Skip to main content

Lately I've been having a hard time controlling the bleed from my headphones into my recording mix. I like to put a live monitor into the guitar players headphone mix along with a click-track metronome. It's hard to get the right volume so the player is happy and there is no bleed...is there a way to prevent this noise bleed from the click-track in the headphone without dishing out $200 on top of the line Sennheiser's or AKG's?

most of the time after compressing the guitar track, the metronome isn't as noticable, but my condensers are still picking up the signal rather strongly...

Topic Tags

Comments

anonymous Sun, 04/03/2005 - 16:41

try using single side headphones..... or you can make your existing headphone single sided...in this way you don't have to give your musician the return from the computer or your recording device...he can have the headphone on one side and since one side is free he can hear wht he is singing or playing even better... i tried this,... really worked out for me..on most occasions...

anonymous Sun, 04/03/2005 - 21:01

hey, thanks a lot guys i check out those Senn's you mentioned

i have a pair of Behringer HPS3000 that are SUPOSSED to have good noise cancelation, but Behringer products are supossed to do a lot of stuff...and don't...haha

oh, while i have a decent amout of people responding to this post i may aswell throw another question at you...

i have an M Audio Delta 44 PCi card that i just recently replaced with a new and much better USB OmniStudio A/D, Monitor Control and heaphone amp unit, is there a way to run both of these together, perhaps with a patch or something? the Delta 44 doesnt have any spdif, and from what i understand thats the only way i could get them both to work simultaneously....

thanks again

anonymous Mon, 04/04/2005 - 00:21

Groff wrote: Use some closed back headphones and change the sample or freq of the click.

i agree with this approach (the high end of some cowbell type clicks will usually bleed through more than a low mid type sound such as a lower temple block or something. also here's a big tip i picked up somewhere:

i have many pairs of sony 7506 headphones (picked them up years ago but don't really like them as much anymore- actually they kind of annoy me big time with their smiley face eq) and they needed replacement ear foam. i researched replacement parts from sony and they are $10 a pair for new ear pads. 's not bad, but in my search i found someone who had replaced theirs with Koss ear pads ($5 per pair directly from koss- took like 2 days shipping). now, i don't care about spending an extra $5 for the better ear pads but this person mentioned that the koss ones had much better isolation so i bought some. you know what? they were absolutely right and these ear pads are thicker, look all meaty and stuff, easily stick on with peel off adhesive, and have MUCH better isolation. highly recommended and they have different sizes so will probably fit other phones. maybe this tip will save some folks from buying new headphones just because of the pads or leakage. i do really like those senn 280's though, if i remember. i also have akg 240's, sony V6's (not 600) which are the same drivers as the 7506's, and some fostex T20's. for my mp3's and laptop remote work (composing, etc.) i use the little sony fontopia in ear jobs and REALLY like those little mamas ($40- great for airplanes as well cuz they block out a lot of outside noise- just make sure you try the different size ear pods to find the ones that fit you snugly for the best bass response)!

mckay

anonymous Mon, 04/04/2005 - 11:15

haha i don't know about the towel wrap thing, but i'll try that ear bud - dummy headphone idea, makes sense to me...except the sound quality off ear buds are pretty poor....so it looks like ill just have to grab a nice pair of close back headphones...

for my click track i just use the default MIDI click provided with Nuendo 2.2....i probably should change it, perhaps something with a more low end frequency

thanks again guys...

anonymous Mon, 04/04/2005 - 12:35

You could also use the "Lars Ulrich Method" (This only works if you were a childhood tennis prodigy)

Step 1 - get a hold of some huge 80's headphones (they should extend at least 4" out from your noggin)

Step 2 - put a tennis headband on the outside of the headphones, securely fastening the headphones to your head

Step 3 - try your best to look intimidating, despite the weird looking contraption on your head

Seriously, I use the HD280s a lot with no bleed. I also have a pair of Extreme Isolation Headphones from Direct Sound ($99). They don't sound nearly as flat as the Sennheisers, but they are gauranteed not to bleed (they are basically gun mufflers with drivers in them). Good Luck!

Wes

Midlandmorgan Mon, 04/04/2005 - 14:46

Turn down the cue send... :shock:

Actually what I have to be careful with is sometimes I'll leave unused unattended headphones with the volume still up...and strangely, if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, will bleed over...so many times your overdub person is perfectly innocent....OK, once in a while... :lol:

I like the earbud idea/dummy cans idea....there are some earbuds floating around for portable CD users that actually sound pretty dad-gum decent...