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In Ear phones for recording

Freis968

Freis968

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 1, 2007
687
3
Ocoee, Florida
I have been using standard headphones for recording for the past 20 or so years. I have never used any in ear phones because, well, I never even tried it.

Are any of you recording with in ear phones for recording with Logic, ProTools or garageband? If so, what is your feedback? Do you have a certain brand you are using that rivals the best headphones currently? I am mainly concerned about the bass response. Being a drummer, I have been so conditioned to hearing/feeling the bass drum in my ears...trying to not so rely on that now that I am getting older.

Thanks for your replies.
 
Freis968 said:
I have been using standard headphones for recording for the past 20 or so years. I have never used any in ear phones because, well, I never even tried it.

Are any of you recording with in ear phones for recording with Logic, ProTools or garageband? If so, what is your feedback? Do you have a certain brand you are using that rivals the best headphones currently? I am mainly concerned about the bass response. Being a drummer, I have been so conditioned to hearing/feeling the bass drum in my ears...trying to not so rely on that now that I am getting older.

Thanks for your replies.
Click to expand...

I'm a drummer too, and find that if the song has a punchy bass drum any good pair of in ear headphones will tend to punch that bass into your ears. I personally use the Shure SE110's but that's due to my lack of money.

There are probably better solutions but I find the SE110's to work very well.
 
apsterling said:
I'm a drummer too, and find that if the song has a punchy bass drum any good pair of in ear headphones will tend to punch that bass into your ears. I personally use the Shure SE110's but that's due to my lack of money.

There are probably better solutions but I find the SE110's to work very well.
Click to expand...

Very good! So, you can use these just as well as actual "head" phones and still get that punch?
 
Freis968 said:
Very good! So, you can use these just as well as actual "head" phones and still get that punch?
Click to expand...

A lot of it comes down to how the music is produced, and how loud it is, but yes, there is punch in a substantial portion of the music I listen to. Which is reasonably tightly produced. Now, if you listen to something else it may or may not have similar results. For modern rock and pop punk type music though I get a solid punch that catches in the headphones that doesn't on my computer's speakers or lower quality headphones.

If you're willing to spend up to $300, Shure and other brands have higher quality similar headphones, presumably with better bass response, for more. I use the SE110's just because they were $90 at my local store and I needed a pair of monitor-esque headphones.
 
I've been playing / recording live for the past 6 years and currently use Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi Pro. You can see their line-up at ultimateears.com I'll eventually be going custom.
 
Palliser said:
I've been playing / recording live for the past 6 years and currently use Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi Pro. You can see their line-up at ultimateears.com I'll eventually be going custom.
Click to expand...

These are the ones that I was going to suggest.
 
I have used/ use several sets:

Audio-Technica M50
AKG K701
AKG K240M
Sony MDR-7506
Sony MDR-V6
Denon AH-D2000

Most recently I retired my 7506's in exchange for the M50's for live monitoring purposes, as they offer better isolation. Low bass response is also very good on the M50's, kick and low toms are much more audible on these headphones. If you're looking for something to use while live, I would highly reccomend the M50's.

For sudio recording you probably couldn't do better than the Denon AH-D2000's, or even better yet the D5000's... You need a decent amp to drive them however. The AKG 701's are a close runner up to the Denon's.
 
FX120 said:
I have used/ use several sets:

Audio-Technica M50
AKG K701
AKG K240M
Sony MDR-7506
Sony MDR-V6
Denon AH-D2000

Most recently I retired my 7506's in exchange for the M50's for live monitoring purposes, as they offer better isolation. Low bass response is also very good on the M50's, kick and low toms are much more audible on these headphones. If you're looking for something to use while live, I would highly reccomend the M50's.

For sudio recording you probably couldn't do better than the Denon AH-D2000's, or even better yet the D5000's... You need a decent amp to drive them however. The AKG 701's are a close runner up to the Denon's.
Click to expand...

I think you misread what I was asking. I was talking about IN EAR, not OVER THE EAR phones.

Thanks for your input on the OVER THE EAR regardless...:)
 
I'm another BIG fan of Ultimate Ears! I've been using the triple.fi for a while and will be going custom in a few weeks...

If bass is very important to you I know that you can get super.fi earphones with an extended bass response.
 
Freis968 said:
I don't follow you.
Click to expand...

Normally a Shure fanboy, but given your budget I highly recommend a pair of Freqs. Freq produces custom IEMs for about your budget; they are however "under construction" right now, I'm not sure what they mean by that or when they plan on coming back, but really this is one option would be probably be worth waiting for.
 
OH, that is a type of IEM, I thought it was someone that is a forum member or something here perhaps...thanks for clarifying.

Gosh, so many choices now...YIKES!:confused:
 
ukmacpro said:
I'm another BIG fan of Ultimate Ears! I've been using the triple.fi for a while and will be going custom in a few weeks...

If bass is very important to you I know that you can get super.fi earphones with an extended bass response.
Click to expand...

I just looked up those extended bass ones, they may just be what I need...:) Plus at only $200, they are cheaper than the $300 I was looking at in the other ones.
 
I would not recommend switching to in-ear headphones for recording. They are the worst type of headphones for your ears, you will lose your hearing range faster. Headphones are bad in general as it will kill your hearing range faster than using monitors or speakers.


EDIT: Just to clarify, when I say hearing range I'm talking about the range of frequencies you can hear, the range gets smaller with age and headphones speed up the process, especially in-ear headphones.
 
Mattaut said:
I would not recommend switching to in-ear headphones for recording. They are the worst type of headphones for your ears, you will lose your hearing range faster. Headphones are bad in general as it will kill your hearing range faster than using monitors or speakers.
Click to expand...


The rule I heard and agree with is to not use headphones for more then 20 minutes at a time. They can be very good for detailed listening but take them off.

What happens is that you get used to a certain volume level and then have to turn it up and then get used to that and so on. Taking them off every 15 or 20 minutes and leaving them off for at least that long breaks this cycle.

The reason is that ears judge sound only relative, not absolute. So you take the headphone off and lets the ears readjust to "real" level.

I do need my headphones. My cheap moniors only go down to 60Hz or what ever and my agk 240's will reproduce 18Hz. I just got a new Roland keyboard and it really does go down "way low" and make sounds that don't play over the speakers
 
I often use Shure E5 headphones for DJing and monitoring recordings. They are now a legacy model, but I love them and would highly recommend giving some of the current high-end in-ear headphones a try.

The biggest gripes:

1. They isolate too well, which can be bothersome if you are trying to also talk.
2. They are NOT designed to be inserted and removed rapidly or often. You will be hurting if you have them in and out too much.
 
Nobody's mentioned the Future Sonics Atrio IEMs yet. They're very highly regarded on Head-Fi for their strong, yet natural-sounding, bass response. Also take a look at this review from Bass Player.

As a bass guitarist, they sound pretty good to me and are great value compared with the (inferior, IMO) UE Super-Fi Pro 5s I used before.
 
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