Skip to main content

Hi guys, I've got another broken headphones this weekend.
I've decide to go for cheaper units but still want some isolation.
At this point, I don't care about frequencies and how good they sound. I just need to put a loud click in them and isolate the drummers ear so they don't hang themself out of ear fatigue.

I'm thinking between 15$ and 35$ a pair (over the ears of course)

Any recommendations ?

Topic Tags

Comments

paulears Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:40

Do you have this kind of thing in canada? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/cad-dh100-drummer-isolation-headphones

There are a few similar products available - and they all feature good isolation and can give LOUD results - but, they all suffer from a lack of real quality, I guess you can't have mega loud and tough - and - hifi sound. They also clamp your head really tight so are horrible after an hours worth of use, and your ears sweat like mad! They do the job though.

pcrecord Mon, 04/27/2015 - 12:54

paulears, post: 428469, member: 47782 wrote: Do you have this kind of thing in canada? http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/cad-dh100-drummer-isolation-headphones

There are a few similar products available - and they all feature good isolation and can give LOUD results - but, they all suffer from a lack of real quality, I guess you can't have mega loud and tough - and - hifi sound. They also clamp your head really tight so are horrible after an hours worth of use, and your ears sweat like mad! They do the job though.

Bestbuy.ca have them.. I might order 2 pair. If they get broken it'll be a lesser lost..
Thanks

DonnyThompson Mon, 04/27/2015 - 23:57

pcrecord, post: 428466, member: 46460 wrote: I just need to put a loud click in them and isolate the drummers ear so they don't hang themself out of ear fatigue.

Keep in mind that ear fatigue is generally caused by the exaggerated mids and highs that cheap headphones usually present - so if you are trying to avoid aural fatigue, going cheap isn't necessarily going to solve that concern.

FWIW

pcrecord Tue, 04/28/2015 - 02:53

I think I'm trying to save money first because musicians are not very carefull with headphones. But having a closed cup headphones allow to drive them at a lower volume, that's my idea of saving a bit of fatigue..
Once they get to my side of the glass, they have all the quality they need to apreciate their music ;)

KurtFoster Tue, 04/28/2015 - 09:58

yeah i had that problem too .... musicians who throw the $120 SONY phones on the floor between takes. i used to tell them to take better care or i would switch out their headsets. i went out and bought the cheapest worst sounding things i could find. one pass with those things and a new found respect was established. these guys all want to act like their rock stars in at Ocean Way @ $5000 a day plus damages and extras. if they break it, they should pay for it. not good customer relations but neither is allowing a client to walk all over you. sometimes you have to be a hard ass. like herding cats.

kmetal Tue, 04/28/2015 - 13:49

Kurt Foster, post: 428503, member: 7836 wrote: yeah i had that problem too .... musicians who throw the $120 SONY phones on the floor between takes. i used to tell them to take better care or i would switch out their headsets. i went out and bought the cheapest worst sounding things i could find. one pass with those things and a new found respect was established. these guys all want to act like their rock stars in at Ocean Way @ $5000 a day plus damages and extras. if they break it, they should pay for it. not good customer relations but neither is allowing a client to walk all over you. sometimes you have to be a hard ass. like herding cats.

it's a cost of doing business. Most decent headphones have replaceable parts. And frankly when 'Johnny and the intoxicated soar throats' come in for an overnight session, maybe you keep the akgs in the closet. But what kinda of service are you offering to the 90% of the clients, who are actually respectful of your property.? When they're headphones that they have on for hours, cost as much as a couple meals at the local drive thru. Seriously, its $8 for a meal at those places around here. I've used my 414 live as an OH and the punk and metals bands playing with us, didn't hit it once. My 240s have at least a 500hrs of client use. They're 10 years old. Gotta be selective. But still, the only time I've seen any damage to them. Is under the eye of another engineer, not me or my clients. I don't leave my important personal peices at the studio, because there are many staff member and clients, when I'm not there.

For $100 the akg 240, or similarly priced set of closed backs should last. I recorded as a teenager at a home studio w my band and the guy had Sonys and 240s, for the whole band.

Ok, I get having a couple throw away sets, or having only a couple of nice pairs, and decent for the rest. But as someone who personally hates tracking w headphones, the crappy sounding uncomfortable ones, and make it way worse.

Although I am aware that Marco is talking budget cans specifically :)

DonnyThompson Wed, 04/29/2015 - 02:17

pcrecord Kurt Foster kmetal

pcrecord, post: 428494, member: 46460 wrote: that's my idea of saving a bit of fatigue..

LOL.. It sounds more like you'd rather relieve the fatigue on your wallet - and I don't blame you a bit for it.

Kurt mentioned clients who seem to have no problems with tossing HP's around like it's no big deal; I've witnessed that first-hand as well.

If any one of us went to any of those client's houses and tossed a cheap $10 pair of buds onto their floor, they'd have a cow - yet those same people think nothing of tossing our $150 pair of HP's onto our floor.

I'll go ya one further... I doubt that these people would toss their own cheap headphones onto the floor.

Don't get me wrong, either action is wrong. It's no more proper for us to disrespect their personal items than it is for them to disrespect ours - it's just so happens that, by and large, ours tend to be quite a bit more expensive. ;)

DonnyThompson Wed, 04/29/2015 - 02:18

pcrecord Kurt Foster kmetal

pcrecord, post: 428494, member: 46460 wrote: that's my idea of saving a bit of fatigue..

LOL.. It sounds more like you'd rather relieve the fatigue on your wallet - and I don't blame you a bit for it.

Kurt mentioned clients who seem to have no problems with tossing HP's around like it's no big deal; I've witnessed that first-hand as well.

If any one of us went to any of those client's houses and tossed a cheap $10 pair of buds onto their floor, they'd have a cow - yet those same people think nothing of tossing our $150 pair of HP's onto our floor.

I'll go ya one further... I doubt that these people would toss their own cheap headphones onto the floor.

Don't get me wrong, either action is wrong. It's no more proper for us to disrespect their personal items than it is for them to disrespect ours - it's just so happens that, by and large, ours tend to be quite a bit more expensive. ;)

kmetal Wed, 04/29/2015 - 04:07

DonnyThompson, post: 428531, member: 46114 wrote: pcrecord Kurt Foster kmetal

LOL.. It sounds more like you'd rather relieve the fatigue on your wallet - and I don't blame you a bit for it.

Kurt mentioned clients who seem to have no problems with tossing HP's around like it's no big deal; I've witnessed that first-hand as well.

If any one of us went to any of those client's houses and tossed a cheap $10 pair of buds onto their floor, they'd have a cow - yet those same people think nothing of tossing our $150 pair of HP's onto our floor.

I'll go ya one further... I doubt that these people would toss their own cheap headphones onto the floor.

Don't get me wrong, either action is wrong. It's no more proper for us to disrespect their personal items than it is for them to disrespect ours - it's just so happens that, by and large, ours tend to be quite a bit more expensive. ;)

I've seen it happen too. But it's still no excuse to use sub par gear. Or gear less than the price point your charging. If I go out with my buddies downtown, it's at least $75 and that's for apatizers and a few drinks. That's one Friday night.

If your making your living, or part of it, off of your tools, $100 for a pair of headphones isn't much. I paid $60 for a saw blade. I've seen people drop nuemans. I've ripped cans off my own head dozens of times. Ime just saying it's part of doing buisness. Not giving the. The $600 upper echelon stuff I understand. But a weak set of cans thru a headroom starved amp is a recipe for flat crunchy sounds. Especially for a drummer. Where isolation and clarity are huge. The last thing you need is a shoddily sealed pair of cans cranked.

Again I knwo this is a budget thread. But I'm saying that if something you get years out of, in general cost as much as a night out, you have to ask yourself where your dedication is really at. I'm not saying breaking studio stuff is cool or whatever, just that it's not an excuse to use budget gear in a pro situation all the time.

DonnyThompson Wed, 04/29/2015 - 04:27

I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter how much - or how little -a particular piece of gear costs ( and gear can accidentally get damaged, you're right about that). There's absolutely no reason that anyone should intentionally disrespect gear, and I don't care how pissed off someone may be about singing flat or blowing a take - treating gear poorly doesn't solve the problem.

And you are right in that there is a certain cost to be figured into the business; quality gear, occasional equipment repair, room acoustics, talent, advertising, insurance, rent, internet, utilities, - are all a valid and expected part of the cost of doing business. But, having to pay for gear repair or replacement that was damaged as a result of someone's little temper tantrum, or out of a general disrespect simply because the gear isn't theirs, shouldn't be a part of that cost.

If I am working with a drummer who is known for hitting more rim and mic than drum heads, ( trust me... they're out there, I've recorded them) then I'm not gonna put up my expensive drum mics.

If a vocalist grabs hold of a Neumann during a take like Steven Tyler live working an SM58, then the Neumann is going back into the locker, and they're gonna get a 58... an old 58. ;)

There's not enough money to be made in this business anymore, in order to justify any intentionally damaged gear, and wrap it all up into a forgivable, neat little package called "the cost of doing business"....

IMHO of course.

;)

pcrecord Wed, 04/29/2015 - 05:33

I've been a drummer for all my life. I've learn that when recording or on stage, drums are making so much high volume sound that the quality of what you hear is secondary. You better hear what you need to hear what ever if it sound good or not. Today, I gig with in-ears monitors and I get the click and bass drum first and the rest of the mix at 50% of the volume. It's not fun but it's my way to play on time ! ;)

I'd love to have a spare 1k to buy 5 new quality headphones but I don't... But if I did, I'd like to put that 1k on a new audio interface.
My budget priority always was to the sound ; mics, preamps, interface, monitors.
It's a small home studio after all. The few customers I get, come for the sound quality of the recording and the end product, if not, they would do it in there livingroom.