Karaoke Forums

Can you give some recommendations on headphones? The more I research, the more confused I am!!

Miss Milo/HeadsTogether,
Excellent studio quality Recording headphones are not inexpensive. but you can get by in them from $125.00 on up to $200.00 If you know where to start looking.

Musicians Friend/Guitar center is one... they are the same company.
There is also another one linked off my web.

Sony is definately the best quality, I use the MDR-7509 the MDR-7506 will also do. I will warn you they are not inexpensive but I have found they have the best quality. AKG, Roland, & Sennheiser makes a good models definately try to get a "Closed ear" model. I also use a 4 channel Presonus HP-4 headphone amplifier. I got that from a Guitar Center below retail. and they have been real good at beating my normal deals without even trying to "beat them down" on prices.. they were already lower than my cost on alot of things, really close to dealer.

Studio Desktop speakers start out at 100.00-150.00 each on up (depending on where you purchase them) and are internally amplified you'll just need to purchase a "Y" cable and a seperate cable that will bring the signal to each speaker.

_________________
Brian D.
(BHB)

Beach's recommendation notwithstanding you can get a decent pair of consumer headphones relatively cheap if you dont want to break the bank (well under $100). Look for ones that are a brand name you recognize, Sony or Panasonic are good (as are the other brands Beach mentions). Also look for ones with a wide frequency response. They will specify something like "16Hz - 20kHz". The lower the first number, and the higher the second number, the better. It represents the lowest and highest tone it can reproduce. 10Hz-25KHz is the best I have seen on a consumer headphone. Also, look for headphones that are comfortable. This will be personal preference-based: some like the small in-ear phones while others prefer the larger padded style.

Thanks BHB & MikeyP! However, I'll have to go with Mikey's suggestion - I'm not willing to spend that much money on headphones! Now that I know what I'm looking for, I should have no problem!

Comfort is important. I personally prefer closed ear (the large cup style) headphones when I'm doing recording. It drowns out a lot of the ambient noise in the area around me.

I got a pair of decent Panasonic headphones at Fred Meyer but have seem similar products from Sony at Wal-Mart, Borders Bookstore (in the music section), and most record retailers. Don't discount your local Radio Shack as a potential source either. A lot of times they OEM the products from someone else and are sometimes even a little cheaper. Their mics used to be labeled Shure if you looked hard enough and I've seen plenty of other products they sell that was just relabeled. Expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $35-$50 for a set that will cover approx. 20Hz - 20KHz in the large cup style. Ear buds will run $10-25 for most styles and the walkman style open ear can be had for about $20 that covers that range. BTW, you'll get better sound from a larger headphone most of the time.

As recommended stick with the major brands for a better product - Sony, Panasonsic, Sennheiser, etc.

Thank you so much! Yes, I'll definitely go for the closed ear. I looked at the ones at Radio Shack yesterday, but steered away because of the things I had read about their stuff...may have to have another look see!

Thanks for your excellent advice!

Milo, you would laugh if you could see the headphones that I USE to record with:) Lol, the cat has chewed through through the wires SOO many times, Justy is about to kill him... they are cheap Sony headphones, that I got ages ago in the Princess auto surplus section (I hope SOMEONE knows what princess auto is:) Lol, I think I spent like, $1.99 on them... they are missing pieces, thanks to skylah... but I am super cheap, and justy simply keeps fixing them (right now, they are like the old axe story, you know, you replace the sharp side, and keep the handle, and then, years later get a new handle, is it the same axe? (he was an electronics tech. before he started school, to be an avionics engineer), (and we have parts all over the house),.. I will have to take a pic of them... they are so mangled, you can barely tell that they are headphones:) Lol, to make matter worse, I don't even have a microphone. My setup is fairly laughable, and I can only get away with it, because I own a mac:) Ok, that was a lot of babbling. However, my I think my recordings SHOW and.. sadly highlight my lack of resources:) So, heck go for the closed ear, and then pick me up a good pair:) Lol.

I'm not laughing...I'm impressed! That your recordings come out as great as they do! Maybe I'll just grab a pair of the cheapies and let my wonderful chew everything in sight puppy dog play with them first!!

There is nothing wrong with Cheapies!

My recording earphones are a headset (so earphones and mic combined) and they work so well! I got them from London Drugs for $10.00.

My cat ate my fuzzy thing that covers the mic, and because I have moved the mic around so much, the plastic is starting to fall off....but I mean to get another pair will not break my bank !

I don't use anything else than my headphones to mix. I try on my speakers on the computer, but I don't think they are placed well to get maximum sound out of them.

The only problem with the headset...is it is hard to use it for loud parts of songs...where you are supposed to move away from the mic. You don't have your freedom. However, I think that it records very well!

The picture is what they look like, selling for $7.99