OT: hi-end sound cancelling headphones

[Teomi]

Hi guys.
I am looking to purchase a hi-end sound cancelling headphones.
Any ideas?

Also, did anyone here tried surround headphones?
can it work in a studio environment or it needs to get a digital 5.1 feed somehow?


Thanks for any advice!

Eitan

[Bruce Callaway]

Eitan, not sure if this is what you are looking for however I once tried these Bose headphones http://www.bose.co.uk/noise_reduction/qc2_headphones/ on a plane flight and there were excellent.

[Bill Park]

Hi guys.
I am looking to purchase a hi-end sound cancelling headphones.
Any ideas?

Also, did anyone here tried surround headphones?
can it work in a studio environment or it needs to get a digital 5.1 feed somehow?


Thanks for any advice!

Eitan

We definitely need more information here. What are you trying to do?

Just a heads up, I was experiemented upon three times, and I have suffered irreperable hearing loss because of it, all involving noise cancelling headphones in stage communication systems. They work okay for steady-state noises like the drone of an airplane, but when it comes to percussive elements, they seem to be able to add/multiply volume levels. Things like outside percussive piano tracks just additively blow through your brain... very painful. After one session I was unable to hear properly for three days. So baddly, I stayed home and mostly in bed.

And as has been true forever, there isn't a headphone made that is worth a **** when it comes to mixdown.

Bill

[Bob L]

Bill,

I have to disagree with the mixdown myth... I am doing some of my best work now without monitors... using the Sony MDR-V6 phones...

Bob L

[AudioAstronomer]

Bill,

I have to disagree with the mixdown myth... *snip*

Bob L

Id have to agree. Assuming you spend enough time in your headphones of choice, they offer many benefits that can be exploited to your benefit once your learn to cope with some of the limitations.

I prefer headphones now personally, since I spend most of my spare time on them I end up mixing on them since that's what I know best. Just have to be 'smart' about it like anything else in the studio. Protect the ears!

[Teomi]

Hey guys.

I need the headphones for the upcoming NAMM show. I will be presenting my new library (more on that pretty soon :D ) and apart from having monitors I wanted to have at least 2 pairs of really detailed sounding headphones and if at all possible to have some sound cancellation. As you know inside the show is darn loud.


Any thoughts?

[AudioAstronomer]

Make a small head isolation booth with mdf and thick vinyl and have them stick their head in it. Throw a screen in then for a real immersion experience!

haha :)

[Ian Alexander]

Hey guys.

I need the headphones for the upcoming NAMM show. I will be presenting my new library (more on that pretty soon :D ) and apart from having monitors I wanted to have at least 2 pairs of really detailed sounding headphones and if at all possible to have some sound cancellation. As you know inside the show is darn loud.


Any thoughts?
I haven't used them, but I understand that Bill is right about this type of phones. I believe they create an out-of-phase version of external noise and inject it into the signal. They cancel steady noise, like airplane drone, lawnmower noise, etc., but anything irregular gets right through. I remember a review of a pair without sealing earcups being used on an airport tarmac. The reviewer and a friend had a normal conversation while standing near a jet warming up.

Because the noise at a convention will include a lot of irregular noise, this may not be a good application for noise-cancelling phones, IMO. If you have the room, something like a small whisper-room would cut the background a lot. Good sealing phones inside that might isolate enough.

Also, tomasino recommended these a while back.
http://www.extremeheadphones.com/
I have no experience with them.

Good luck.

[DominicPerry]

I have some ExtremeIsolation headphones. They isolate well but they don't sound particularly detailed. They're not expensive, which may be why.

Dominic

[Carey Langille]

Also Check out the Vic Firth Drummer Headphones. They have Natural Isolation fo about 23db... I have taken them from the studio onsite sometimes and they have worked very well in noisy situations... Good Luck

[mako]

Eitan - I have Sony V6's and a pair of Extreme Isolation headphones.

The Exteme does have great isolation but they are dull sounding.
The V6's don't have as much isolation but they are fantastic headphones.

My room is untreated, so nowadays I always finish a mix using these - it's really nice to have full confidence in the final chain and I get that with the V6's.

For your requirements, I'd go for the V6's - they will accurately show your samples. However, you may prefer some more flattering phones like Sennheiser.

Good luck with your show.

mako

P.S. Thanks to Bob for initially putting me on to these phones.

[Pez]

I would recommend the Bose noise cancelling headphones. I think they would work well to cancel out a significant amount of noise at a trade show. I also use mine as a second reference to my Adam monitors at mixdown. They sound great but are a bit expensive (around 300 bucks if memory serves me correctly.)

Bose will let you return them free of charge after a short trial period so I would check them out and see if you like them.

[Bill Park]

Bill,

I have to disagree with the mixdown myth... I am doing some of my best work now without monitors... using the Sony MDR-V6 phones...

Bob L

And Bob Clearmountain works with NS-10Ns. I can only shrug my shoulders. V6s are not anywhere near flat or transparent. But if they work for you, good for you.

I'll admit to being spoiled when it comes to listening environments.

If I was going to try to mix on headphones, maybe upper tier Beyers might have a smooth, uncolored sound. Grado, again in their upper tier, get kudos from various reviewers. AT is supposed to have a $4,000 headphone. They promised to send one to me for review, but it hasn't happened yet. There is some $2500 thing.... Staxx, maybe? that high end audiophiles recommend. There are a lot of choices.

For a trade show? I would not worry about it. I'd stay away from 7506s because their earcups are for ****. Probably look again towards some low end Beyers with good earcups, or something else. The Vic Furths sound bad... really bad. But they do offer decient isolation for only $50 a pair. I know that a lot of people are using them in tracking over the Extremes, at $140 a pair.

Bill

[Bob L]

Interesting enough... smooth and better sounding headphones have not given me acceptable mixing results... they tend to lull me into a false sense of the mix blend and eq...

The V6's allow me to hear any subtle change I might make to panning position... delays... reverb trails... eq... low end adjustments... the results have been impressive.

I would have never believed it myself... until I gave it a serious try during the Steven Lee project a few years back... we were running into serious mix issues that were not translating from his control room to various playback environments correctly... we kept having to make major adjustments to the mixes we were creating... when I explored the V6s and turned off his control room monitors... the results started working wherever we played it... we ended up re-mixing the entire CD on the V6s and it has held up very good.

Now, since the fire took away my trusted control room monitors and environment, I have lived pretty much completely in the V6s... and I feel my results have been the best of my career... who would have figured. :)

And for doing these live sessions with my portable rig lately, its awesome to be sitting anywhere backstage and still feel confident about the mix I'm setting up as the gig is going down... when the bands come off stage and I hit play minutes later... the results are pretty awesome.

Bob L

[Bill Park]

"... since the fire took away my trusted control room monitors and environment, I ..."

I spent a lot of time and effort in creating a good listening environment. The various things that you say are difficult to detect in your room, I had the causes corrected.

Now that I have moved, I'll have to do it all again. I started out by getting one of Ethan's room kits, and having the windows sealed and soundproofed. I've got a long way to go to recreate the sonic space that I have in the studio and the home listening room.


Bill

[DominicPerry]

A bit off topic but, has anyone tried mixing with open back high end phones like Sennheiser HD650's? I need to buy something and none of my closed-back phones are going to work, they just don't sound right at all.

Dominic

[Naturally Digital]

A bit off topic but, has anyone tried mixing with open back high end phones like Sennheiser HD650's? I need to buy something and none of my closed-back phones are going to work, they just don't sound right at all.Yes. If I need to use headphones, these are my preferred 'reference', especially for low-frequencies. I only used closed back phones when I need some isolation. I find my Sennheisers to be very linear.