earphone isolation tip for setting mics onstage

[Russell Dawkins]

Here's a trick I have evolved over the years to augment isolation with in-ear type earphones. Now that I am coming to the end of my recording activities, I feel I can start to give away some tips!

When using the Etymotic Research ER4S or similar earphone if you additionally place a set of shooters' ear protectors like the "Thunder 29" by Howard Leight of Switzerland over your ears you achieve around 60 dB of isolation from ambient sound - at least through the midrange.
The pads from the Thunder 29s mold around the small cord from the ER4S well enough not to leak much sound. The ear protectors are rated at around 29 dB of attenuation and the ER4Ss at around 35 dB of attenuation, both through the middle frequencies.

If you don't think that's useful, think again!

With a long headphone extension cord or two you can walk around a recording room or stage and, with the mic solo'd, set a mic really accurately. You have on your head what amounts to a portable control room in terms of acoustic isolation. If you unplug the headphones, the silence is near complete.
I usually work solo, but if I had an assistant for this, his/her role would merely be to solo the mic I was adjusting as I walked around the room/stage.

The usual procedure for setting mics seems pretty hit or miss to me, by comparison.

Cheers, and Season's Greetings!

[boojum]

Excellent post. I use the Ety's and have for ~15 years now. They are excellent. The Thunder 29 is no longer offered but a NRR 30 Thunder is, the L3. I just ordered mine, <USD30 delivered.

Many thanks

[audibell]

Hi. I use a lectrosonics backwards. The belt pack takes whichever mic I'm setting as a line level out signal at the recording position, but the custom TA5F cable has a resistor soldered in to drop it 40dB down to mic level, and transmits to the receiver in a fannypack while I'm out on the floor. I wear a sennheiser 280 hdphone plugged into the rcvr and get plenty of isolation for strings and winds; brass get cute and give me a really good blast. I use it mostly for the main pair/array, very helpful in a new place and an already useful bit of kit does double duty.
Happy New year, everyone.
WalterT

[David Spearritt]

I'm afraid I still find headphones to indicate mixes and perspective erroneously, particularly if they are the sealed variety, which prevent cross feed. Loudspeakers are essential to get a proper perspective in any recording. The next best thing is a pair of STAX or similar open phones.

[bishopthomas]

I think the point is for isolation while placing microphones. You should be able to tell relative sound quality from position to position as you move the microphones. I don't think anyone here is advocating using this method to replace real monitors, especially while mixing.

[David Spearritt]

Originally Posted by bishopthomas

I don't think anyone here is advocating using this method to replace real monitors, especially while mixing.

No, I was referring to mic placement as well, not "mixing". I find headphones, especially closed ones, to always give an overly reverberant result on loudspeakers when sounding right in the cans.