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Hi,

So I've got my eye on the Sennhieser HD 580s on an auction, could get them cheap. But my concern is the open back element of the headphones, does this mean that if I'm singing to my track with the cans on and recording through my condenser mic. that the mic will probably pick up the sound coming out my headphones ?

Thanks

Rufio

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Cucco Wed, 01/11/2012 - 12:34

That being said, having a good pair of open back cans is good. They image way better than sealed cans.
You can get a cheap pair of closed cans (AKG K44/K55) that sound good enough to let you track vocals with them. I have probably 10 pair of K44s for large ensemble recordings. Having used them myself and numerous others using them, I've never had a complaint with regards to their sound quality. No one would guess they were $25 headphones.
Cheers-
J

thatjeffguy Mon, 01/16/2012 - 12:40

Interesting to note what a long way we've come and what our expectations have evolved to. Up until 1966 and their Revolver album, the Beatles did not use headphones while tracking or overdubbing. Overdubs were accomplished while they listened to playback on loudspeakers. Bleed was minimized by placing the speaker in the null of the ribbon mic where John was singing on one side of the figure eight and Paul, George or both were singing into the other side.

Jeff

audiokid Mon, 01/16/2012 - 12:58

thatjeffguy, post: 382863 wrote: Interesting to note what a long way we've come and what our expectations have evolved to. Up until 1966 and their Revolver album, the Beatles did not use headphones while tracking or overdubbing. Overdubs were accomplished while they listened to playback on loudspeakers. Bleed was minimized by placing the speaker in the null of the ribbon mic where John was singing on one side of the figure eight and Paul, George or both were singing into the other side.

Jeff

Wow, simple and logical. In many ways I believe we've ruened our natural world with all this digital editing ability. We've turned into a lie. I suppose in the end, the music we listen to is what counts and how it got there shouldn't matter but in turn, we're creating a world intolerant of human error or just being human. We're valuing Robots more than us.

In 1980 I was preparing to sample my voice, vowels and consonants and spread it over the keyboard. Then do a Devo type virtual band for an experiment. Now that I'm in my 50's and my voice no longer suits pop music I'm thinking about this again but this time singing the way I do , then changing it to what I think will work.

I don't think we are far off on this becoming the next extension to something like autotune.

Who cares if you can't do it live. its all about effects.

thatjeffguy Mon, 01/16/2012 - 12:58

This is nearly identical in function to Izotope's Spectral Repair. I have the full Izotope suite that includes the Spectral Repair, Denoiser, Declipper, Declicker, Hum remover, etc. One of the most valuable toolboxes in my arsenal. The ability to sample a background noise and have the program remove only those frequencies is very powerful. The spectral repair is pretty amazing, allowing surgical precision in removing unwanted noises.

Jeff

thatjeffguy Mon, 01/16/2012 - 13:52

Dave...

Yes, I stand corrected. If I recall correctly the U48's were multi-pattern and many of the U47s had been modded to incorporate multi-pattern switching. The mics were set to figure-of-eight in these overdubbing situations.
I think my brain has exceeded its maximum capacity... I knew this stuff once, but had to go back and reference my "Recording The Beatles" tome to double check. But my point was still okay, things sure have changed, not the least of which are our expectation of gear and results!

Jeff