Headphone Bleed...

[themaidsroom]

i've had some of this myself lately....sometimes i wonder how loud the
people have the cans going?

the only easy fix i know is panning the signal if the bleed is coming from
someone who's only wearing one side......



be well


- jack

[gwailoh]

Well, closed cans are better for tracking. HD 280s, etc. You can get pretty loud without leakage. I don't really seem to have a lot of leakage with closed phones.

[shaddai]

I 2nd the motion for the HD280. I've had good experiences with them too. I also use a set of 10 year old MDR V-600's from time to time..don't know if they're being made anymore though. That particular Sony has a warmer sound than the Sennheisers & can be listened to longer with less fatigue. They have a less plasticy feel to them too. If you do the Sony, be sure the foam is at 100%..but I still wouldn't think you could go wrong with either of them.

Just my $.02
Todd

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by Eric Greedy

In Ear monitors...

That's an interesting thought. How tough is it to clean them? If you're providing in-ear monitors to clients, do you have to boil them between sessions?

[Matt Hepworth]

For click, EQ the top off a fair amount and it will reduce bleed. Also, often you can turn down the backup music feed a bit in order to get a good click vs tracks balance.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by gwailoh

That's an interesting thought. How tough is it to clean them? If you're providing in-ear monitors to clients, do you have to boil them between sessions?

I dunno about using in-ears in the studio, but I've worked with them a bunch in live settings. Generally the foam ones from Shure and the like will still bleed a bit. The best ones use the Futuresonics (or other) molds and are custom fitted to the players ears. IIRC, it took a couple three weeks for my earplug molds to arrive so it's not a quick (or inexpensive!!!) solution.

It's not the most hygienic thing either.

Use closed cans, and turn 'em down! Especially when cutting vox, acoustic guitars or similar stuff. I'm constantly amazed at how loud people monitor on phones. I've seen drummers stuff earplugs in and then put cans on, or the infamous guitar player who's telling me that the headphones don't work...they're broken...yet when I walk into the live room to check it out I can't get any closer then 10 yards because they're so freakin' loud.



I rarely run into problems with headphone bleed and if I do, it's usually from the click track but that's pretty easy to solve if you pay attention to the details of when it's stopped and started, not to mention the volume that the musos have it at.

[7rojo7]

I have 10 pairs of ATH-M40fs that are closed, this is the key. if the player or singer uses one side, pan the music to that side. Mine double as 1 ear sets because there's a neat little swivel above the can, look Ma no hands.

[Jules]

Braided, plait or 'dreadlock' hair styles can be a nightmare.. as they cause poor contact of ear cushion with the singers head...

Some good tips above...

This is important for music that gets 're-mixed' - some dance re-mixers can be real fussy.. and demand a re-tracked vocal.. as it can mess with what they want to do new musically..

[Phrygian]

I bought some AKG k271s headphones to solve this problem. They're a closed headphone. I needed them specifically for myself since I crank the mix when singing (just backups). I haven't had a problem since.

[BruceTheProduce]

Thanks for the input slutz.
those AKG k271s seem to be pretty good. I'll probably rent them for a test. I was going through some notes I had from school and I got another tip. I'm going to try it on my next session but I wonder If any of you guys have tried it.
With 2 small speakers in MONO with one out of phase. so by the time the signal gets to the singer's ears they cancel and no bleed is then recorded-

[Jay Kahrs]

I can't stand out of phase monitors, I even fix that stuff when I'm in Best Buy or Circuit City...it drives me that crazy. It feels like I'm cross-eared and since I can't stand it I wouldn't subject a client to the same torture. You can get wicked rejection from a single open monitor if the null of the mic is in the right spot and the balance of monitors to singer volume is in check.