Choose The Right Headphones For The Job At Hand

‘How good are these headphones?’ is a relative concept. The answer to this depends on the end users expectations, application, and their budget. Even headphone models with similar specs can have differences that mean they will shine in one place and be limited in another. 

This guide will help you make the best choice for your situation and budget.

Start with the nature of the job at hand

                   What do you need from the headphones? How will they be used? Starting with the job at hand can help determine what is needed from the unit. Headphones can be used for recording, mixing, mastering, or simply listening for pleasure. Even when it comes to something like recording, the type of headphones you will need can vary greatly, depending on the instrument being recorded, and the location and nature of the recording process. 

Some basics of design

Circumaural vs, Supra-aural.

This simply means ‘around the ear’ (circumaural) and ‘above the ear’ (supra-aural). This refers to the design of the ear cup, the cushion that sits between the drivers of the headphone (the speakers) and the listener’s ear. Supra-aural headphone design is not commonly found in professional models.

Closed-back vs Open-back.

Essentially, closed-back headphones prevent the sound from escaping. The drawback with this design is that it traps the pressure inside, building up a perception of bass frequencies which is in fact misleading. This is not wanted during critical listening usage, such as during the mixing or mastering stage, though fine for most other professional uses, and even desired in consumer makes.

Headphone Use In The Studio

Isolation is often critical in recording, and when it comes to headphones, this is no different. Depending on the nature of recording, you may find your needs change and what is acceptable or desirable can change with that. 

Drums require isolation possibly more than anything else. When recording drum parts, the drummer will need to have the actual sound from the kit blocked, thereby allowing them to hear the click and mix they are playing with or too. This level of isolation also prevents the click and reference tracks from bleeding out into the microphones. Headphones offering 25db of sound isolation are an absolute minimum, but you may wish to go even greater.

Electric Guitar And Bass can vary greatly, depending on how they are being recorded. If the guitarist or bassist is recording in the control room with their amp in a studio, they might not require headphones at all, and can just listen to the studio monitors the engineer will have setup for their listening. 

If playing in the room with the amp, they will need a very good level of isolation, in similar fashion to the drummer, to allow themselves to hear the reference track or click. If the guitar amp is being close mic’d the need to isolate the headphone bleed is not critical, as the amp should be too loud in this instance to worry. But if the session is employing room mics as well as a close mic’d option, these other mics could easily pick up on spill. 

When recording Acoustic Guitar, the job will benefit greatly from having the maximum level of isolation available to stop bleed going from the headphones into the mics.

Vocalists will generally want fairy decent levels of isolation so that the headphone mix does not bleed back into the vocal mic. 

During the mixing and mastering phase of production, reference headphones can help identity problems and remove the influence of the room in listening critically to the tracks. Open-back headphones are ideal for such situations.

Headphones in Live Usage

When playing live, headphones need to offer isolation from competing sounds so that the wearer can focus on what they need to hear in the mix, and not be blasted from surrounding instruments. In-ear monitors are the most common for this sort of application. 

When mixing live sound, it once again becomes critical to ensure isolation is very good in the headphones you choose. When at the desk the mixer will need to be able to listen to the tone and balance of each other in comparison to what else is going on. Without this extreme isolation the mixer can be deceived by the competing noises in the room.

Engadine Music can offer quality headphones for a range of applications from Beyer Dynamic, Shure, Yamaha, Roland and more. If you need the best advice and information, then get in touch. We’d love to help.