good recording.
>
> For pleasure listening, I'm very loyal to AKG K240 types, the current ones I
> use are the "K240
> Studio":
> http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,252,pid,252,nodeid,2,_language,
> EN.html
> These phones are super-comfortable and sound great, never fatiguing. I would
> say they are not nearly
> the last word in deep bass or high-high end reproduction, but you get a nice
> balance of musical
> reproduction, all instruments are clearly audible and sound natural. I think
> these aren't perfect
> for restoration work because I find you have to operate at a higher SPL than I
> like, compared to the
> A-T, which are very sensitive at the frequency extremes. But for normal
> "civilian" music-listening,
> I love the AKG's, I've been a fan of this type since I was a teenager. They
> are somewhat fragile,
> and this latest pair is my second or third. Don't sit on them by mistake!
>
> I also have a pair of the 600-ohm K240 types that were designed for the German
> broadcasting system.
> These are great because you can plug them right into your patchbay and monitor
> signal at any point.
> They need a mutha headphone amp to drive them, so I would say they are
> non-ideal for most modern
> studio uses.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 3:40 PM
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] head phones
>
>
>> Listers,
>>
>> Do you use headphones in your studios? I am thinking that hearing a sound
>> source without the
>> limitations of the environment could be an asset.
>>
>> I'm interested in what kinds, models, especially for restoration work.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> joe salerno
>>
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